The Bulldog Football Report

The Bulldog Football Report
Volume 1, Issue 8
October 28, 2015

In this edition of The Bulldog Football Report we will:

• Break down the North Raleigh game with Coach Stephen Cochran and look ahead to the upcoming home game against Village Christian.
• Take a look at how other Big East Conference teams fared last week and preview this week’s schedule.

North Raleigh Game Review

The Bulldogs entered last week’s rivalry game with North Raleigh with playoff implications in the back of their minds and expectations the Knights would use the energy from their homecoming crowd to derail, at least temporarily, the Bulldogs’ momentum. The Knights never got past the planning stages, as WCA thumped their cross town rivals 28-0.

WCA came out firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball and effectively put the game away in the first quarter. The Bulldog defense sent a message from the start. Trevin Muse hammered NRCA’s Tyree Hawkins on the opening kickoff and Andrew Hinton drilled NRCA’s Mike Dunmire on the opening play from scrimmage. Over the course of the first four drives, the Bulldogs defense delivered the type of performance they have become associated with all season.

After a three and out on the first drive, Camden Woods forced a fumble that was recovered by Robert Roe. On NRCA’s third drive Grayson Williams forced a fumble that was recovered by Adam Jones. On the Knights fourth drive, Paul Gore picked off NRCA’s Ryan Rock for his first interception of the season.

Although there was an entire game remaining, the Bulldogs defense certainly set the expectation that it would take an epic performance from NRCA if they were going to have any success on the field and on the scoreboard. In addition to the interception by Gore, John Toler recorded his fifth interception of the year in the third quarter and Adam Jones his fourth pick of the year in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs offense was similarly effective. With Junior Cody Carpenter sidelined with an ankle injury, Sophomore Nathaniel Williams played the entire game at QB and had a productive night, going 7-16 for 168 yards and 3 touchdowns. Williams hit John Kirkpatrick with a 32-yard TD pass that gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead after the Matthew Buffaloe PAT.

Later in the first quarter Nathaniel Williams connected with Connor Collins on a 21-yard pitch and catch that pushed the Bulldogs lead to 14-0 after the PAT. The Bulldogs added a score just before the end of the quarter when Nathaniel Williams found John Kirkpatrick in the end zone with a 29-yard pass. The PAT made it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Things calmed down a bit for the Bulldog offense in the second quarter, but NRCA was unable to capitalize. The closest NRCA made it to the scoreboard in the first half was a missed field goal with just over five minutes to go, with the Bulldogs defense holding NRCA to two yards rushing per carry.

Nathaniel Williams scored from 18 yards out on a QB keeper late in the game and Matthew Buffaloe added a PAT.

Final score: WCA 28 NRCA 0.

The win moves WCA to 6-3 on the season and 1-2 in the Big East Conference heading in to this week’s Senior Night out of conference home game against Village Christian. With the loss NRCA falls to 3-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play ahead of their out of conference game at High Point Christian.

The Post-game with Coach Cochran

The Bulldog Football Report spoke to Coach Cochran after the NRCA game he offered the following analysis:

TBFR: Coach Cochran, give us your overall thoughts on the NRCA game.
CC: I thought we played exceptionally well on defense. We only gave up one big play and it didn’t go for a score. The defense did a great job on execution. On offense we had an explosive first quarter, then struggled in the second and third quarters and that’s something we will need to clean up. I was impressed with how well NRCA competed, despite being down 21-0 early on.

TBFR: As you prepare for Village on Friday, what are some of the things the Bulldogs should continue to do?
CC: We want to continue to be physical on defense. We have been very physical and aggressive and at this point in the season that is more important than ever. Offensively we need to continue to have explosive plays. That type of ball movement can be daggers for our opponent.

TBFR: Looking at things to avoid, are there things the Bulldogs simply can’t do and be successful Friday night?
CC: There are a couple things we are going to need to mentally process as the week goes on and especially during the game, those things being Senior Night and speculation on our playoff seeding. Also on the defensive side of the ball we need to limit explosive plays. On offense we need to produce sustained drives and not rely so much on explosive plays.

If you’re going to the game:

Senior Night activities start at 7:00. Kickoff is at 7:30.

Be sure to check the WCA Twitter page every Friday for the “Friday Twitter Roll” where TBFR will preview the week’s opponent.

Big East Conference Scores – October 23, 2015

WCA 28 North Raleigh 0
Harrells 44 Trinity 36
Ravenscroft 49 Raleigh Word of God 6

Big East Conference Games – October 30, 2015

Village at WCA
Ravenscroft at Harrells
North Raleigh at High Point