The ECI Bulldog football team hosted Portal Friday night and put the bow on homecoming week by defeating the Panthers 41-14. After starting the season with 2 losses, the Bulldogs have reeled off 6 consecutive wins. ECI is currently tied with Screven Co. in the region. ECI is 6-0 with games left against Claxton and Screven Co. The Gamecocks are 5-0 in region with 3 region games remaining against Savannah, Portal and ECI.
ECI took the opening kickoff Friday and used their ground attack driving 68 yards to put the first points on the board. Tyler Foreman plunged over from the 4 to put the Bulldogs up 7-0. All of the Panthers’ points came on two long runs against the Bulldog defense. The first came on Portal’s first drive. Crawford took the handoff and found space on the sidelines for a 40-yard touchdown to tie the score at 7-7.
Ab Marsh scored the first of his two touchdowns during the game on the Bulldogs’ next drive. Marsh found the corner on a counter from 6 yards out for another ECI touchdown. Kennedy’s kick was true, giving the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead. Ab Marsh scored his second touchdown Friday on another 6-yard run. Kick was wide as the half ending with a 20-7 Bulldog lead. The Bulldogs extended their lead early in the third quarter. Jackson Kennedy hit Tyler Foreman on a short pass which turned into a 30-yard ECI touchdown to put the home team up 26-7.
The Panthers hit their second long run of the game late in the third quarter when Fulcher called his own number. On fourth and 3 from their own 31-yard line, the Portal quarterback followed his center through the hole and raced 69 yards for the Panthers’ second touchdown.
Tyler Foreman extended the Bulldog lead to 34-14 late in the third. Foreman took a Kennedy handoff and scored his second touchdown from 22 yards out. Jackson Kennedy hit a leaping, double covered Daon Bethea in the right corner of the endzone in the fourth quarter, nailing the coffin shut, to put the Bulldogs up 41-14. Ab Marsh was the rushing leader for the game, carrying the ball 14 times for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Season rushing leader, Tyler Foreman ended the game with 98 yards with 2 touchdowns. Jackson Kennedy spread the ball around hitting 4 different receivers going 7-11 for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns. Catching Kennedy passes were Chase Johnson 3 for 42 yards, Tyler Foreman 2 for 42 yards with 2 TDs, Daon Bethea 1 for 30 and a TD, and Davis Johnson 1 for 12 yards.
The Bulldogs have this Friday off and will return to action on October 24, when they travel to Claxton to take on the Tigers.
