Sweet Water defeated Lamar County on Friday night by a large margin, winning the battle of the Bulldogs by a score of 55-20.

Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker said he feels like his team is playing well right now.

“We are who we are,” he said, “and we aren’t changing anything at this point in the season. We are playing well right now, but we are still trying to get better. We want to do that every week.”

Sweet Water started the scoring in the game early in the first quarter after an interception by Tra Pritchett gave the Bulldogs the ball on the Lamar County 32 yard line. Deion Waters finished off the short drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.

Sweet Water forced a three-and-out on Lamar County’s next drive and once again took over on Lamar County’s side of the 50 yard line. Brett Davis finished off this drive with a 7-yard TD run to give the home team a 14-0 lead with seven minutes to play in the first quarter.

The home Bulldogs got the ball back after another short Lamar County drive and worked the ball down the field again. This drive was capped off with a 19-yard TD run by Jakoby Aldridge, and at the end of the first quarter, Sweet Water was ahead 21-0.

Things didn’t get any better for the visitors in the second quarter, either. Lamar County did score their first touchdown early in the second on an 8-yard pass from Dallas Cockerham to Alex Wheeler to make the score 21-7, but on the ensuing kickoff, Sweet Water returned it to Lamar County’s 3 yard line. On the next play, Demarcus Gamble added another score, making it 28-7 in favor of the home team.

Lamar County was once again unable to do anything offensively on their next drive, and Sweet Water took over at their own 25 yard line. On the first play of the drive, Aldridge took a handoff 75 yards for his second TD of the night, putting his team ahead 35-7.

Lamar County’s next drive ended abruptly due to a Jarvis Lewis interception, and Sweet Water added another score in the second quarter on a 2-yard TD run by Gamble.

Sweet Water started their final drive of the first half at their own 9 yard line and worked their way down the field with under three minutes to play in the half. Aldridge finished the drive with a 28-yard TD run, giving him his third TD of the night and putting his team on top 48-7 after the missed PAT.

Luker pulled his starters at halftime and let his second and third team finish the game. His team racked up 320 yards in the first half to Lamar County’s 157, and Aldridge finished the half and the game with 226 yards on nine carries.

In the third quarter, Desmond Retic added Sweet Water’s final TD on a 2-yard run.

Lamar County was able to score twice in the second half. The first was a 3-yard run by Wheeler in the third quarter. The other score was a 2-yard run by Cullin Carter late in the fourth quarter.

With the win, Sweet Water advances to the AHSAA Class 2A semi-finals, where they will host region opponent Washington County. Sweet Water won the first meeting in the regular season by a score of 20-6.