It proved to be a historic night at Warren P. Sewell Field, as Bowdon High School football coach Dwight Hochstetler enjoyed a milestone victory when his Red Devils rolled over Temple, 47-7, on Friday evening.

The legendary Bowdon coach moved into fourth place in the career wins list in Georgia at 324 all-time victories, moving past the late Luther Welsh.

The Tigers (1-6, 1-4 Region 5-AA) came out with intensity in the first quarter, shutting down the Red Devils deep in their own territory. The Tigers forced a bad snap on a punt and Mike Jones recovered the fumble in the end zone for the first score of the night to go ahead 7-0 with 7:58 in the first quarter.

Temple held its first-quarter lead until 10:35 in the second quarter, where Darnell Holland ignited the Red Devil offense with a 10-yard run to tie the game 7-7. On Temple’s ensuing drive, quarterback Elijah McFarland threw a pass right into the hands of Red Devil cornerback Marcus Thurman, who returned the interception 50 yards for a touchdown to give Bowdon its first lead at 14-7 with 8:25 left in the half.

Thurman got his second score late in the second quarter on a four-yard sweep around the corner to take a 20-6 halftime lead.

Bowdon (6-1, 4-1) then put the pedal to the metal in the second half, as it scored three touchdowns on its first three possessions. The first two came on two hard runs by Chris Keith — the first on a 10-yard run, the second from 11 yards out.

On the first play of their third possession, Thurman threw a 59-yard bomb to a wide-open Keith with 5:07 left in the third quarter. The Red Devil defense added their second score on the night when Connor Wigginton got his second interception on the game, returning it 39 yards to the house.