Quitman’s 40-7 loss to Troup Friday night does not tell the whole story of the contest. After falling behind 34-0 at intermission, the Bulldogs came back to play solid second half on both sides of the pigskin. 

The Bulldog’s found a spark on offense in the person of Chris Chabaud. Chabaud was a mainstay at tight end on Alba-Golden’s prolific offensive team. He moved to Quitman and had been playing on the JV until his eligibility was approved to be on the varsity.

All he did in his first Quitman start was rush for 100 yards on just nine carries and scored the Bulldogs lone tally on an off-tackle 11-yard run bowling through the Troup defense with his tough running style.

“Chris really did a good job for us. He is a tough kid,” Coach Bryan Oakes said. “I thought we had an all around good team effort. None of our kids ever quit, they just kept playing hard. I was proud of how our linebackers played hard all night. River Chaney, Brian Morris and Brenden Miller all did a great job against a talented Troup team.”

The Tigers took the opening kick-off and on the first play Desmon Deason streaked 67 yards to score, but a procedure penalty nullified the play.

It was a sign of things to come. Two plays later, Deason caught a pass from Jordan Elliot from 15 yards out and the Tigers had a 6-0 lead at the 9:01 mark of the first quarter. 

The Bulldogs went three and out on their next possession. It took the Tigers one play to score on a run by Caleb Smith to make it 12-0. Smith added another score with 5:47 left in the quarter to make it a 20-0 ball game. Troup scored again to lead 27-0 after one quarter.

Troup scored early in the second quarter with 11:07 still to play in the half on a pass play from Elliott to Jaden Lewis making it 34-0. 

From there, both teams tightened up on defense. A determined Quitman team came out in the second half and used an eight-play 66-yard drive finishing with Chabaud’s touchdown run. On the drive Chabuad ran five times. A 21-yard run by Trey Berry set up the touchdown run. 

Troup added a fourth quarter score to make the final 40-7.

The loss drops Quitman to 0-6 on the year and 0-3 in district action while Troup moves to 2-1 in district and 2-4 on the season.

Quitman faces district leading Harmony this Friday at Bud Moody Field.

“We know we have a challenge with a good Harmony team. They are talented and well-coached,” Oakes noted.

Harmony started the year with three consecutive losses but has rebounded to win three district games in a row. They have seven returning offensive starters and five on defense. Harmony has won 33 games in the past three years to date.

Running back Isaac Edwards is the workhorse. He had over 600 yards rushing last year and is a key to the offense. He also plays tough on defense as evidenced by his 68 tackles last year along with 21 tackles for losses and a pair of sacks.

Quarterback Gage Goddard also leads the team on offense where he can run and has a strong arm. 

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Quitman will name its band sweetheart and beau prior to the kick-off.