Troy Vital ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldawgs rolled to a 33-0 win over the Bobcats on Friday night at Bulldawg Stadium.
Cove came out looking sluggish, allowing Central to recover a surprise onside kick to start the game, then had timing issues on its first drive.
But after that, it was an easy victory.
The Bulldawgs defense was superb. The Bobcats never got inside the Cove 20-yard line and got past the Bulldawgs 45 only once, when they recovered the onside kick.
On its second possession, the Bulldawgs’ offense started to click, striking when Vital went 50 yards untouched up the middle for the game’s first score with 5:16 left in the opening quarter.
A fumble recovery on the Bobcats’ next possession gave Cove excellent field position, and senior quarterback Robert Griffin and Vital moved the Bulldawgs 43 yards in six plays for a 12-0 lead.
Cove should have scored again on its next drive.
Griffin had Donel Morrison wide open over the middle on a play-action pass but overthrew the 6-6 tight end, and the Dawgs had to punt.
Cove added two more first-half touchdowns, one on a 61-yard punt return by sophomore Josh Boyce and the other on a 48-yard pass from Griffin to sophomore Tommy McLean for a 27-0 halftime lead.
The Bobcats, who were limited to just 77 yards of total offense, looked like a beaten team in the second half, opting to just run safe dive handoffs right up the middle.
Cove obliged on its end as well, not doing much more. On the first possession of the second half, however, Griffin connected with Morrison on another play-action pass over the middle. This one went for 40 yards to the Bobcats’ 30.
The drive stalled shortly after, and Cove attempted for a 44-yard field goal from freshman Victor Espinoza.
But a bad snap messed up the timing, and Espinoza’s attempt - while it had the distance - went wide.
Cove’s running game added a fourth-quarter touchdown by Vital to get to the final tally.
The Bulldawgs could have piled it on their final possession. On third down from the Bobcats’ 43, Griffin scrambled away from pressure and saw Chris Miller open in the end zone. But the pass bounced off Miller’s shoulder pads for an incompletion to force a punt.
Griffin was 8-of-16 passing for 137 yards and rushed for an additional 28.
The Bulldawgs, who advanced to the Class 4A Division I state championship game last season, will go on the road next week to face Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
