Interstate battle brewing

BENNETTSVILLE— The Bulldogs home opener is another rivalry game as the Fighting Scots cross the border to battle the Dogs.

Last year when Marlboro County defeated Scotland High School, it came in the waning minutes of the game in Laurinburg, N.C.

Though the Bulldogs started the game with a 19-0 lead, collecting three interceptions and forcing a punt on the Fighting Scots first four possessions of the game.

The Bulldogs had 461 yards of total offense for the night last year and Scotland only gained 207 yards of offense. But Head Coach Quin McCollum isn’t resting on the laurels of last year’s win.

“I would hope that it’s different,” McCollum said. “When you’re playing against a team as formible as these guys, you know Coach [Richard] Bailey, does an outstanding job of coaching. They have a rich and historic tradition.”

And he acknowledges that the Marlboro County/Scotland rival is historic as well. Bailey weighed in on the rivalry, telling the Laurinburg Exchange this week: “We haven’t beaten them in games that we probably should have; even when we’ve beaten them, we probably haven’t beaten them to the degree people think we should have. And so, that part is a little bit of just being a rivalry game. With rivalries, you could throw the records out; the people play a lot harder, and it means a lot to people.”

McCollum said one of the keys to beating Scotland is playing football for 60 minutes. “You can’t take anything for granted, you can’t take the offense for granted, you can’t take the defense for granted. You have to take practice seriously, you have to take your special teams seriously. It’s going to be a game. We’re going to have to be at our best Friday night to bring this out. The thing that I’m hoping is we can get this big Bulldog turnout for Bulldog Nation.”

McCollum said the Fighting Scots are athletic and have proven that they can score, as they’ve put up 66 points in their first two games. “We’re just hoping we can stop them from scoring like that,” he said. Scotland’s strength seems to come on the ground as the team rushed for 301 yards against Terry Sanford, however, the passing game didn’t go for 100 yards, according to statistics from Maxpreps.com

Because the Bulldogs are a threat in the air and on the ground, they pose a problem for many defenses.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. at McAlpine Stadium on Friday. McCollum has asked participants from the Under the Lights Camp to wear their white camp t shirts and run out on the field with the team. The kids who participated will get to spend the first five minutes of the game on the track.

The Laurinburg Exchange contributed to this report.