The King’s Fork High football team was offside when it initially attempted the opening kickoff Friday at Oscar Smith. Things didn’t get much better from there for the Bulldogs, who fell 55-0 to the powerful Tigers in a Southeastern District game.

“They’re such a great team,” said King’s Fork coach Joe Jones. “I didn’t think we played that badly early on but their athletes just outran us.”

Oscar Smith quarterback Phillip Sims set a school record with six touchdown passes, two each to Perry Jones, Tim Smith and Daniel Vaughn. Sims completed 13 of 24 passes for 283 yards despite playing only one second-half series. The Tigers rushed for only 49 yards as King’s Fork often jammed nine defenders at the line of scrimmage and left its cornerbacks in man-on-man coverage.

Bulldog quarterback Laray Kindred completed 9 of 26 passes for 85 yards and had two tosses intercepted, one of those being run back for a touchdown.

Kindred completed 5 of 12 passes for 17 yards against Oscar Smith’s first-string defense and King’s Fork had five yards rushing and six yards passing in the first half.

The Bulldogs lined up for an onsides kick to begin the game but were called offside. They then executed a standard kickoff but surrendered a 52-yard Sims-to-Smith touchdown pass on the Tigers’ second play from scrimmage. The conversion kick attempt was blocked.

After three plays and a punt on its next possession, King’s Fork couldn’t stop Oscar Smith from driving 85 yards in eight plays and scoring on a 19-yard pass from Sims to Jones. Ryan Trotman added the extra point for a 13-0 lead after six minutes.

King’s Fork’s next possession ended when Smith intercepted a Kindred pass and returned it 30 yards. Sims hit Vaughn with a 26-yard touchdown pass six plays later and Trotman’s kick made the score 20-0 with a minute remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers (7-0, 6-0) kept going to a 48-0 halftime lead.

“We just stressed to our kids to not give up,” said Jones, “I’ll keep the film from this one just to have it, but we won’t watch it unless it’s needed for motivational purposes.

“Oscar Smith’s program was once where we are now. They worked their butts off to get better and that’s what we have to do as well.”

King’s Fork (3-4, 2-4) hosts Hickory next Friday night. The Bulldogs beat the Hawks 20-12 last season.