By Mack Thweatt | Published Sunday, October 11, 2009
In the opening game of District 9-2A play, the Bulldogs of Alvord had a bigger bite than their undefeated counterparts from Millsap as they slipped and slid to a 20-12 victory on a soggy Alvord field.
The two teams battlled through a scoreless first quarter and the same nearly held true in the second before Alvord's Trevor Hartfield finally scored with only 27 seconds left in the first half on a 3-yard run, A blocked PAT attempt left the 'Dogs from Alvord with a slim 6-0 cushion to take to the locker room.
Millsap got on the board first in the second half when quarterback Zeb Littlefield let go of a 28-yard pass that found Chris Hicks for their first TD of the game. Millsap's attempt to go ahead with a PAT kick failed and the two groups of Bulldogs were knotted at 6-6 with only 2:00 left in the third quarter.
Then came the fourth quarter in this extremely competitive battle of the Bulldogs. Alvord, who would never trail in the game, struck with another Hartfield rushing touchdown with 9:37 left in the game - this one from 4 yards - and out of field goal formation. A Jose Luna PAT kick gave the Wise County Bulldogs a 13-6 edge. But, the Parker County Bulldogs would not go down easy as they took the ball and clawed their way down the field to score a minute and a half later on a 34-yard halfback pass from Chris Hicks to Clay Walker. Millsap tried to pass for the 2-point conversion, but Alvord denied them and hung on to a tenuous 13-12 lead with 8:07 to play.
After some stellar defensive play from both teams, Alvord finally managed to push across one more score when Hartfield found Dylan Barclay for a 15-yard touchdown pass with only 53 seconds left in the game. A Luna kick would give Alvord an eight point edge and it looked like they might need every bit of it as Millsap would still not go awayeasy.
Chris Hicks would return the ensuing kickoff into Alvord territory and Millsap would keep the Alvord fans anxious until they turned the ball over on downs inside Alvord's thirty yard line.
Alvord's Colton Redman was his team's leading ground gainer with 80 yards on 20 carries while Littlefield led all rushers with 19 carries for 146 yards. Hartfield went 3 of 6 for 31 yards through the air, and Littlefield was 2 of 17 for 56 yards - neither had an interception. Barclay had 2 receptions for 30 yards to lead the Alvord receivers .
Alvord (3-2 overall, 1-0 in district) try to keep their momentum going as they travel to Boyd on Friday for another 9AA district encounter.
Story by Mack Thweatt from game information provided by Lindee Hand.
