King’s Fork picked up its first win of the season last week and came into Friday’s game against Great Bridge with a lot of confidence. Head coach Joe Jones hopes that confidence is not broken after a tough 41-22 loss to the undefeated Wildcats.

“We have to take away a lot of positives from tonight’s game,” Jones said. “We played a very good Great Bridge team toe-to-toe for most of the ballgame. We just had a couple of mistakes that really cost us.”

Trailing 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs’ defense was able to hold the Wildcats to a punt with 10:22 left in the quarter. On the punt, Donta Steward and Tishon Madison combined to block the kick with Madison falling on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs went for two points to further close the gap and were successful as LaRay Kindred ran the ball in from two yards out to push the score to 24-22.

But, that was the closest the Bulldogs got as Great Bridge scored a touchdown on their next possession to stretch the score to 31-22. The Wildcats capitalized on an interception and scored another touchdown to move ahead 38-22.

“We just were not able to make the plays in the fourth quarter,” Jones said. “We have a young team, a young quarterback, and we are just not able to play catch up football at this point.”

The game did not start out well for King’s Fork as they were forced to punt on their first possession. On the ensuing kick, a number of Wildcat defenders broke through the line to block the kick and recover the ball in the end zone for a touchdown with 8:45 left in the first quarter.

Both teams exchanged possessions into the second quarter when Dion Bivens intercepted a Great Bridge pass and returned it to the Wildcat 20-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, Dominique Patterson ran right up the middle for the touchdown. The point after attempt was no good, leaving the score 7-6 in favor of Great Bridge.

The Wildcats were able to extend the lead with just seconds remaining in the half when they scored a touchdown, a score Jones knew was trouble.

“What really hurt was the score right before the half,” Jones said. “We thought we had stopped them, but they were able to get the score and pull ahead 14-6 at the half.”

But, Jones said he saw the signs of his team maturing on the first drive of the second half.

King’s Fork was able to drive 76 yards on eight plays that was capped off by a 7-yard pass from Matt Hommell to Tyrelle Shepherd with 7:18 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs tied the game at 14 on a success 2-point conversion that saw Hommell connect with Michael Murray in the end zone.

Great Bridge generated 297 yards of total offense while King’s Fork (1-4, 1-3) racked up 236 yards.