EL CAMPO — The Hitchcock Bulldogs offense wasn’t perfect against Taft on Saturday night. But when you score seven touchdowns on 10 possessions, near perfect is good enough.
Hitchcock (5-4, 1-0) downed the Taft Bulldogs (7-4, 0-1) 49-35 Saturday night in the bidistrict round of the 2A playoffs. The victory sets up a rematch between the Bulldogs and the team that eliminated the team from the post season a year ago — George West.
Hitchcock’s near-perfect night got off to a hot start as the Bulldogs scored touchdowns on each of its four first-half possessions. As is the norm, quarterback Morris Tuck, running back Darius Dotson and wide receiver Devante Provost factored in each scoreboard-changing drive.
“All night we didn’t feel like we couldn’t move the ball on them,” Tuck, who completed 80 percent of his passes, said. “Getting (Dotson and Provost) going is huge. When those guys stay going our offense stays going.”
Dotson had 144 all-purpose yards, including a 62-yard touchdown reception, had two scores and averaged 7.5 yards per carry on the night.
Provost had one touchdown catch, but several key receptions, to keep Hitchcock drives alive. He had four catches for 62 yards and a score and had seven carried for 73 yards.
Tuck was 25 of 30 passing for 361 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception. He also had two scoring runs of his own.
The Bulldogs opening scoring drive was capped by a Tuck 2-yard scoring run, but the true highlight was a 53-yard dash by Dotson, who hurdled a Taft defender while running down the sideline en route to setting up Hitchcock in the shadow of the goal line.
After Tuck scored on a touchdown run, Taft scored a touchdown on a 10-play, 66-yard drive that was aided by a Hitchcock personal foul penalty, but the Bulldogs struck back. Tuck found Provost for a 24-yard touchdown pass that capped a 12-play, 62-yard drive with 4:03 left in the half.
The Bulldogs padded the first half lead when Dotson turned a Tuck shuttle pass into a 62-yard scoring run that, after the extra point, gave Hitchcock a 28-7 lead with 1:07 left in the first half.
Aided by a passing interference call with no time left on the clock, Taft pulled within 14 when R.J. Garza found Ryan Flores in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.
The second half mirrored the first half with the Bulldogs scoring on the first drive as Dotson ran a score in from 9 yards out. Taft answered with an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended on a touchdown run.
Hitchcock’s first nonscoring possession of the night came with 4:57 left in the third quarter, when a drive stalled and the Bulldogs punted.
No matter, the Bulldogs forced a Taft punt and scored five plays later when Tuck tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Scotty Williams.
Tuck threw another touchdown when he found Bryan Smith in the end zone for a 6-yard score in the fourth quarter.
The only other miscue on offense came when Tuck tossed an interception as the Bulldogs threatened to score with six minutes left in the game.
Hitchcock Coach Gary Carney said overall he was pleased with his team’s performance, but 113 yards in penalties was frustrating, especially since two of those fouls help set up Taft scores. He said two the struggle to stop the run — Taft had 304 yards rushing — was also a concern.
