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The GMC Prep Bulldogs football team traveled to Gainesville last Friday to play in the annual Military Bowl rivalry game with the Riverside Military Eagles.
The Bulldogs have struggled so far this season, but that all changed last Friday when GMC brought home its first win of the season in a 46-12 win at RMA.
“I thought we came out and started well on both sides. We got out to a good start, and I don’t know that we’ve really done that a lot this year,” head coach Bobby Rhoades said of his team’s performance. “We got a three and out right off the bat and then we went right down and scored. That’s exactly how you want to start a game. I thought our physicality was a little better and that’s something we’ve had to work on.”
It didn’t take long for GMC's offense to get rolling against the Eagles with quarterback Logan McMillan connecting with Johnathan Roach for a 37-yard pass to put the Dogs on RMA's 7-yard line. A handoff to Jessie Washington is all it took to put GMC into the end zone for the first score of the game giving GMC a 6-0 lead.
Parker Edens and Jose Caballero would follow up the Dogs scoring drive with a pair of back-to-back sacks, which forced the Eagles the ball over on downs to give GMC the ball back on the Eagles' own 14-yard line.
McMillan would take the ball himself and scramble for a rushing touchdown to give the Dogs a pair of scoring drives and a 13-0 lead with the PAT. RMA would give the ball back to GMC after a failed drive and the Dogs would score on a McMillan 21-yard touchdown pass to Cam Lango.
Heading into the second quarter, GMC led 20-0 and would extend its lead quickly with Washington scoring his second rushing touchdown of the night on a one-yard carry. Washington would score again, this time defensively with a fumble recovery returned 19 yards for a touchdown to extend GMC’s lead to 34-0.
Washington and Roach would both have rushing touchdowns again before halftime to give the Dogs a 46-6 lead to cap off one of GMC’s most dominant first-half performances in a long time and certainly its best of the 2023 season.
GMC would not score in the second half, but they didn’t need to because the Dogs defense held Riverside Military to one touchdown that came in the fourth quarter.
“It was just good to see the kids go out and execute and have some success,” Rhoades said. “We’ve still got a long way to go but it’s good to see us execute in the run game and passing game and it’s good to see us move around better on defense.” GMC certainly had its best performance of the season last Friday and it will have this week to continue to improve and recover with a bye week.
The Bulldogs will return to action next Friday kicking off region play against the Johnson County Trojans at Davenport Field.