The Thomasville Bulldogs won a homecoming thriller over the Carver Tigers on a last-second play stopped by the Bulldogs’ defense.

The Bulldogs freshman quarterback Camren Hill threw a beautiful dime between two Tiger defenders to Wide Receiver Jay Randall to take a 15-14 lead with 2:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the Bulldogs’ first possession of the game, the Tigers’ defense forced a quick three and out on the Bulldogs.

On the Tigers’ first possession of the game, the Bulldogs’ defense made their presence felt. Carver couldn’t maintain the explosive defensive attack of the Bulldogs, which led to two holding penalties for the Tigers.

The Tigers were forced to punt the ball back to the Bulldogs, and the Bulldogs special teams blocked the punt and got a safety to take a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter.

After the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead, both the Tigers and Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going offensively. 

Early in the 2nd quarter, Thomasville’s defense stopped the Tigers’ offense to give the ball back to their offense. On the Bulldogs’ first play of the second quarter, they attempted a flea flicker, which led to an interception by Marquis Davis.

The Tigers got some momentum on their side after the turnover, which led to running back Jamari Riley scoring an 8- yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead.

For the rest of the half, the game turned into a defensive slugfest. Going into halftime the score was 6-2.

Going into the 3rd quarter, the Bulldogs knew they needed to find a rhythm offensively if they wanted to win the game in the second half.

In the middle of the third quarter, the Bulldogs running back DJ Thurman made an incredible catch to the Tigers’ goal line. Seconds after the catch, the Bulldogs got called for unsportsmanlike conduct which moved them back to the 25-yard line.

Lavonte Cole ran the ball down to the 20- yard line, and at that point in the game, Cole took over.

 Cole then made a 12- yard run to give the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter. With the touchdown, the Bulldogs’ offense had found life.

After The Bulldogs’ touchdown, the defense went to another level. The Tigers got called for their fifth holding penalty in the game and the Tigers’ offense was forced to punt the ball back to the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs had momentum on their side in the ball game, and it looked like it would be too much for the Tigers to overcome.

Carver had the ball on their 3-yard line and the unthinkable happened to the Bulldogs’ offense. Jacobi Hatter beat the secondary and made a 97-yard touchdown to give Carver a 12-9 lead. After the Tigers scored off a trick play, they took a 14-9 lead with 9:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Later in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs’ offense was trying to find a groove offensively and they knew they needed to rally a great drive if they wanted to win the ball game.

Thomasville’s defense stopped the Tigers’ offense, which gave the Bulldogs’ offense more chances throughout the fourth quarter.

With three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs’ chance to win the game were running out, and it looked like the game might be going in Carver’s favor. That’s when quarterback Camren Hill threw a 49- yard rocket to Jay Randall between two Carver defenders for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a late 15-14 lead which would go on to win the game.

After the win head coach, Jonathan DeLay was so hyped for his team on how they pulled out the homecoming win over Carver.

“Halftime I told the defense to keep doing the same thing and what we were doing is great and offensively I challenged them we got to run the ball and connect on our shots and win the game on special teams and we did win the game on special teams and we hit one of ours shots at the very end,” he said.