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Northside’s fast start on both sides of the ball ultimately doomed Montevallo in its first-ever region game as a Class 5A school. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The Montevallo Bulldogs had a rough welcome to Class 5A, Region 3 after the Northside Rams put on a dominant performance on both sides of the ball to fuel a 47-14 win on Sept. 6 at Theron Fisher Stadium to kick off region play for both teams.

“They just beat us,” Montevallo head coach Garrett Langer said. “At the end of the day, sometimes you just get beat up front, and we got beat. We got beat up front, we got beat at the linebacker position, we got beat at corner. You name it, we gave it up tonight, and it was just one of those deals, and we’ve got to be better. That’s all there is to it.”

The Rams attacked the Bulldogs from the opening kickoff and rarely relented from there during a blistering first half.

A pre-snap penalty on the first play of the game didn’t stop Northside from taking the ball 29 yards immediately after. The Rams rode the run game in the light rain and ended up punching the ball in from short to go up 7-0 with 9:02 left in the first.

Montevallo couldn’t get past the aggressive Northside pass rush and had to punt the ball away quickly, but the ensuing punt went very short and landed at the Bulldogs 44.

The Montevallo defense nearly got off the field thanks to a hold on a fourth-and-1, but the Rams followed with a 35-yard pass to the 4-yard line, and that led to a goal-line rushing touchdown shortly after to make the lead 14-0.

Each team’s next series went just about the same as the previous one. Dee Cutts’ circus catch on third down couldn’t save the drive before another short punt to the Bulldogs’ own 37, and Northside used a 36-yard run on the first play to set up another 1-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 21-0.

Needing a response, Montevallo quarterback Jordan Ward gave the Bulldogs a shot of life on the ensuing drive after he converted a third-and-5 on his feet.

Later in the drive, Razareo Conwell broke through the middle all the way for a 20-yard touchdown run, putting the Bulldogs on the board and cutting the gap to 21-7.

That run was part of a near-100 yard day for Conwell as he took 16 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown.

However, that momentum didn’t last long. The Rams returned the kickoff to the Montevallo 28 and quickly launched a 25-yard touchdown pass to reclaim their 21-point lead with 9:33 left in the half.

Northside continued to use big first-down gains to set up another 1-yard touchdown run to take a 35-7 lead going into the locker room.

After Conwell got some steam off a pair of long runs to close the half, the Bulldogs recited the same song and dance on offense and quickly punted.

The Rams then punished that on the first play of the drive with a 46-yard rushing touchdown right through the left side blocks. While they missed the point-after, the visitors still extended the lead to 41-7 with 10:09 left in the third.

The game then remained mostly quiet outside of one sequence late in the third quarter. Northside quickly struck after a punt to score off a 51-yard touchdown pass and went up 47-7.

The very next play, Cutts caught the kickoff and took advantage of space to reel off a 92-yard return touchdown, cutting the deficit to 47-14.

That proved to be the final score after the Rams missed a field goal and Montevallo couldn’t get find the end zone again on offense.

Much of the struggles on offense came from an aggressive pass rush that got to Ward and Conwell quickly before plays could develop.

Langer said there were multiple times where the Rams’ pre-snap movement caught them off guard and ultimately led to negative outcomes on plays.

“We knew they were going to bring pressure this week, but they stemmed a lot before the play,” Langer said. “They moved their defensive line a lot before the play, and I think it slowed us down a step. It just led to a little bit of confusion and us playing a step slow, and we looked like it tonight.”

After the game, Langer said that the slow start was what doomed the Bulldogs, especially when Northside started rotating fresh legs in that his team simply didn’t have on the bench.

“Early on, they kind of jumped up on us real quick,” Langer said. “We didn’t respond the way that we needed to, and then it just kind of snowballed on us, and then depth took over. They had a little more depth than we did up front, especially on the offensive and defensive lines and they just wore us down and it got away from us.”

Langer called on his younger players to step up and make up for the numbers disadvantage compared to other teams that Montevallo play in Class 5A.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to play some more younger defensive and offensive lineman,” Langer said. “If we don’t do that, we’re going to struggle because of our depth. It’s going to hurt us in that one (against Demopolis) too because they’re going to roll out with 80-plus kids and we’re rolling out with 45. So, some of our younger guys are going to have to step up.”

Defensively, Brannon Hudson and Cutts tied for the team lead in tackles with seven apiece. K’Erius Cockrum finished with three tackles and one sack.

The Bulldogs slipped to 2-1 with the loss and will now hit the road to take on the defending region champions, the Demopolis Tigers, on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m.

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