Bulldogs strike early, seal game late

Published 1:02 am Saturday, November 1, 2014

The King’s Fork High School Bulldogs have successfully put themselves in position to set a school record for regular season wins next week.

To do this, they had to get their seventh win against host Hickory High School on Friday night, and they did by the score of 37-14.

“We played a real solid first half, got a 30 to zip lead,” Bulldogs coach Joe Jones said.

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Unfortunately, the second half had a different theme.

King’s Fork looked to continue its momentum with a touchdown on its first drive, but then it was called back on a motion penalty.

The Hawks scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter.

“We put the ball on the ground, and they scored again,” Jones said, referring to a 47-yard touchdown pass.

The coach said it made what had been a blowout almost interesting again, but the KF defense cracked down, and senior defensive back Kane Miskel sealed the win for Bulldogs with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got to keep our foot on the gas, and I put that on me for not being more motivating at halftime,” Jones said. “But we’re going to fix that this week.”

King’s Fork did what it needed to do against Hickory’s significant size to get the win.

“We felt we could use our speed and quickness and we did, did a good job of running the ball, mixing it up a little bit,” Jones said.

Bulldogs junior feature back Deshaun Wethington had 14 carries for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

But some other King’s Fork players got into the act of running the football, as well. Senior slotback TyQuan Weston ran for a 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

“Quadarius Boyd had a good night on both sides of the ball,” Jones said.

Boyd, a junior defensive back/slotback, was especially active on offense, carrying the ball four times for 42 yards, and he got the Bulldogs on the board in the first quarter with a 25-yard touchdown reception from junior quarterback Ryan Kluck.

King’s Fork (7-2) hosts Western Branch High School (7-2) next Friday night to close the regular season.