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Bulldogs lose big to Trojans 49-19

alex topor, the meadville tribune, pa.
·5 min read

Oct. 8—McDowell was too big, too fast and too efficient for Meadville.

The Bulldogs lost 49-19 at Bender Field on Friday in a non-region bout, the team's first loss of the season.

"It was good for us," Meadville head coach Ray Collins said. "I felt like we needed that game and to face a team of that caliber so we know where we're at and what we need to do going forward."

McDowell's talent was evident from the kickoff. The Trojans orchestrated an 81-yard drive that culminated with a five-yard Artis Simmons rushing touchdown.

The Trojans opted for an onside kick, recovered it, and took over on the 48-yard line. Eight plays later and McDowell's Christian Santiago burst in from one yard out and McDowell led 14-0 less than six minutes into the game.

"McDowell is a high-caliber football team. You can see they're very efficient on offense and gave our defense fits all night long," Collins said. "They have a lot of athletes out there."

Meadville's offense took the field for the first time with a 14-point deficit. The 'Dogs worked methodically down the field and Khalon Simmons scored a five-yard touchdown with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

Of the other side, McDowell wasted zero time. The Trojans ran a no-huddle offense that kept Meadville on its toes. Simmons had room to run behind an offensive line anchored by Penn State University commit Cooper Cousins. On passing downs, quarterback Ben Moore was efficient and got rid of the ball quickly.

McDowell took a 21-6 lead after Moore's one-yard rush.

"No. 55 (Cousins) is good, a very dominant lineman. I felt at times our defensive linemen would get in the gap or the backfield and overran the play. We missed tackles in the back field. I thought we could have had a lot more tackles in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage," Collins said. "I thought Mike Richards called a really good game, the game plan was solid. We just didn't execute it the way we intended."

Meadville answered when Simmons scored his second touchdown late in the second quarter. Less than a minute later, McDowell's Simmons scored his second touchdown of the half and gave the Trojans a 35-12 lead at the halfway point.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a lot in that first half," Collins said. "We missed assignments on both sides of the ball and we didn't execute on offense. Defensively, we just didn't tackle well. We had a rough night."

McDowell added two scores to its lead in the second half. Ray Jackson caught a 16-yard touchdown from Moore and Bobby Blue had a two-yard rushing touchdown.

The Meadville offense threatened to score early in the third quarter. The Bulldogs were at the 5-yard line, but a fumble, back-to-back negative plays and a holding call pushed the line of scrimmage back to the 26.

On Meadville's last possession, Simmons scored a 48-yard touchdown with about 1:30 left in the game. Meadville was out-gained 490-326. The Bulldogs rushed for 244 yards. Simmons led the way with 165 yards and three touchdowns while Brady Walker had 102.

"Offensively we were able to move the ball on them — that wasn't the issue. The issue was during drives we'd have penalties that would set us back, whether it was a holding or a false start. Then we did some things on offense, we didn't execute in critical moments in the game," Collins said. "We also created some extra possessions for McDowell. Certainly the last thing we need to do is give their offense, which was playing very well, extra possessions, but we found a way to do that."

Meadville had three turnovers in the game.

For McDowell, Simmons ran for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Moore had 62 on the ground and 150 through the air. McDowell is 5-2 overall on the season.

Meadville is 6-1 overall. The Bulldogs will host Franklin next week in a Region 4 matchup.

Despite the loss, Collins is proud of the way his Class 4A team played against Class 6A McDowell.

"You have to look at the positives. Our guys fought hard for four quarters. They didn't quit at any point in that game, they kept fighting and fighting," Collins said. "We knew McDowell was good and we knew they'd come in here hungry after their defeat last week at Prep so we knew we were gonna get a pretty fired up, determined football team and that's exactly what we got."

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McDowell 14 21 7 7 — 49

Meadville 6 6 0 7 — 19

First Quarter

McDowell — Artis Simmons 5 yard run (Alex Sontheimer Xp good).

McDowell — Christian Santiago 1 yard run (Xp good).

Meadville — Khalon Simmons 5 yard run (Xp no good).

Second Quarter

McDowell — Ben Moore 1 yard run (Xp good).

McDowell — Ben Moore 1 yard run (Xp good).

Meadville — Khalon Simmons 11 yard run (2 point failed).

McDowell — Artis Simmons 6 yard run ( Xp good).

Third Quarter

McDowell — Ray Jackson 16 yard catch from Ben Moore (Xp good).

Fourth Quarter

McDowell — Bobby Blue 3 yard run (Xp good).

Meadville — Khalon Simmons 48 yard run (Oliver Przepiora Xp good).

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: McDowell — Artis Simmons 20-221, Ben Moore 7-62, Bobby Blue 5-37, Christian Santiago 2-18, Dominic Berarducci 3-2, Eric Neavins 1-0; Meadville — Khalon Simmons 20-165, Brady Walker 16-102, Amarri Lewis 2-1, Gavin Longstreth 3-(-24).

PASSING: McDowell — Ben Moore 16-21 150 yards 1 td, Blaze Myers 0-1; Meadville — Gavin Longstreth 3-4 43 yards, Khalon Simmons 1-3 39 yards 2 int.

RECEIVING: McDowell — Ray Jackson 7-76 1 td, Christian Santiago 2-11. Artis Simmons 1-5, Trey Goodwine 3-28, Nick Vogan 1-17, Nick DeSanto 1-10, James Zigler 1-3; Meadville — Jordan Young 1-12, Brighton Anderson 1-39, Khalon Simmons 1-14, Ryan Reichel 1-17.

Records: McDowell 5-2; Meadville 6-1.

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.