The 3A Montevallo Bulldogs (3-1, 2-1) produced a big win at home last Friday night with a 47-20 victory over region opponent Montgomery Catholic.

Montevallo head football coach Jim King said the win was extremely important for the Dawgs to make to the state playoffs. And a loss may well have spelled the end of the line for playoff hopes.

&8220;We challenged out guys on Monday and let them know (the importance of the game) and they responded,&8221; said King.

King said he was pleased with the performance of the offensive line, and he had good reason.

The Dawgs rushed for 400 yards and passed for 40 more.

Phillip Evans had 218 yards on 22 carries. Desmond Piper had 101 yards on 12 carries. Brandon Broadnax had 88 yards on 12 carries.

Montevallo led by one point 21-20 at the half. But that&8217;s when the Dawgs&8217; defense stepped up to pitch a shutout the rest of the way.

Perhaps stealing the heart from Montgomery Catholic, the Bulldogs scored on a 58-yard run to start the third quarter.

King said his players came out and played the second half like they wanted to win.

Piper scored for Montevallo on runs of 3, 38 and 16 yards.

From the third quarter on it was all Bulldogs. Following a 58-yard run by Evans to get the Dawgs off to a great second half start, Piper scored on a 30-yard run and Evans scored on runs of 6 and 16 yards.

The Bulldogs travel to West Blocton for a non-region 3A match this Friday