It was ugly at times, but the Athens Bulldogs got the job done Friday night with a 28-14 victory against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
After facing a 7-6 halftime deficit because of a sloppy first half, the Bulldogs exploded in the second half and wore down Chillicothe with a strong running game.
DeVon Sharp in particular had a huge night for Athens, amassing more than 200 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Athens gutted out more than 200 yards as a team, as they dominated Chillicothe in the second half. The Bulldogs seemed to get stronger as the game wore on.
Chillicothe suffered from five turnovers and poor special teams play and failed to convert consistently on Athens’ miscues. With four turnovers itself, Athens was not immune to the turnover bug either but was able to make the most of its opportunities in the second half.
Missed opportunities and turnovers defined Athens’ first half, as quarterback Josh Skinner twice missed wide open receivers in the end zone. He was picked off on one of those attempts. Another poor throw in the red zone on fourth down led to a Chillicothe interception.
“He was really failing to get his feet set, made a couple of poor decisions, and was failing to get the ball in the places we needed him to,” coach Ryan Adams said.
It got so bad that Sharp was put in for a few snaps at quarterback while Skinner regained his composure on the sidelines. Sharp did not complete a pass, however, attempting four in the game, but he did hit a wide-open receiver in the hands before the pass was dropped.
Skinner recovered with a nice second half, as he completed all three of his passes and adding a few nice runs. Athens stuck to the ground game and controlled the clock by pounding the ball right at Chillicothe.
The Bulldogs had another strong defensive stand led by Mitch Rider and Chris Russell. Both players were all over the field making plays. Rider made two bone-crushing hits that helped change the momentum of the game, and one of them at the beginning of the third quarter set the tone for the second half.
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