Bulldawgs look to get back in win column tonight against Eagles

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

That bad taste in the mouths of the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs’ football players and coaches can be washed away with a win over the Georgetown Eagles tonight in the Bulldawgs’ home opener at Bulldawg Stadium.
Mistakes and miscues derailed the Dawgs chances of securing a win last Thursday on the road against Round Rock Stony Point, but the Dawgs have a chance to right the ship against a Georgetown team also reeling from a season-opening loss in their close 35-31 loss to Belton last Friday.
Just like the Bulldawgs, the Eagles return experience at the quarterback position in senior Darson Herman, but also like Cove, Georgetown has to replace a lot of other spots in the offensive backfield.
The Eagles lost a lot of players from last year’s 8-2, 6-1 playoff team. Some key losses for Georgetown were the senior running back duo of Nate Denney and Ryan Eady who combined for 1,564 yards and 18 touchdowns on 179 carries. Senior Devin Ross is the only returning back with any real numbers. He had 282 yards on 28 carries. 
Herman had a solid 2020 season with 1,609 passing yards and 17 touchdowns on 108 of 167 pass attempts. He also was the third runner with 386 yards and nine touchdowns on 64 carries, so it will be important for the Dawgs to keep him in check.
Last week in the opener against Belton, Herman scored on a couple of touchdown passes of 36 and 65 yards and ran in another from 61 yards out to give the Eagles a 31-28 lead with time winding down in the contest.
The Eagles also lost all eight of their top receivers from a year ago so their looking for playmakers out wide. Sophomore running back Andrew Petter was the recipient of one of Herman’s TD pass while senior Hayden Doering took it 65 yards to the house. 
The Bulldawgs want to eliminate last week’s miscues and build on the things that were successful for them against Stony Point.
One such aspect was the running game led by junior bruiser Craig Brown; along with senior speedsters Malcom Roberts and Bra’Dyn Brooks-Smith. All three had strong performances in week one with Brown notching 121 yards on 15 carries, Roberts scoring twice on runs of nine and 15 yards and Brooks-Smith returning a kickoff 82 yards for a score.
Richey also had some highlights on some runs and pass plays to sophomore Demetrius Pearce and senior Wyatt Nelson. If Richey can clean up the interceptions, the special teams can eliminate the mistakes and the defense can stop the big plays, the Bulldawgs have a chance to exact a little revenge on the Eagles after losing 38-14 to the Eagles on the road last year.

LDVB suffers tough loss to Liberty Hill 3-2
After 20 days in the non-district schedule, the Lady Dawgs have moved to 15-13 overall with their 3-2 (16-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 11-15) loss to Class 5A no. 14 Liberty Hill on the road Tuesday night.
Senior Kyra Gaston had a double-double in the loss with 11 kills and 15 blocks to lead the Lady Dawgs in both categories. Senior Jiya Edwards also had 11 kills and four blocks.
Senior Emma Wasiak finished with 46 digs 34 serves received to lead the back-row defense and junior Jakhi Smith had 36 assists to lead the offense.
The Lady Dawgs return to the road tonight to face Leander Glenn before returning to Bulldawg Gymnasium on Tuesday for their final non-district clash before opening District 12-6A play in Temple next Friday.