The Hampton Bulldogs came to Baileyton to take on the North Greene Huskies for a battle of the canines, but it was the Bulldogs who had more bite on Friday and left with a 48-7 win.
“I wish I could say that we played with them the whole game, but that’s not the case,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “That was a good ole fashion taking behind the barn and taken to the woodshed. We gifted them some early stuff, a fumble, a bad snap. We gifted them good field position and they’re good enough to take advantage of that. They’re good with their offense and if you give them a short field they’re going to score”.
The Huskies received the opening kickoff but failed to make a first down and had to punt, but a bad snap prevented Turner Collins from getting the punt away and gave the Bulldogs a short field at the Husky 26-yard line.
It only took three plays for the Bulldogs to score with Eli Tester breaking the plane. The two-point conversion was short, and the early score was 6-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
On the ensuing drive it was a steady dose of Leon Johnson, after a couple of good runs and the offense drawing the defense offsides to pick up two first downs North Greene looked like it was rolling. Johnson then had back-to-back 12-yard runs before taking a Jared Swatzell pass the distance, 34 yards through traffic. Juan Soto split the sticks for the extra point and Huskies were up 7-6 with 4:31 left to play in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs regained the lead as time expired in the first quarter on a two-yard run from Tester. The scoring drive covered 66 yards on nine plays and ate up 4:31 of clock. The two-point conversion was good this time and the Bulldogs held a 14-7 advantage.
The Huskies fumbled the ball away on the first play on a bad quarterback to running back exchange and set the Bulldogs up with another short field.
The Husky defense dug in and made a stand, turning away the Bulldogs and took over on downs. But they were in the shadow s of their own goal post at their own one-yard line. Johnson was swarmed and swallowed up in the end zone for a safety on the first play, giving the Bulldogs two more points, possession of the ball and a 16-7 lead.
Hampton would score on a 36-yard run from Kaden Jones, the 2-point conversion was no good, and the score was 22-7 and remained that way until halftime.
The 2026 Hampton team has a different look than their traditional smash-mouth running game, they can also line up in the spread. Sophomore Brycen Blevins is an Elizabethton transfer and showed off his passing skills with a 46-yard TD pass to freshman Rylan Jones on the first drive of the third quarter. The conversion was no good but the Bulldogs were up 28-7 with over 11 minutes still to play in the third period.
Blevins once again guided his eighth-ranked team down the field through the air finding Landon Buchanan for the final seven yards and a 34-7 lead. The Bulldogs would add two more scores late in the game and walked away with a 48-7 win over the North Greene Huskies.
Johnson led the Huskies on offense, Carrying the ball 12 times for 56 yards and scored on a receiving touchdown. Swatzell was 10 of 17 through the air for 146 yards and a TD.
Blevins was 17 of 21 passing for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Hampton.
