TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- The Opelika Bulldogs had to overcome mother nature, penalties and a pretty good opponent tonight as the Bulldogs defeated Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 34-20. The games was delayed for over one hour and 45 minutes due to heavy rain and lightning. Then the Bulldogs had to overcome 30 of their own penalties in the game.

Opelika (1-0) forced three Hillcrest turnovers in the second half that was key in the win for the Bulldogs. "We came on the road and we overcame a lot of adversity and got the win," said Bulldogs Head coach Brian Blackmon. "We were able to run the football, when they knew we were going to run the football. We always want a tough physical football team and I think we saw that tonight."

Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (0-1) started the scoring early in the game with a four play 80-yard drive that ended on a Cole Frederick to Jahi Brown 55-yard touchdown pass with 10:33 left in the first quarter and the Patriots led 7-0. Oxford came right back on the next possession and scored when Jake Bentley hit James Moss on a 25-yard TD pass with 8:17 left in the first quarter. The extra point was missed and Hillcrest led 7-6.

Opelika scored as time expired at the end of the first quarter when Bentley and Moss connected again on a 67-yard touchdown pass and it gave the Bulldogs a 13-7 lead. "James had a big night for us," added Blackmon. Moss finished the night with six receptions for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Bentley finished the night 14-for-27 passing for 194 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. "I'm proud of our guys and what we pushed through today," said Bentley. "We came together and won the game. My teammates have full trust in me and I thought we performed pretty well for our first game. We have to clean up the mistakes but have something to build on."

Hillcrest came back right before the rain delay with 10:28 to go before the half as Frederick hit Torin Mayhew with a 58-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 13-13. The extra point was missed in the driving rain and lightning. The score was tied 13-13 at that point and then the big rain and lightning delay settled in.

At 9:45 pm., the game resumed between the two teams. Opelika seemed like they were the team that responded out of the delay especially in the second half. With 5:30 left in the half, Hillcrest fumbled a punt return and Terrance Banks recovered the ball for the Bulldogs on the Hillcrest 25-yard line. A few plays later Josh Johnson scored on a 14-yard run to put the Bulldogs up 20-13 with 5:00 left in the half. Opelika created another short field when Tanner Blatt blocked a Hillcrest punt that was recovered deep in Patriots territory. On the first play, Bentley threw backwards to John Worth who threw across the field to a wide open Blatt for a Bulldog touchdown with 2:59 left in the half. Opelika took a 27-13 lead.

With 1:01 left in the half, Hillcrest scored on a Frederick to Brown 25-yard touchdown pass. The cut the Opelika lead to 27-20. That is the way the game finished in the first half.

The last touchdown of the game came right out of halftime when Blatt took the kickoff 85-yards for a Bulldogs score. With that touchdown, Opelika led 34-20 and never looked back. In the game, Blatt had a touchdown reception, kickoff TD run and blocked a punt in the game. "Tanner made some great plays for us," said Blackmon. "He did some great things on offense, special teams game and does a great job with that and a lot of our guys stepped up, but Tanner really stepped up for us and made some explosive plays."

The Opelika offense was pretty much Johnson in the second half. Johnson had 27 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown. "Josh had a big game for us," said Blackmon. "We started out throwing the ball in the first half, but the weather conditions forced us to run the ball. A little frustrated with all those penalties and the number of penalties, we must do a better job."

The Opelika defense forced a couple of key turnovers in the fourth quarter to keep Hillcrest from making a comeback. The Patriots moved the ball in the red zone a few times but came away empty in the second half. "I thought our inexperience showed for much of the night," said Patriots Head coach Sam Adams. "It was was back and forth right there and we have two special team errors and they jump up 14 points on us.A lot of positives against a good football team we just need to clean up our mistakes.