Despite all the adversity that the Muldrow Bulldogs had to endure in their home finale against the Locust Grove Pirates in a District 3A-3 game Friday night at Marty Rogers Field, the ’Dogs still had a chance to either force overtime or even win the game.
Unfortunately, when the Bulldogs needed to make defensive stops they could not as the Pirates spoiled Muldrow’s Senior Night game by winning 42-27 to send the ’Dogs to their seventh straight loss.
“I thought our kids played extremely hard,” Muldrow coach Logan Coatney said. “Execution was there for the most part. They had some explosive plays in the first half. There were some calls that didn’t go our way, but I thought the (officiating) crew did a good job.”
Down 34-14 after three quarters, the Bulldogs (1-8 overall, 0-5 in district play) stopped the Pirates (2-6, 1-3) on downs at the Muldrow 7 with 11:10 left to play in the game.
On the ensuing drive, the pass-play connection of quarterback Reid Sutton and wide receiver Trenton Irvan clicked as they hit on four pass plays, with the last one being a 18-yard touchdown pass with 7:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. Antonio Fujarte had his extra point blocked, keeping the Bulldogs down 3420.
The Pirates recovered Muldrow’s onside kick at the Locust Grove 48, but the Bulldogs’ defense stepped up when it needed to as Teaguen Collins picked off a pass and returned it 45 yards to the Locust Grove 47 with 5:22 left to play.
Two plays later, Ashton Foster rambled 28 yards for a touchdown. Fujarte’s PAT cut the Muldrow deficit to 3427 with 4:37 left.
With all three timeouts in their possession, the Bulldogs decided to squib kick it and play defense. They had two opportunities to stop the Pirates on downs and failed both times as Locust Grove sealed the deal with a touchdown and a successful twopoint conversion to up its advantage to 42-27 with about 1:30 remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs tried to mount a scoring drive, but Sutton’s pass was picked off in the end zone with a second left.
After the ’Dogs were unsuccessful on their opening drive, the Pirates scored on their initial drive of the game, scoring on a 38-yard TD pass and a successful two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead with 9:53 left in the first quarter.
After stopping Muldrow once more, Locust Grove used trickery to get themselves back into the end zone as a fake punt play netted the Pirates about 40 yards to the Muldrow 44 with 5:49 remaining in the period. The Pirates capped the drive with a 3-yard TD run with 3:12 left in the quarter. The two-point pass play failed, keeping Locust Grove ahead 14-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Pirates tried a pooch kick, which was fielded by Jermauree Palmer at his own 32. He headed to the home sidelines and virtually went untouched for a 68-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 3:01 remaining in the period. Fujarte’s extra point cut Muldrow’s deficit in half at 14-7 after the first 12 minutes.
“Jermauree is an athlete,” Coatney said. “Was it designed? Absolutely not, but he’s a heck of an athlete. He made a heck of a play. Anytime you bust out with an explosive play and get some points on the board, momentum kind of tilts your way and sparks some enthusiasm. That was a big positive for us right there.”
The ’Dogs got the game tied at 14 with 2:31 left before halftime on a 16-yard run by Jacob Gregory. Fujarte’s PAT knotted the game at 14.
Muldrow’s kickoff was a squib kick that the Pirates took over at their own 37. Locust Grove broke the tie right before halftime on a 37yard touchdown pass play with 1:54 left before halftime. The two-point conversion pass play failed as it was picked off by Foster, keeping Locust Grove ahead 2014 at halftime.
Another errant Muldrow kickoff to begin the second half set up the Pirates at their own 45. They capped that drive with a 22-yard touchdown pass. The twopoint conversion pass was successful, upping their lead to 28-14 with 8:55 left in the third quarter.
The Pirates picked off Sutton at the Muldrow 37 and returned it 14 yards to the Muldrow 23 with 8:01 remaining in the quarter.
Just 67 seconds later, the Pirates scored on a 13-yard TD run. The two-point conversion failed, keeping Locust Grove in front 34-14 after three quarters.
“We practiced for stuff we thought we’d see, and they got into a few formations that we hadn’t seen,” Coatney said. “I still thought we adjusted well to it. We just didn’t make plays tonight. They were the better team tonight.”
On the ensuing Muldrow drive, the Bulldogs moved down field, aided by both a 30-yard pass play from Sutton to Irvan and a personal foul penalty on Locust Grove to help the ’Dogs get as deep as the Locust Grove 28. However, a personal foul on Muldrow stymied the Bulldogs, who were stopped on downs at the Locust Grove 29 with 3:47 left in the third quarter. The Pirates would drive down the field only to miss out on a TD on a penalty and getting stopped on downs at the Muldrow 7 in the opening minute of the final period.
In the second half, things got a little chippy between the two teams, and the end result was two Bulldogs being ejected, meaning they cannot play in next Friday night’s season finale in Tulsa against Lincoln Christian.
“We had some character issues that shot down our efforts to get back in it in the fourth (period),” Coatney said.
