Defense digs in to help Bolivar cruise past South Side

BOLIVAR - Offensively, Bolivar did as usual Friday night by scoring more than 40 points.

But defensively, the Tigers were allowing 30.4 points, but they held South Side to one touchdown to pick up a 42-7 victory over the Hawks at Woody Woods Stadium.

The Tigers, who won a squeaker with the Hawks last year 41-39, led 12-7 at the half, but they pitched a shutout defensively in the second half to pull away.

“Our defense really stepped up tonight,” said Bolivar coach Woodrow Lowe. “We practiced them hard all week to prepare for this. [South Side] wore us down a little bit in the first half, but we re-grouped and came back hard in the second half.

“We have had a few injuries on that side of the ball. We lost our leading tackler (Jarion Lewis) early in the season and had to re-group. We had a void to fill for Jarion and sometimes it just takes a little bit to find the answer when something like that happens."

Omar Jones' interception in the red zone stopped the Hawks on their first drive, and his third quarter sack of South Side quarterback Tyler Carver quieted the Hawks offense.

“We had to come out and execute," said Jones about his team's defensive unit. “We knew we had to get to the quarterback and get pressure on him. We played a good game tonight. We felt like we needed to prove something tonight. Just let everyone keep under-estimating us, and we will show them.”

In the third quarter, the Tigers' junior defensive lineman Christian Matthews, the leading tackler in West Tennessee statistically, returned a fumble 53 yards to flip the field and set up the third of running back Correy Brown's four touchdown runs.

“We knew we weren't that far off defensively,” added Coach Lowe. “Two sophomores, Omar Jones and Mark Ross, and junior Colby Warren have had to step up for us on that side of the ball. We fought for four quarters and wore them down. That was our first complete game by our team. We came out in the second half and forced our will.”

Asked about his key interception that kept South Side off the scoreboard until 3:50 of the second quarter, Jones said, “I let him get inside of me, and I had to fight back around, tip it and then catch it."

Quarterback Trey Lowe, a West Virginia commit, added his praise to the defense's effort. “Defense really played well tonight. They don't get enough shine, but they really did their thing tonight.”