Photo: Sardis’ Grant Coe (3) pursues Geraldine’s Jon Beck Wade during the Lions’ 35-6 loss in high school football on Thursday, Aug. 22 in Sardis City. (Taylor Beck/Sand Mountain Reporter)
By Taylor Beck/Sand Mountain Reporter
Jordon Lankford’s three rushing touchdowns in the second half propelled Class 3A No. 6 Geraldine to a 35-6 win over Sardis on Thursday, Aug. 22 in Sardis City.
After a scoreless first quarter, Geraldine reached the end zone twice in the second to take a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Penalties proved to be a thorn in the Lions’ side all night, as Sardis was flagged 15 times.
“Geraldine is a good team that’s well-coached, and honestly, they kicked our butt,” said Sardis head coach B.J. Brooks said. “We had a lot of mistakes that hurt [us], and that’s my fault. I’ll get that fixed.”
Sardis came up empty in the final drive of the first half. Quarterback Brian Chapman led the offense with throws of 13, 7, 11, 2 and 13 yards before completing a 28-yard pass on fourth down to Cade Holcomb near the goal line as time expired.
Sardis avoided the shutout by putting together a five-play, 58-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Chapman to Brayden “Rush” Whidden to cut the Bulldog lead to 35-6.
Chapman finished 19-of-30 for 152 yards with a touchdown through the air, plus 48 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Sardis will aim to bounce back with a win next week as they travel to Cleburne County in Heflin
“I’m just going to lead this team the best I can and get them back to the drawing board and fix those mistakes,” said Brooks. “But it’s the first game, and we don’t want to be playing our best right now. We want to be playing our best when our best is required. So, we’ve just got a lot of work to do, and we’ll get back to it.”
