Donalsonville — They’re officially known as the Dooly County High Bobcats. After what they continued to do here Friday night, a more apt description of them might be “Road Warriors.”

In rallying for a 34-28 win here Friday night over Seminole County in a GHSA Class A state quarterfinals clash, Dooly bettered its record away from home this season to a spotless 6-0. Overall, they’re now 10-2.

“It was a long ride and a long way down here, but playing on the road doesn’t seem to bother us at all,” Dooly coach Jimmy Hughes said after watching his Region 4-A runner-up squad edge the 1-A champion Indians.

Hopefully that trend will continue in this Friday’s semifinals that will find the Bobcats in Lincolnton to meet Region 7-A titlist Lincoln County, a 28-22 victor over Wilkinson County in its quarterfinal outing.

“We came away with a big win in an extremely hard-fought game,” Hughes said. “As hard-hitting as it was, I’m sure there are going to be a lot of sore bodies here as well as in Vienna and Unadllla for the next few days.

“It was ‘line-it-up and let’s play ball’ in its purest form and appropriately enough it was a game decided only by the kids. That’s why I’m so proud to be the coach of our guys who really gave their all in coming back to win.”

After fifth-seeded Dooly recovered a fumble at the home team’s 24 and drew first scoring blood on A.J. Smith’s 24-yard lob pass to Courtney Clark with just 2:52 having expired, it would soon find itself starting at a 21-7 deficit.

The fourth-seeded Indians got their first TD at the end of an eight-play, 64-yard drive during which they executed their option offense to near perfection. Quarterback Jakhari Martin recorded it on a 37-yard dash around left end. The score briefly held at 7-6 on a missed PAT kick.

Forced to punt on their ensuing possession, the Bobcats allowed a 70-yard, five-play scoring thrust capped by Thomas Aiken’s 53-yard romp around left end. Martin’s conversion run put Seminole up 14-7.

Another three-and-out by Dooly preceded Seminole’s third six-pointer notched 9:52 before halftime on Daquan Hamlet’s 15-yard off-tackle run that climaxed a six-snap, 58-yard drive.

Down but not out, the spunky Bobcats came roaring back to score twice in the last two minutes preceding intermission and get back into contention.

The first of those scores came at the end of a 55-yard drive during which Smith found Kris Lundy for 32 yards, hit Trevoski Lundy over the middle for a 23-yard gain to the 1 and scored from there himself on a sneak.

Seminole then helped Dooly’s cause with a fumble at its 49 just 28 seconds before intermission. Smith, who would go on to turn in his top performance of the second, scrambled for 18 and then found Kris Lundy streaking down the left sideline for a 31-yard score.

When a fake kick on a two-point conversion kick failed, the Indians had a 21-20 halftime edge they soon upped to 28-20 by starting the second half with an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive that required just 2:30 to negotiate. Hamlet ended it on a 4-yard bull rush.

“While I was proud of the way we responded to being down two scores before halftime and eventually found a way to come back and win, I wasn’t pleased with the way we started the second half,” Hughes said.

“In fact, I was very concerned at that point as I didn’t think we were getting the effort we should have. For whatever reason, we didn’t play well and found ourselves behind by eight before we came barreling back.”

They did so by taking to the air against a Seminole defense crowding the line to take away a Dooly ground game that had been potent of late.

Smith, who would go on to complete 12 of 26 passes for 291 yards and four scores, hooked up with Clark for 35 yards and after a 13-yard lug by Chanin Hamilton rifled a 27-yard scoring strike to Clark as he streaked down the right sideline. A botched two-point pass kept the score at 28-26.

Seminole then went on a long 11-play drive to the Bobcats’ 30 before Mark Lloyd ended the threat with an interception. Dooly soon returned the favor when Smith threw a pass the Indians picked off at their 12 late in the third period.

After forcing the Indians to launch a punt Kris Lundy returned to their 37, Smith hit Trevoski Lundy for a 7-yard gain before scrambling 7 more yards and a first down at the 24.

From there, Smith immediately fired a 24-yard TD strike over the middle to Kris Lundy and then found big Montravius Adams who had lined up at tight end for the two-point conversion with 9:04 remaining in the scrap.

While that would ultimately account for the final score, Dooly still had to weather two intrusions into its territory by the Indians.

The first ended on a botched hand-off from the Bobcats’ 43. The second came to a close at the 25 where four last-gasp passes fell incomplete with the last of them falling to the turf in the end zone.

“I kind of think we outlasted them physically the last part of the third quarter and all of the fourth when we really came together as a team to seal the deal,” Hughes said during his final post-game reflections.

“Our kids could have been in a little better condition or may just have wanted it a little more as coming down the stretch we made great plays on both sides of the football.

“It helped, too, that we had tremendous crowd support as our kids fed off the excitement of seeing our side of the stands full and hearing all the cheers given by our supporters.

“As the result of getting stronger in the second half, we took over the game physically and were able to pull it out. Consequently, we were able to beat a good well-coached team that had a lot of talent and now live on to play another (Lincoln County’s top-seeded Red Devils).”



Score by Quarters

Dooly County 7-13-6-8 — 34

Seminole County 14-7-7-0 — 28



Scoring Summary

First Quarter

9:08 D — Courtney Clark 24 pass from A.J. Smith (Diego Cruz kick)

5:45 S — Jakhari Martin 37 run (kick failed)

1:04 S — Thomas Aiken 53 run (Martin run)

Second Quarter

9:52 S — Daquan Hamlet 15 run (Mathew Williams kick)

1:37 D — Smith 1 run (Cruz kick)

0:06 D — Kris Lundy 31 pass from Smith (run failed)

Third Quarter

9:30 S — Hamlet 4 run (Williams kick)

8:39 D — Clark 27 pass from Smith (pass failed)

Fourth Quarter

9:04 D —Lundy 24 pass from Smith (Montravius Adams pass from Smith)



Team Statistics

First Downs: D 14, S 8.

Rushes-Yards: D 18-51, S 59-393.

Yards Passing: D 291, S 45.

Passes C-A-O: D 12-26-1, S 3-10-1.

Fumbles-Lost: D 1-0, S 5-2.

Punts-Average: D 4-32.2, S 2-17.5.

Penalties-Yards: D 6-40, S 8-65.



Individual Statistics

   Rushing: Dooly — Chanin Hamilton 10-24, Smith 6-23, Zachary Hooks 1-2, Mark Clark 1-2; Seminole — Aiken 29-204, Hamley 15-95m Martin 15-94.

   Passing: Dooly — Smith 12-26-1 291; Seminole — Martin 3-10-1 45.

   Receiving: Dooly — Courtney Clark 4-129, Lundy 5-119, Trevoski Lundy 3-43; Seminole — Hamlet 1-10, Shavon Wiggins 1-16, Jalen Pearson 1-19.