Bulldogs try to forget 42-14 beating
Coach Brian Conn wants his Ida Baker Bulldogs to forget about this one.
The Bulldogs (1-2) stumbled early and fell into a 35-7 hole by halftime Friday night. The end result was a 42-14 loss to Class 7A, No. 6-ranked Braden River Friday night at Bulldogs Stadium.
There will be no watching of the game film. Not by the Bulldogs anyway.
“We’ve already decided,” Conn said. “We’re not watching this one. There were some positives, but there are going to be way more negatives.”
Five interceptions, three in the first quarter, and a pounding by the Pirates’ running game were more than the Bulldogs could overcome.
Conn has to hope quarterback Jordan Diggs has an especially short memory. After solid performances in the team’s first two games, Diggs gave up all five of those interceptions Friday.
“It’s tough,” Conn said. “This is the bottom for a quarterback. He didn’t throw the ball well, and he made some bad decisions. We just talked about the decision-making. If the ball comes out of your hand wrong that’s one thing, but if you’re throwing it in a spot you shouldn’t be, that’s on you. He’s going to learn a lot from this. We just have to take what they give us. He’s had a great season up until this point, and I don’t doubt for a second he’ll bounce back.”
Braden River (3-0) got 127 yards and four touchdowns from Raymond Thomas, and ran for 250 yards as a team.
“Turnovers are huge, in any level of football,” Pirates coach Curt Bradley said. “If you can get momentum going on your side, coming to play a really good team at their place a couple of interceptions early by our safety, Demetrius (Lawson), to start the game off was huge for us. It set our offense up in good field position and they capitalized on it.”
The normally potent Baker offense was throttled by the five interceptions.
Baker is the first team to score on Braden River this season. Luke Endsley ran a kickoff back 80 yards for a touchdown and Nick Richards scored in the final seconds when a snap sailed high over the head of Pirates backup quarterback and into the end zone.
The Pirates still have not allowed a defensive score this season.
“It was one of those games where’s it tough to find too many things that were working,” Conn said. “We couldn’t seem to get it going on any drives. It’s tough when you can’t run the ball and making bad decisions throwing the ball. It just puts the defense in a bind.”
Brennan Williams had 70 yards rushing for the Bulldogs, and Rasheed Golden had 73 yards receiving.
“We’ve got a big, huge game next week with Charlotte, and we’re moving on to that starting now,” Conn said.
The game started 20 minutes late as heavy traffic delayed Braden River’s arrival.?
Braden River 14 21 7 0 – 42
Ida Baker 0 7 0 7 – 14
BR – Thomas 8 run (Thoma kick)
BR – Koonce 25 pass from Huesman (Thoma kick)
BR – Thomas 30 run (Thoma kick)
IB – Endsley 80 kickoff return (Montoya kick)
BR – Thomas 33 run (Thoma kick)
BR – Thomas 8 run (Thoma kick)
BR – Salguero fumble recovery (Thoma kick)
IB – Richards fumble recovery (Montoya kick)