A relentless first-half defense and a powerful offense would allow the Bulldogs to pick up a 52-7 win over Cosby to start out the Region 1-2A season.

Defensively, the Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0) which were led by a monstrous Dakota Sanchez, who laid down bone-crushing hit after bone-crushing hit, held the Eagles (1-1, 0-1) to just 24 yards of offense in the first half.

“We have some pretty good linebackers,” Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford said. “It looked like Sanchez was making every tackle. The defensive front was controlling their blockers, which was freeing up Sanchez to make tackles. They played really well.”

Hampton’s smash-mouth defense was backed by a bulldozing offense as the Bulldogs accumulated 489 yards of offense, with 399 yards of rushing and 90 yards of passing. All of Hampton’s passing yards was the result of a breakout game by Bulldog sophomore Alex Hardin, who tossed for 90 yards while going 7-of-8 with a TD pass. Hardin was in for junior QB Jason Russell, who was out due to an injury.

“He played well,” Lunsford said about Hardin. “He is a hard working and phenomenal kid. His hard worked paid off. He got the opportunity and he took advantage of it.”

Hampton’s ground assault was led by a 128-yard rushing performance by senior Adam McClain, who had 9 carries and two touchdown runs. McClain was backed up by Hunter Davenport, who  had 97 yards on six carries and two touchdowns. Hampton freshman Matt Hughes also had a big night as he carried for 70 yards on eight carries while busting through for a touchdown.

“He is a big ole strong, physical player,” Lunsford said about Hughes. “The more he learns about what he is doing the better he gets.”

The Bulldogs busted out a 46-0 lead before the half.

In the first period, Hampton’s Davenport plowed in from five yards and with McClain rushing in for the 2-point conversion the Bulldogs took an 8-0 lead with 5:38 left in the first quarter. Hampton scored two more times in the first quarter, with Davenport capping the quarter off with a 57-yard touchdown run to give Hampton a 24-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Bulldogs got things started in the second quarter with McClain rushing in a 15 yarder, before picking up the 2-point conversion to give Hampton a 32-0 lead with 4:15 left in the half.

Hampton’s C.J. Wilson busted in from five yards out to give the Bulldogs their second score of the second quarter before Hardin found Chris Holsclaw on a 10-yard touchdown toss to close out the first half’s scoring.

The Eagles found the board first in the second half as QB Andrew Lillard connected with Isaiah Benjamin on a 16-yard touchdown pass. The Bulldogs answered Cosby’s score with an 11-yard touchdown run by Hughes to give the Bulldogs’ their final tally of 52-7.

The Bulldogs will have a bye next week, before hosting Gatlinburg-Pittman on Sept. 16 for a big Region 1-2A matchup.