Bulldogs football still transitioning to the 8-man game

The Mission Bulldogs schedule wasn’t favorable to easing them into their transition from Class B, 11-man to Class C, 8-man in 2017.

In the Bulldogs first four games of the season, they had to play two 8-man powerhouses including Flint Creek and Charlo. The Bulldogs, in their first-ever 8-man game, fell to Flint Creek 58-0 but responded with a 28-26 victory over Victor, a team that made last year’s playoffs.

The Bulldogs dropped their latest game 52-14 to Charlo Friday night at Mission High School.

The Bulldogs, who are now 1-1 in District play, will head to play at Troy Friday night at Troy High School.

The Vikings threw a wrinkle into the Bulldogs plans to shut down the Vikings’ No. 1 offensive threat: Landers Smith.

“They changed some stuff up on us and had Landers in different positions than quarterback because of his thumb and shoulder,” Bulldogs coach Tyler Murray said. “That is exactly what we thought they were going to do. They were a good team, physical and well-coached. They proved they are as good on the field as what we saw on film”

Charlo, a team that finished second in last year’s Class C, 8-man state playoffs, scored early on Mission to make the score 14-0.

The Vikings scored twice with a 5-yard Toby Odom run and a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tyson Petticrew to Landers Smith that gave them a 14-0 lead.

Murray said he was “impressed” with how his team responded. Rather than folding against the powerhouse team that has played 8-man football since the late 50s, they bounced back with two touchdowns of their own.

The Bulldogs came back with a 47-yard touchdown run and even after the Vikings scored on a 29-yard run by Landers Smith, the Bulldogs didn’t fold. The Bulldogs answered with an 8-yard touchdown run by Bosley to conclude the scoring for the Bulldogs.

“When we first got on the field, the kids were a little flat at the start of the game,” Murray said. “They really picked it up and responded. They came out intense from the get-go. I was happy with how the kids responded to adversity against a good team beginning the first quarter.”

The Bulldogs struggled to sustain their momentum against the Vikings for four quarters.

“It was probably a combination of Charlo being Charlo and we tried to use one specific play that worked over and over again,” Murray said. “With this play we scored twice and we got 60-percent of offensive yardage. We just kind of got away from that. I probably called that play 30 times in the game.”

As they prepare to head into the next game against Troy, Murray said his team still has to modify a few things.

“We worked on shoring up our defensive scheme because they will go heavy and spread it out, and they have a couple of different types of defenses,” Murray said. “We have to be ready on offense and really attack them on offense.”

One area that several Class C teams don’t’ have is the ability to pass and run. The Bulldogs have demonstrated the ability to do both, just not in the same game.

“Against Victor we had almost 200 yards passing and less than ten yards rushing,” Murray said. “We’ve had games of both 100 yards passing and 100 yards rushing. If the score doesn’t get as high, we keep running the ball with Gus and some our younger lineman. In the fourth quarter we ran the ball very well. The whole game and total yardage was as deceiving as the score.”

The Bulldogs achieved 133 yards rushing and 79 yards passing in the loss. Gus Bosley had 115 yards on 14 attempts and two touchdown runs. Troy Matt had four receptions for 37 yards and Flint McPherson had 23 yards on two receptions. Troy Mitchell was 10-of-26 for 69 yards in the loss.

Murray, whose team has an opportunity to win its second district game, said his team is headed in the “right direction.”

“When you play a team like that and battle against them, the result could have been quite different,” Murray said. “I am really proud of the way the kids played the whole game and never quit. We are looking good.”