JACKSONVILLE — The Carthage Bulldogs’ offense lived up to its hype Friday night against Jacksonville in the 2013 season opener on the road. The Bulldogs avenged its loss to the Indians last year with a 42-28 win at the Tomato Bowl.
Tevin Pipkin ran for 184 yards and two scores to begin his senior season. Terian “Tee” Goree caught eight passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
UT-San Antonio commit Blake Bogenschutz complete 15 passes for 276 yards.
The Bulldogs wasted no time putting points on the board. They received the opening kickoff and scored in eight plays.
A 35-yard pass to O’Kerion Rutherford set up an eight-yard run by Bogenschutz for the score.
Carthage recovered a fumble later in the half during the Indians’ second possession of the contest, which led to a touchdown down two plays later.
Bogenschutz found Rutherford for 24 yards and Pipkin covered the final 24 yards to put Carthage up 14-0.
Jacksonville, however, battled back and scored 14 answered points of the own. The first came following the Bulldogs’ score.
Carter McCown connected with Claude Franklin for 41 yards to move the Indians to the Carthage 11-yard line. Stacy Cummings scored two plays later to put Jacksonville on the board.
The Bulldogs turned the ball over on down with their next drive and the Indians found the end zone in seven plays. Datavion Thacker ran in the score from 19 yards away.
Carthage, however, hit back with a 14-play drive to regain the lead with 1:59 left in the half. The Bulldogs converted on a fourth and three with a pass to Pipkin out of the backfield for 22 yards.
Bogenschutz found Goree on the next play on a jump pass for the three-yard touchdown.
Carthage forced Jacksonville to punt to open the second half and added to their lead in three plays. Goree again put the ball in the end zone, this time on a 44-yard pass.
The Indians cut the Bulldogs’ lead to seven points late in the quarter after a Carthage fumble. The 10-play drive ended with a 10-yard run by Braylon Parish.
The Bulldogs answered right back with a four-play, 75-yard scoring drive. A pass to Marquis Guinn for 15 yards, a 14-yard run by Pipkin and a Rutherford catch for 24 yards was followed by a 22-yard run by Pipkin for the score.
Jacksonville responded in four plays to with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tony Lane, but failed to keep Carthage out of the end zone on the ensuing possession.
Bogenschutz capped off the scoring with a 36-yard pass to Goree to put the Bulldogs up 42-28.
The Indians threatened to score on their next drive, but failed to convert on fourth and four from the Carthage eight-yard line to turn the ball over with 5:43 left.
The Bulldogs managed to pick up enough first downs, one on fourth down, and ran out the clock to seal their first win of the season.
McCown finished the contest with 27 completions for 308 yards. Cummings and Lekendrick Anderson ran for 56 and 54 yards, respectively.
Claude caught four passes for 114 yards. Sansom reeled in nine passes for 71 yards for the Indians.
Carthage, ranked second in Class 3A by the Associated Press, stays on the road next week with a trip to Lindale. Jacksonville is set to face Palestine on the road on Thursday.