Published: October 25, 2008 12:29 am      

'Dogs end drought

The Edmond Memorial Bulldogs secured a winning season for the first time in 15 years Friday night at Wantland Stadium, pummeling the Lawton Eisenhower Eagles 32-3.

“I’m so proud of our kids and our coaching staff, it’s fun, this is why I came here. This is awesome for the Bulldogs to say, ‘I have a winning record.’ Last year we made the playoffs but 5-6 doesn’t sound very good,” head coach Mark Walker said.

The Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1) offensive effort was strong all night, and they got things started out right on their first drive racking up three first downs on three successive plays. Running back Anthony Morales capped the drive with a 3-yard plunge into the endzone with 8:12 showing in the first quarter. Brice Otto added the extra point and Memorial was off and running up 7-0.

Lawton Ike answered with a strong drive of their own sparked by a good kickoff return. Ike’s offense would rely heavily on wide receiver Greg Everidge, but the Bulldog defense would hold the Eagles to a field goal and the score at the end of the first was 7-3 in favor of the home team.

The two teams would trade possessions a couple of times in the second before Memorial would find the endzone again. Memorial quarterback Blake Umberham threw a strike to receiver Jacob Stivers, who stretched out to make a diving 24-yard catch. The extra point would fail but the Bulldogs had an early two score lead, 13-3.

“The offense hasn’t been doing so good the past couple of weeks but we really stepped it up tonight, but I am going to give all the credit to the offensive line. If it wasn’t for the o-line blocking well I would not have been able to make that catch tonight,” Stivers said.

Next it was time for Memorial’s defense to shine. Senior linebacker Logan Thomas picked off Ike’s pass at the 2:16 mark and put the offense in great position deep in Lawton territory. The defense held Ike to just 100 yards of total offense in the first half with most of those yards coming on the first drive.

Memorial would again find the end zone through the air. This time Umberham hooked up with receiver Nelson Medeiros for a 7-yard toss with just 1:01 remaining in the half. After the extra point the Bulldogs were in control and on a roll leading it 20-3 as the horn sounded for halftime.

Both teams started sluggishly in the third, but midway through the quarter Morales would bulldoze the Eagle defense. With the clock showing 5:21 Morales would sweep to the outside and shake off Ike defenders plowing his way for a 47-yard touchdown. Memorial extra-point try would fail and the score was 26-3.

Memorial’s do-it-all receiver Kameron Doolittle would shine for his team in the fourth quarter. Doolittle would finish the game with 65-yards rushing but 56 of those came in the second half. Doolittle grabbed the Bulldogs final score with 6:37 in the fourth, carrying four Eagle defenders with him on a 5-yard touchdown run. Another missed extra point would not matter for the Bulldogs as the score stood at 32-3. Umberham finished the game with 167 yards passing and two touchdowns. Morales was the team’s leading rusher with 79 yards and two scores.

Morales put the icing on the cake for the ‘Dogs, intercepting a Eagle pass late in the fourth and the celebration that was 15 years in the making was on for the home team.

Memorial pushes their record to 6-2 and next week faces cross-town rival Edmond North. “Edmond North is a good football team, its a rivalry and it doesn’t really matter what the records are, we just have to focus on doing the things that we do,” Walker said.