Bulldogs blow out Flame in season-opening road win

One thing about this 2025 Belgreen High School varsity football team that BHS head coach Jonathan Raper stressed over and over again before the start of the Bulldogs’ season is just how far along his players are, in every facet, compared to the same time last season. 

That could not have been more apparent looking at the scoreline of Belgreen’s season-opener at Shoals Christian on Friday night.

Last season, BHS needed a couple of late touchdowns to secure its 20-6 victory over Shoals Christian; last night, on the road to face the Flame, Belgreen extinguished all hopes for the hosts quickly, not only beating the Flame but snuffing them out completely by halftime. When the final whistle blew, Belgreen had earned a 54-8 win, the largest margin of victory in the program’s young history.

“The kids were excited to get a convincing win, and I think it shows they’re learning what it takes to win,” Raper told the Franklin Free Press. “We did a great job playing assignment football and doing our job.

“I’m proud of how hard the kids have worked. They worked so hard and were bought in to doing what it takes to win ballgames, and they saw the benefit of it (Friday) night,” he added.

Raper said his team came into the opening contest of this campaign with confidence, which made a huge difference in how they played.

“Last year there were times when the kids got off the bus and they were just terrified,” he said. “(Friday) night there were some nerves and some jitters, of course, with it being the first game, but they came into it loose. I think they were all expecting to play well and expecting to win.”

Another big reason for Belgreen’s success in its season opener, according to the head coach, is the Bulldogs were able to successfully make adjustments throughout the game.

“Defensively, what we had prepared for (Shoals Christian) to do they did different, so in pregame we basically had to change a ton of stuff,” Raper said. “They moved the ball on us on their first drive, but after that we did great and we carried out our assignments. Last year if we had tried that it would’ve been a nightmare. Having to have changed what we changed so quickly like that we would’ve panicked, but last night it was no big deal.

“We’re able to make adjustments on the fly now, and that’s come with being older and more mature and just having played football now for a couple of years.”

On offense, the Bulldogs made short work of Shoals Christian. By halftime Belgreen held a comfortable 27-0 advantage and didn’t have any problems in the second half either. On the scoresheet, BHS saw contributions from a number of different players; Rush Berryman, Brayden Messer, Ethan Dawson, Colton Ashton, Isaac Hammond, and Zedaki Wilson all found their way into the endzone at least once during the game.

“I think we did a good job offensively. In the first half we kind of moved the ball more on the outside on the perimeter, and then in the second half we kept it more in between the tackles,” Raper said. “Offensively we’ve got more kids that are playmakers than we did last year. We’ve got more speed, and we’ve got a couple of guys that can pound it up the middle. We’ve got several kids that can do a lot of different things this year. And they’re a year older so we’re bigger, faster, and stronger than we were last year, so that obviously makes a difference.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs held the Flame in check for more or less the entire game.

“They moved the ball on us on the opening drive, but we were able to stop them. After we scored, they never really threatened us again. They scored at the very end of the game, but at that point we had a bunch of seventh and eighth graders out there,” Raper said.

Another bright spot for Belgreen in the game was how the team performed in the second half. Playing well after halftime and finishing games strong was a real problem for the Bulldogs last season, so Raper was pleased with how his players conducted themselves in the final 24 minutes Friday night.

“Last year I thought we played some very good football in the first half of games, and then in the second half we just did not play good football,” the BHS head coach said. “One of the things we stressed (Friday) night at halftime was that we’ve got to play four quarters—and we did, so I was proud of that.”

All in all, there was a lot for Belgreen to feel good about after its shellacking of Shoals Christian, but blowout wins tend to paper over any mistakes the victor makes. Raper said there are still things that need to be corrected and improved, but he’s confident that this group of now more experienced players understand it’ll be time to get back to work after a deserved weekend of celebration.

“The kids have taken a more businesslike approach to things this year,” Raper said. “The kids know and understand that we’re going to enjoy the win this weekend, but when Monday rolls around we have to get back out there and strive to continue to get better every day.”

Belgreen’s next game will be on Friday, August 29 when the Bulldogs host Sumiton Christian in their home opener at Sparks Stadium.