By COLLIN MAXWELL

For The Washington Daily News

 

The Community Youth Football League continued Saturday morning with a 10U Division matchup between the Washington Colts and the Belhaven Bulldogs.

With both teams looking for their first victory of the season, it was sure to be a heated contest. The Colts started the game with some ball handling issues despite some success running the ball. Three times on the first drive a Colts player coughed up the ball. However, the Bulldogs were unable to take advantage of these miscues.

After Washington’s opening drive stalled, Belhaven’s offense finally got on the field, only turn the ball over immediately when James Jordan made a nice defensive play to force a fumble.

With the ball on the 12-yard line, the Colts seemed in prime position to score. However, they would squander the opportunity by going four and out on the drive before turning the ball over on downs.

Washington’s defense once again came to the rescue. With their backs up against the goal line, the Bulldogs attempted to pitch the ball to the right side. Bazeer Hawkins blasted through the line and pounced on the ball for a defensive touchdown. Up 6-0 after the score, the Colts successfully completed a two-point conversion with a pass from Hodges Manning to Kentari Leathers, making it 8-0.

Belhaven got the ball with a chance to drive down the field and tie the score before halftime.  But the Bulldogs continued to be beleaguered by misfortune, as they turned the ball over for the third time in as many plays.

The Colts offense made quick work of things on the next drive, as they marched down the field on three plays, including a 13-yard connection from Manning to Leathers and a spectacular 19-yard run by the shifty Jonathan Fields that ended with him in the end zone. Another successful two-point conversion made the score 16-0 Colts.

The second half of the game was marked by strong defensive performances from both teams.

Things became very interesting towards the end of the game when a seemingly frustrated Bulldogs coach got into an intense argument with one of the referees. This incident lead to three penalty flags being thrown and the coach’s eventual ejection from the field.

Once things calmed down, the Bulldogs took one final snap before the game ended.

With the final whistle, the Colts players rushed the field in celebration of their first victory. With strong performances by defenders Hawkins and Jordan, who were all over the field forcing and recovering fumbles, and excellent running by Fields, who finished with nice carries for 59 yards and a touchdown, it was no surprise Washington was able to come out ahead in the end.

The win improves the Colts to 1-2 on the season and will face Titan Green in Greenville next week, while the Bulldogs drop to 0-3 entering a bye week.