The Tioga Bulldogs earned their second win of the season, running roughshod over the Trenton Tigers en route to a 72-0 victory Sept. 26.
The Bulldogs piled up over 600 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns in their district opener.
“This was the next big step for us,” said Zach Birdwell, Tioga athletic director and head football coach. “We did what we were supposed to do and came out and played up to our standard, especially on the execution side of it. Being able to keep their score to zero, being able to score just about every drive ourselves, and getting 60 [points] in the first half was a good step in the right direction, execution-wise, on both sides of the ball.
It was all Tioga from the starting whistle, with the Bulldogs opening the game with three straight onside kicks, recovering the first two and putting themselves up 16-0 within the first 30 seconds of the game when quarterback Greeley McAden connected with utility players Jake David and Jaxson Hurst for two 40+ yard bombs.
McAden connected with Hurst on a short bubble screen for the Bulldogs' third touchdown and flipped the ball forward to Justin Arrington to put Tioga up 32-0.
Tioga continued to pour on the points, finding the end zone five more times in the first half, with touchdown receptions by Hurst, Hayden Roberts and Jonathan Hernandez and a rushing score by McAden, to send the teams into the half with Tioga up 65-0.
The Bulldogs added 7 points in the second half to seal the 72-0 victory over their district opponent.
McAden led Tioga with 481 yards passing and 9 total touchdowns, with his top targets being Hurst, who finished with 5 catches for 144 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Hernandez, who had 3 catches for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“This week was probably one of our best weeks of practices all year,” Hurst said. “Everybody was there on time, and we were all locked in every single day and executing everything well. I think perfect practice helps us every single week, and we're going to keep improving on that and put even more numbers up.”
The Bulldogs’ defense also had another strong performance, collecting their first shutout of the season.
“Like Jaxson said, we really just locked in this week,” Tioga defensive lineman Caleb Moncrief said. “Nobody was slacking, and we were making sure we were flying to the ball during practice and getting any turnovers we could against the scout team, and our scout team put in the work being the best this week.”
Birdwell spoke highly of his team’s focus in the district opener.
“I don't know if I've ever seen a team kick off first and score twice in the first 14 seconds of a game,” he said. “We came out with a shark-type mindset, looking to eat, and we did, and we really didn't ever let up. We're going to continue to find ways for us to get better, but the biggest thing is we're 1-0 in district, where the games really matter, and we're going to enjoy it for 24 hours, and then it's on to undefeated 5-0 Tom Bean on the road next week.”
