MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Military College football pushed its record past .500 for the first time in 2018 Saturday afternoon, and also completed the season sweep over the ASA Miami Silver Storm with a 21-13 win on Davenport Field.

The weather for the afternoon matchup was perfect, and the contest itself was a perfect example of how mistakes can affect the outcome of a game. Nearly every point scored by either team was the result of a miscue, but in the end it was the 5-4 Bulldogs who played the cleaner ballgame to pull off the win.

“A W is a W, and right now we’ll take it,” GMC head coach Bert Williams told The Union-Recorder and JockJive Sports after the game. “It was a good fight. I thought the defense played really well. They stepped up and did some good things, and our offense did just enough.”

The Bulldog offense, led by third-string QB Tyhran Glasco, put forward its best drives of the day at the start and again at the end of Saturday’s contest. When GMC and ASA Miami met earlier this season the Bulldogs’ run game was overwhelming. Such was not the case in the recent rematch as Glasco and his wide receivers worked together to keep the opening drive going. Eventually fullback Chris Fielder scored his team-leading sixth rushing touchdown to put GMC up after the unit had bled nearly half the time in the first quarter. 

The first outright mistake that led to points on the day went in favor of the visitors though. A Bulldog fumble later in the opening quarter gave the Silver Storm the football just six yards away from evening the score. They capitalized a few plays later after subbing in their running quarterback who pushed the ball in on a 1-yard run to tie things up at 7-7.

ASA returned the favor by coughing the football up with just over five minutes to go before halftime. It was the visitors’ second straight possession that resulted in a turnover, but only the second one resulted in points. An 11-yard T.J. Jones run set Felder up for his second short push into the end zone on the day. Although only three minutes remained before the half, the Dogs weren’t quite done scoring in the second period. 

The player of the game for GMC may very well have been punter Tommy Washington and his golden left foot. Washington nearly doubled his number of punts downed inside the 20 Saturday. Three of his punts pinned the Silver Storm deep, but one just before the half helped put his team up 21-7. Washington’s last punt of the half was a boomer that the ASA returner mistakenly tried to field dangerously close to his own goal line. He muffed it, and the GMC coverage team was right there to fall on the football in the end zone to give the home team a two-score advantage heading into the break. Plays like that are a team’s best friend with a third-string quarterback under center, especially when the rushing attack wasn’t as potent as before when the team’s met a few weeks ago. 

“We needed some things to help shorten the field for us,” Coach Williams said. “We had a portion of our passing game in and some things we felt like we could do, but they (ASA Miami) did some things defensively that they haven’t shown… They got us outnumbered and out-leveraged a couple of times. It’s hard to prepare for something you haven’t seen and be able to adjust. They gave us some good twists.”

The second half was relatively uneventful scoring-wise, but was anything but a snoozefest. The Silver Storm drove down and notched their second score of the day just before the end of the third quarter while some extracurricular activity broke out away from the play. Tempers flared and benches threatened to clear, but players stayed in place while the referees sorted things out. Meanwhile, GMC defensive coordinator Rob Manchester yelled for his guys to block the extra point attempt that was still waiting to be tried. When the time came to kick, defensive back Terrius Crimiel obliged. Rushing from the offense’s right, he laid out and got his hands on the football to keep the score at 21-13.

The Bulldogs put the game away with another impressive offensive drive that bled over six minutes off the clock.

GMC football has one game remaining against Lackawanna College (Pennsylvania). The two teams traditionally meet halfway at Marshall University in West Virginia, and will do so once again to close out 2018. Coach Williams thinks his team hasn’t faced a team as good as Lackawanna this season, which with the Bulldogs’ schedule is saying something.

“I think some of the people that are ranking haven’t watched the film,” the GMC head coach said. “I’ve seen them in a couple of games, and there’s not five teams ahead of them. I don’t think they’re in the top two, but they ought to be knocking on the door right there frankly. They’re solid top to bottom on defense. There’s not a weak spot. Offensively, they can line up and run at you or they can go by you. They’re going to be the biggest challenge of the year.”

Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 in West Virginia.