King’s Fork rode the wave of a strong second half to propel them to a 21-3 road win over Hickory on Friday night.

Bulldogs senior wide receiver Davon Grayson opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 20-yard scoring reception from junior quarterback Uriah Adams. It was the full extent of the offensive output in the first half, however.

“Defense kept us in it early,” King’s Fork head coach Joe Jones said.

The Bulldogs fumbled the ball at the Hawks’ two-yard line, destroying the opportunity to score six, but the defense took the opportunity to score two a few minutes later when senior linebacker DeShawn Johnson forced a safety.

Jones expected the Hawks to run it at them on offense, providing a challenge for his team, which is built for speed, but he was surprised by their game plan.

“They proved me wrong,” he said. “A couple plays early (they) tried to run right at us, throughout the game tried to mix some in, but they ended up trying to spread it out and threw it a bunch against us. They threw a bunch and, like I said, we played well defensively.”

The score was 8-3 at halftime.

“8-3 at half sounds more like a baseball score,” Jones said. “We really picked it up on offense (in the) second half.”

The rest of the game’s scoring took place in the third quarter as Bulldogs senior running back Charles Clark ran the ball in from eight yards out to make it 15-3.

Later, Grayson took a shovel pass from Adams 38 yards for the final score of the game. The Bulldogs missed their second extra point of the game to leave their final tally at 21.

Adams was active on both sides of the ball, going eight for 13 in the air for 120 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He also ran 17 times for 71 yards. Grayson ended up with six catches for 108 yards.

Clark had eight carries for 63 yards.

The Bulldogs generated 294 yards against the Hawks’ defense.

King’s Fork (5-2, 4-2) stays on the road next week, facing undefeated Grassfield.