BENNETTSVILLE—The Marlboro County Bulldogs were blanked at home against the Dillon Wildcats on a rainy Friday night.

The Bulldogs lost 44-0. Conference play starts this week as the Bulldogs host the Darlington Falcons for homecoming.

Head Coach Quin McCollum said things happen in the game of football and the Bulldogs are experiencing the gamut of it. The team can move the ball, even reaching the red zone, but punching it in for the score seems to be the problem.

“We’ve been in the red zone a few times, we just haven’t been able to punch it in. We’re working on those things every week,” he said. “One of the things we’re excited about is to be able to celebrate homecoming with the community, but we realize we have a game to play.”

And not that the other games didn’t count, the way the Bulldogs play in their conference determines if the team will make it to the playoffs, which they did last year.

“We are 2-3,” McCollum said. “We lost to two quality opponents, it’s not the end of the world. Oceanside played for a state championship last year and so did Dillon. Two good teams, we’re rebuilding and there you have it.”

McCollum said playing quality teams allows the team to learn from their mistakes and go into conference play with a renewed focus. “We make sure we’re well prepared for what’s going to happen in the region.”

McCollum said the Bulldogs are going to have to be aware of Darlington’s passing game because they’re a team that likes to throw the ball.

The Bulldog defense hasn’t had an interception this season, but the defense has shown promise against the run in flashes.

The Falcons defense, according to McCollum, play with a four-man front and probably will put six men in the box and play a cover two. The good thing about that he says is that the teams are pretty evenly matched on the front.

“There’s not anybody that’s tremendously larger,” he said. And the Bulldogs won’t be facing a five-star high school player this week like they did against Dillon.

“We’re going play our best football and try to give them a show,” McCollum said. “We’re going to go out and play hard-core, blue-collar Bulldog football.”