Bulldogs Dominate Walker in a 41-3 Romp

DORA — With region play pushed to the side for one week, Horace Roberts Field in Dora played host to one of Walker County's most heated rivalries Friday night as Walker and Dora squared off. The Bulldogs proved to be rude hosts as they dominated the Vikings 41-3.

Dora head coach Johnny Wright said the win was
“great” for the community. Story continued

“This is great for the people of Dora,” Wright said. “This game is so big for some that they would rather beat Walker than win a state championship. We played a tremendous game. I'm proud of our players and our coaches. The coaching staff had the kids prepared and put them in the right position, and then the kids went out and made the plays. You can't ask for anything more.”

The Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 in Class 4A, Region 5) finished with 499 total yards.

The Dora ground attack accounted for 302 of those yards.

Sophomore running back Lavertis Towns led the Bulldogs on the ground with 131 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. Towns also caught three balls for 32 yards and a score. Marquis Chapel also had another 100-yard performance by gaining 112 yards on 19 carries.
Dora’s Whit Wright also scored three total touchdowns.

Wright threw for two scores and 189 yards on 8-of-12 passing, and the junior quarterback also ran for one touchdown.

“We had a lot of people step up tonight and have big games,” Johnny Wright said. “Whit may be my son, but he did have a big game for us. He is improving every game. We are going to need him to continue to get better as we get into the second half of the season.”

The Dora defense also kept Walker in check the entire game.

The Vikings (1-4, 1-2 in Class 5A, Region 6) finished with only 113 total yards and were held to 30 yards on the ground.

“I'm tired of everyone downing our offense,” Walker head coach Shane Smothers said. “We didn't play well on either side of the ball tonight. We couldn't stop them and they stopped us. I said going into the game that they had a lot of playmakers and if they made plays, we'd be in trouble. Well, they came out and made the plays. Our kids are upset right now and they are embarrassed, but that might be exactly what we needed to get out there Monday and work hard to pick up some region wins and make the playoffs.”

Dora opened the night's scoring with 10:09 left in the first quarter when Kyle Thompson scored on an 8-yard run.

On their ensuing possession, the Vikings moved the football just into Dora territory, but were forced to punt.

The Bulldogs took over on their own 18-yard line after the punt. Ten plays later, Wright squirmed his way through the trenches and into the end zone for a touchdown to increase the Dora lead to 14-0 with 1:49 to go in the first quarter.

After forcing Walker into another three-and-out, Dora used an 11-play drive to eat six minutes off the clock. The drive was capped by a Wright-to-Towns 10-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. Dora led 21-0 with 6:45 left in the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Walker ran a total of nine plays and finished with zero yards in the quarter. The Bulldogs mustered one more score before the half after an 18-yard run by Towns to increase their halftime lead to 27-0.

“Our guys came out and jumped on them early,” Wright said. “Dora has been on the other side of lopsided games against Walker, and that was something our guys talked about at halftime. We felt good about the first half, but we knew in rivalry games, it is never over.”

Dora received the second half kickoff and fumbled three plays later. A 37-yard pass from Cory Wilkes to Jeff Roquet set up the Vikings only score of the night, a 42-yard field goal from Mark Prevost.

The Bulldogs answered three plays later when Wright hooked up with Chavis Williams on an 85-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 34-3.

The final score of the night came with 4:15 left in the game when Towns broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run to give Dora the 41-3 victory.

Wright said he hoped this game would catapult his team to good things in region play.

“We needed a big win like this over a good Class 5A team,” Wright said. “We get into the meat of our region schedule starting next week. I'm sure Corner won tonight and they will come into the game 4-1. It will also be homecoming for us so that is a lot of distractions that are out of our control. Our guys are going to enjoy this until Monday, but just like every other week, on Monday we will start focusing on Corner.”

Dora will host Corner next week at Horace Roberts Field, while Walker returns to region play by hosting Springville.