By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CENTRE – Piedmont senior running back Jaxson Howard said the Bulldogs were “locked in” heading into their Battle of Highway 9 rivalry game at Cherokee County on Friday night.

He certainly wasn’t kidding.

After the Bulldogs lost by 26 in their season-opener to Jacksonville, Howard led Class 2, No. 4 Piedmont with 111 yards on 18 carries and scored three touchdowns to spoil the debut of Warrior head coach and Piedmont alum Bayley Blanchard. The final was 26-6.

“After that loss Friday against Jacksonville, we came in Monday and we were prepared to win,” Howard said. “We were locked in all week. We had to get it done. That loss against Jacksonville just showed us what we had to do.”

What the Bulldogs (1-1) did was rely on their run game. Junior quarterback Cole Austin also added 101 yards on 24 carries with a score behind what Piedmont coach Jonathon Miller said was an undermanned offensive line against the Warriors (0-1), which features 6-foot-4, 290-pound senior defensive lineman and Louisville commitment Kadin Fife.

“They battled their butts off tonight,” Miller said of his O-line. “They (Cherokee County) were big up front, but I thought out kids fought all night. That’s what we knew they would do because of the high character kids we have.”

Piedmont’s defense battled as well, forcing two fourth-quarter interceptions that sealed the game.

But early on, it appeared as if Cherokee County would set the tone. Following a Piedmont punt, the Warriors drove all the way down to Bulldog 1-yard line, but Jayshawn Stroup fumble was recovered at the 2 by Aliandre Wright.

After a Piedmont penalty backed the Bulldogs up inside the 1, they marched 99 yards in nine plays, capped off by Howard’s first touchdown of the game – a 43-yarder in which he bounced off of would-be tacklers. The try for two failed, but Piedmont held a 6-0 lead with 3:57 remaining in the first quarter.

The Warriors answered on their ensuing drive. Quarterback Tatum Perry connected with tight end Nate Black on a 12-yard touchdown pass with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter. The extra point was no good, keeping the score tied at 6.

The two teams couldn’t get much going offensively in the second quarter, and they headed to the locker rooms with the score even.

Both coaches felt their teams left some missed opportunities out on the field.

“When we’ve got the ball on the 1-yard line, we’ve got to punch it in,” Blanchard said. “We started off really hot. We got it down there, but we’ve just got to execute. That’s what it comes down to. We got down there again later in the game and we didn’t have a mouthpiece in. That was the call, and that kind of killed the drive. Just little bitty things like that we’ve got to work on. We’re going to get it fixed.”

“In the first half we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with penalties,” Miller said. “We had some drives going, but we didn’t have the ball much. We had things going and got costly penalties. They’re a good football team, but we’ve got to clean some stuff up.”

Things got better for the Bulldogs in the second half. Following a Cherokee County punt to open the third quarter, Piedmont went back out in front as Austin capped a 7-play, 63-yard drive with his 2-yard touchdown run. Will Deerman’s extra point made it 13-6 Bulldogs with 7:23 remaining in the third.

Another Warrior punt yielded another Piedmont touchdown. This time, Howard ran in from a yard at the end of the third quarter to make it a 20-6 game.

Wright and Chase Kirkpatrick helped the Bulldogs finish the Warriors off in the fourth quarter. Both picked off Perry, with Kirkpatrick’s interception coming at the Warrior 20-yard line with 1:55 remaining.

Two plays after Kirkpatrick’s interception, Howard ran in for his third and final touchdown. This one from 3 yards with 1:23 to go in the game.

“That’s just a program that’s been rolling for 20 years,” Blanchard said of Piedmont. “A lot of my coaches were building that. We know they’re going to come out and play four quarters. They’re going to make a really deep run in the 2A playoffs. Give credit to them and their coaches. They did a good job.”

Perry led the Warriors by completing 13-of-18 pass attempts for 148 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Stroup led the Warrior ground game with 54 yards on 10 carries.

Austin also completed 10-of-15 pass attempts for 164 yards for the Bulldogs.

Piedmont hosts Ohatchee to begin Class 2A, Region 6 play on Friday, Sept. 4. Cherokee County is at Hayden to open Class 4A, Region 8 action.