Dooly County’s Season Ends with State Championship Loss to ECI

ATLANTA (41NBC/WMGT) – High school football season is over in Georgia and this year, none of our teams in middle Georgia are celebrating a state championship.

Dooly County (11-3) was the only team to make it to the final round at the Georgia Dome, but the Bobcats fell to Emanuel County Institute in the Class A public state championship game on Saturday.

ECI (13-1) rushed for more than 300 yards, and two Bulldogs went over 100 yards each and combined for five touchdowns to help beat Dooly County, 47-7.

“They were able to run the football at will, and that really surprised me,” says Dooly County head coach, Jimmy Hughes.  “We’ve been pretty good against the run all year long and we thought that we’d be able to stand up to their running game and today we just weren’t able to do it.  You’ve got (to take) hats off to them though; they’ve got an outstanding football team.”

Coming into the game, Dooly County’s defense was giving up just over 11 points a game, but ECI’s offense proved too tough to handle.

“The buck sweep, the belly, the trap, the sally,” says senior defensive end and offensive tackle, DeQuan Daniels.  “They did it all.”

“They blocked well,” says junior outside linebacker Jametavious Daniels.  “They executed their plays.  I mean, they just was the better team today.”

On offense, things weren’t much better for Dooly County.  The Bobcats managed just 136 yards and turned it over three times.

“Right after the half we got the ball to start the second half and didn’t do anything and punted,” says Hughes, who finishes up his third year at the Vienna school with a win/loss record of 26-10.  “They took it all the way down the field and scored, and you know, we had some injuries and just made too many mistakes.”

After the game, Hughes told his players to keep their heads up.

“We didn’t play our best,” says Hughes.  “It’s not an excuse; I’m not trying to make any, but you know, I am proud of our guys for getting here, and sooner or later we’ll finish this deal.”

The loss marks the third state championship game defeat for the Bobcats in as many tries.

According to the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, the Bobcats lost 35-0 to West Rome in 1983 and fell 50-14 to Clinch County in 2002.