SWEET WATER — The Sweet Water Bulldogs, the top-ranked 1A team in the state, tied a school record with their 29th straight win Friday night, a 50-8 decision over 1A Region 1 rival Marengo.

The visiting Panthers (1-1, 1-1 1A-1) were halted on its first drive and went to punt the ball, but SWHS senior Devin Wolf came through the line and blocked it back. Randy Jackson scooped the ball up on the MHS 5 and went into the endzone for the first score of the game. The point-after kick went wide, but the Bulldogs (2-0, 2-0 1A-1) had a 6-0 lead with 3:01 left in the first quarter.

“We’ve just got to regroup and try a little harder with our next game,” said MHS head coach Scottie Jones. “Coach Luker did a great job; they have a great team.”

On its ensuing drive, Marengo fumbled the ball away on the Sweet Water 29. Johnny Lockett, who ran 19 times for 140 yards, began the drive with a 21-yard run, then Jeremy Landrum made a 20-yard run to midfield. The Panthers were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, then Lockett took an 11-yard romp to the MHS 4, where Chris Landrum took it in on a four-yard run. Landrum ran the two-point conversion, and SWHS bolstered its lead to 14-0 with 37.1 seconds left in the first period.

MHS turned the ball over on downs on its next drive, and the Bulldogs took over on the MSH 29. Six plays later, Randy Jackson connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tate Luker with 8:46 left in the second quarter. Delano Brewer’s extra-point kick made the score 21-0.

After another fizzled Panther drive, Sweet Water took over on its 32-yard line with 2:04 left in the half. Luker opened the drive with a 44-yard run, and the Bulldogs pushed to the MHS 13. The Panthers called a timeout with 1.3 seconds left, and Brewer stepped up to kick a 30-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bulldogs a 24-0 halftime lead.

“I thought we looked sloppy on offense,” said SWHS head coach Stacy Luker. “We had a lot of penalties that killed off some drives. We were sort of resilient. We put together a better-looking second half.

“I thought we looked real fast on defense. Overall, I thought we were very consistent, very physical tonight.”

On its first drive of the second half, Sweet Water’ Landrum scored from 1 yard out.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Sweet Water struck again, as Lockett took an eight-yard scoring run to pad the 37-0 lead.

Marengo’s defense put the Panthers on the board, as Sweet Water quarterback Randy Jackson fumbled on a play and Tevin Davis scooped up the ball and romped 68 yards for an MHS touchdown. and cut Sweet Water’s lead to 37-8 with 10:32 remaining.

Jeremy Landrum got payback for the ’Dogs with a 62-yard run. Terrance Sewell’s 34 yards score with 1:24 left in the game closed out the scoring at 50-8.