Meadville Capitalizes on Six McLane Turnovers in Blowout Victory // @MdvlFootball @MclaneFootball

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TC Jones | September 4, 2021

It was all about the Bulldog defense in Meadville’s 47-7 dominating Region 7 victory over the General McLane Lancers Friday night at Bender Field.

Tonight’s game was a stark contrast to Meadville’s loss last week to Grove City, where the defense gave up 50 points, and the offense lost five fumbles. But using the previous week’s poor defensive performance as motivation, the Bulldogs forced five Lancer turnovers in the first half, capitalizing on four of them for scores. 

“There was a huge emphasis this week in practice on improving defensively,” Meadville head coach Ray Collins said. “And we played sound defense all night. We created turnovers and won the turnover battle. Tonight’s victory was all about ball control and not making mistakes.”

The scoring started early in the first quarter for Meadville with Brady Walker stripping the ball from the McLane quarterback and returning it 45 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead. 

That was just the beginning of Walker’s huge night. He’d score three more times, once off an interception and two rushing touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. 

“Our entire team was on the same page tonight,” Walker said. “We weren’t going to come out tonight and lose our first region game. As soon as I hit that hole on my first touchdown, I knew I had it. Our line blocked really well all game.”

But Walker wasn’t the only one involved in the Bulldog scoring barrage in the first half. 

Linebacker Brighton Anderson forced a fumble and took it to the house to extend Meadville’s lead to 21-0 and on the next possession. Soon after, Khalon Simmons snagged a 70-yard interception return to increase the Bulldog lead to 28-0. 

Runningback Griffin Buzzell added on 7 more with a 20-yard bruising carry, and Simmons capped off the offensive assault with a 36-yard reception, propelling Meadville to a 41-0 lead at halftime. 

“We put in the work in practice this week on defense,” Simmons explained. “We improved a lot. The Meadville Bulldogs are back.”

The second half was much of the same for the Bulldogs, with the offensive and defensive lines continuing to control the line of scrimmage. Meadville’s defensive front seven tallied 8 sacks in the game, forcing havoc and putting the Lancer offensive in scramble mode all evening. 

General McLane was able to get on the board late with a 70-yard scramble from quarterback John Amon. 

Final score: Meadville 47 – General McLane 7.

That does it. Meadville wins 47-7. @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/ClfU5enLbG

— T.C. Jones (@tcjones2007) September 4, 2021

The Bulldogs improve to 1-1 and 1-0 in the region, and General McLane falls to 1-1 and 0-1 in the region. 

The Bulldogs look to keep the momentum going against class 6A Butler next week.

“Butler is a bigger school, and they are going to have plenty of big guys and athletes,” Coach Collins said. “But that’s okay because we play physical football as well.

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