Special to the Reporter

It was a night of near misses for the Montevallo High School Bulldogs.

A near blocked punt, a near kickoff return for a touchdown, or a yard short of a first down.

If the game were horseshoes, MHS may have won in a blowout. But the game was football, and in the end, the ‘Dogs fell 21-0 in their region opener to Childersburg.

For all the almosts, MHS gave a valiant effort, but turnovers and big plays went the wrong way all night long and the scoreboard showed it. Out of 46 rushing attempts by the visiting Tigers, the Montevallo defense held their opponents to two yards or less 19 times, including eight tackles for a loss, but Childersburg countered with 10 runs of 10 yards or better to rack up 249 rushing yards.

The Bulldogs meanwhile, managed a respectable 150 yards on the ground, but sophomore tailback A.J. Ward was limited to just 44 yards on 11 carries.

Senior fullback Earland Chism picked up most of the slack, rushing for 84 yards on 15 attempts.

Childersburg drew first blood with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter when Jeremy Garrett scored from three yards out.

David Uselton’s point after kick was good to give the Tigers an early 7-0 lead.

Both defenses proved stingy for the remainder of the first half, but when the Childersburg offense struck again, it did so twice in under two minutes.

With 7:42 left in the third quarter, Anterrius Jones took a short pass from Zell Green and ran it in from 10 yards out. Uselton again booted the PAT to give CHS a 14-0 advantage.

One minute and 51 seconds later, the Tigers scored their final touchdown of the night when Jones tore through the Bulldog defense for a 57-yard romp. The extra point made the final 21-0, as neither team could light up the scoreboard in the fourth, despite both teams driving inside the 20 in the final period.

Montevallo was hampered by four turnovers in the game, three coming by fumble and one interception. In addition, the ‘Dogs were penalized six times for 60 yards, the most damaging coming on a Tiger punt that gave CHS a first down inside Bulldog territory late in the third quarter.

Despite the loss, head coach Jim King said that there were a few bright spots and plenty of opportunities to learn from the defeat. King singled out the performance of Chism, whose 84 rushing yards accounted for almost half the Bulldogs’ total offense. Chism also returned a kickoff 16 yards, giving him 100 total yards for the game.

Leading Montevallo defensively were senior Robert Horn, with 15 tackles, and Brian Fulghum, who added 13 stops.

King also pointed out the injuries that have decimated his roster.

&uot;We’ve got some key injuries that are really hurting us right now. We’ve just got to play through all this and keep getting better,&uot; the first year head coach said.

The task won’t get any easier this week as region rival Jemison pays a visit to Theron Fisher Stadium. Jemison is 2-0 this season, having knocked off Chilton County and Corner in the opening two weeks of the season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night