EUFAULA — To say last Friday night’s District 3A-3 opener for the Muldrow Bulldogs and the host Eufaula Ironheads was a nailbiter is an understatement.

The Bulldogs had to score in the waning seconds to force overtime, then ended up with a 42-41 double OT road district victory over the Ironheads at Paul Bell Stadium.

Quarterback Teaguen Collins tied the game with a 22-yard touchdown run with nine seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 28-all to force overtime.

“It was a phenomenal drive by our kids in the two-minute drill,” Muldrow coach Logan Coatney said.

After each team scored a TD in the first overtime, the Ironheads (1-3 overall, 0-1 in District 3A-3 play) regained the lead at 41-35 after the Bulldogs (4-0, 1-0) blocked Eufaula’s extra point try, the Bulldogs scored on their second OT possession as De-Shawn Willson scored on a 4-yard TD run to knot the game at 41-all, then Wyatt Prewett hit the extra point for the winning margin.

For the game, Collins threw for 104 yards and a touchdown, that being a 1-yard TD pass to Tyson Williams, while rushing for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

Willson rushed for 68 yards and scored two TDs, while Jacob Gregory rushed a touchdown.

“Anytime your starting district play, that first district win is monumental advantage for us,” Coatney said. “I thought our kids played extremely well in the first half (in which Muldrow led 15-8). We did about everything right to be able to take a (halftime) lead. That was important. I’m disappointed in the way we executed in the second half. I really expected our kids to come out and continue to put their feet on the gas and get it done, so we allowed Eufaula to kind of stay in it. I’m extremely proud of our young men. We played well. We cleaned up a lot of things (last Friday night) that hurt using the past few weeks. At the end of the day, we went 1-0 last week, and we want to go 1-0 again this week.”

The ’Dogs will celebrate homecoming at 7 p.m. this Friday as they welcome the Checotah Wildcats for another district battle.