Sports Editor

On Friday, the Hazard Bulldogs traveled to Hyden for a four team round-robin football scrimmage. Along with the Bulldogs, the Leslie County Eagles, South Laurel Cardinals and the Cawood Trojans took part in the event.

Each team was given the opportunity to play the other three in a 10-play scrimmage. The field was split with two teams on each side playing toward the goal. The two teams took turns on offense, and were given 10 attempts to score as many times as they could from the 45-yard line.

The Bulldogs started with the South Laurel Cardinals. After a decent defensive stand, Hazard took over on offense. The Bulldogs had some difficulty with the Cardinal defense, but managed a touchdown on the last play of the series. Tyler Olinger was able to roll out of the pocket and find Greg Adams alone in the end zone.

After a short break, Hazard moved to the other side of the field where they took on the host Leslie County Eagles. The Bulldogs wasted little time finding the end zone during the series. Again, it was Olinger finding Adams in the end zone. This time the pass made its way through several defenders to find Adams in the back of the end zone.

The next attempt saw T. J. Searcy take over at quarterback. Searcy had a little trouble with the snap at first, but quickly began to find his tight ends, Joey Meehan and Michael Campbell over the middle. Hazard was successful in moving the ball in this series as well.

The final scrimmage pitted the Bulldogs against the Cawood Trojans. Hazard had little trouble moving the ball against the Trojans, and was able to find the end zone easily.

The Bulldogs showed a steady improvement throughout the game, and the younger players seemed to gain confidence with each snap. On Friday, the Bulldogs will travel to Belfry for their final preseason scrimmage.