Coahoma Bulldogs running back P.J. Daylong (3) works his way through a hole in the Bulldogs, 35-13, win over Anson’s Tigers Oct. 5. The Bulldogs try to win their third straight game against Colorado’s Wolves Friday night. (Herald photo/Bruce Schooler)

Coahoma had no momentum through the first four games of the season, however, things began to rapidly change in the third quarter of its contest with Anson’s Tigers two weeks ago.

An interception and a blocked punt turned the game around and the Bulldogs made a late surge to blast the Tigers, 35-13.

It appeared that the momentum had swung back out of favor with Coahoma last week though, as Hawley had a 33-20 lead with just 11 minutes to play in the game. Suddenly, the offense started to click as quarterback Donnie Garcia threw for two touchdowns and ran for another and the Bulldogs scored 22 unanswered points to win, 42-33.

“We’re a young team and we’ve seen great improvement over the course of the season,” Head Coach Jay Kennedy said. “We’re finally grasping the offense and things are starting to take form. We’ve worked the dog out of this team and it’s starting to pay off. I’m just really proud of these kids.”

Garcia’s return has keyed the offensive revival in Coahoma. He was lost to a foot injury Oct. 5, just before the Bulldogs’ second game of the season. He returned three weeks later against Merkel, but things still weren’t clicking.

However, the offense has taken off in the past two games. Coahoma scored just 27 combined points in their first four games and were shut out twice.

The Bulldogs have put up 77 points in the past two games. Garcia scored five times against Hawley and totaled 355 yards rushing and passing combined.

“We wanted to run a lot of the spread offense this season, but got set back a bit when Donnie went down with that foot injury,” Kennedy said. “We had to scale the offense back. Now with him back, we’ve been able to open our offense back up.”

Garcia’s return has also ignited the production of players around him, including running back P.J. Daylong who had 141 total yards — 62 rushing, 79 receiving — against Hawley. Also, sophomore Josh Paniagua, who served as quarterback during Garcia’s absence, moved back to wide receiver where he has emerged as a viable deep threat.

“Getting Donnie back allows us to put more of our best athletes on the field,” Kennedy explained.

Colorado presents the Bulldogs with their biggest test so far through District 5-2A play. The Wolves have struggled to score, averaging less than six points a game. However, their defense is allowing just 13 points per contest.

Last year, the Wolves finished winless at 0-10, including a 21-14 loss to Coahoma.

“Colorado had a lot of inexperience last season much like we did this season,” Kennedy said. “We overcame our inexperience a little quicker, but they’re a good football team this year. They play strong defense and it’s a bit of a rivalry for us. We can’t overlook them at all.”

Last week, Colorado held Stanton to 14 points, but wasn’t able to muster any scores for itself.

Contact Sports Editor Jonathan Hull by calling 263-7331, ext. 237, or by e-mailing him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it