Bulldogs head to Conway undefeated

LAURINBURG, N.C.—The Marlboro County Bulldogs win over Scotland High School matched the number of wins MCHS had last season. At 3-o, the Bulldogs are heading to Conway this Friday.

Head coach Cory Johnson said the Fighting Scots were the best team the Bulldogs have played thus far and “the kids did a good job of responding to adversity during the game. I thought that we did a good job of making adjustments as the game was going on.”

The Bulldogs pounded the ball through Scotland’s defense, rushing for 393 yards and scoring 40 points to win the battle of the border by a score of 28-40.

“It was a great win for our community, our team and our school,” Johnson said.

Though Johnson coaches and the team plays by the motto of one rep at a time, one play at a time, the history of this rivalry wasn’t lost on the coach.

“I know the rivalry and the battle of the border,” he said. So, he wasn’t surprised to see Pate Stadium packed with Bulldogs fans. “We had more fans out there than Scotland did, I know that for sure.”

Johnson said leading up to Friday night, he couldn’t walk through Walmart with his family without someone asking him about the game. “I knew it was going to be a big-time environment and I’m glad our kids got a chance to experience it.”

And the Bulldog faithful wasn’t disappointed for a moment. Donovan Pauling-Outlaw ran a kickoff into the end zone with 9:57 in the first quarter to put the first points on the board. After going up 7-0, the defense forced a three-and-out by Scotland. But the Fighting Scots would score in the first quarter, tying the score 7-7 for a brief period of time. But when the first quarter ended, the Bulldogs were up 21-7 over Scotland. It looked as if the team was going to continue their blowout ways, but the Fighting Scots put up a fight in the second half. The Bulldogs were leading 27-7 at halftime.

Scotland scored two touchdowns in the third, bringing the score to 33-21. But the Fight Scots defense didn’t have an answer for Marlboro’s running game.

“You know, you need to face challenges early in the season to see where you need to grow at,” Johnson said, saying that the Marlboro—Scotland game was the first four quarter and the Bulldogs played so far.

In the first two games of the season, the Bulldogs had victory in hand before halftime.

“Our kids will fight for four quarters,” Johnson said. “I saw them respond to adversity for the first time, I think they did a good job of that. Culturally, we’re in the right direction. There was no complaining when things went the wrong way. There was no blaming anybody. And I’m going to say this too, I think we had more fun than the other team. Not just because we won, but we were looser than them (during) pregame. And we did exactly what I told them, we didn’t have anything to lose. We were a 3-7 team last year and they were 11-2, we have nothing to lose and let’s just play.”

Johnson said his defensive player of the week is senior Jahdon Covington, who racked up seven solo tackles, three assisted tackles. The offensive player of the week is Donavan Pauling-Outlaw, Johnson said. Pauling-Outlaw had three carries for 196 yards and two touchdowns. “Those guys did extremely well and were the x-factors in the game. There were a bunch of people that played really well. I want to shout out the offensive line, they don’t never get as much credit as they deserve.”

Johnson said the team couldn’t rush for over 400 yards without the O-line handling business. And they’re a young crew, so the Bulldogs are set up front for another two years.

At the end of the game, Johnson received a water bucket salute, as he used to be on the Fighting Scots’ staff.

Now, the Bulldogs’ focus turns to the Conway Tigers. The Tigers are coming off a 20-16 victory over the Cheraw Braves, which was their first win of the season.

“They are extremely well coached, they’re disciplined, they play really well on special teams,” Johnson said of the Tigers. “They’re a good tackling team.”

Conway’s head coach, Josh Pierce, worked on the Bulldog coaching staff from 2015 to 2019.

“We can’t let up, we got to take it one play at a time, one rep at a time and that starts with today’s practice,” Johnson said.

The Bulldogs have two more non-region games and a bye before getting into region play.

Friday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m. at Conway High, 2201 Church St., Conway.