Darlington received a rude welcome to Region 6-A football as Bowdon bested the Tigers, 12-6, at Warren P. Sewell Field in a typical tough and physical contest.

The Tigers, who played in Region 7-AA last year, faced a stingy Red Devil defense that limited the visitors to only 140 yards of total offense for the night.

“I’m as happy as I can be,” Bowdon coach Dwight Hochstetler said. “Our kids really showed up to play (Friday night) and responded to the challenge. Coming in we knew Darlington was one of the top two teams in the region and their quarterback is one of the better junior quarterbacks in the state. We did a good job with coverage and shutting down their running game and we’re just looking forward to next week.”

Bowdon opened the game with a quick three and out. The Tigers took possession with good field position starting on their own 47-yard line.

Led by junior quarterback Nash Nance, Darlington went 53 yards on nine plays and took a 6-0 lead on senior Dylan Baker’s 10-yard touchdown run up the middle. The PAT attempt was wide right.

A short kickoff gave Bowdon (4-0, 1-0 Region 6-A) good field position for its second possession of the night at its own 40-yard line, but two costly illegal procedure penalties killed the Red Devil drive. The Tigers (2-3, 0-1 Region 6-A) started their second possession from their own 27-yard line after a Bowdon punt. The Red Devil defense stiffened and forced a punt and the Devils began the second quarter at midfield.

Junior Bowdon quarterback Avery Cheeks led a Red Devil scoring drive with a nice 19-yard tuck and run and three plays later found senior J.J. Beasley open behind the aggressive Darlington defense for a 27-yard scoring strike over the middle to tie the game at 6-6 after a missed PAT.

The Red Devil defense held the Tigers to three plays and a punt and the Red Devils set up shop on their own 35-yard line with 5:37 left in the half.

A costly Tiger offsides penalty on third-and-4 kept the Red Devil drive alive. Cheeks then connected with junior Seth Key on a 24-yard pass play down the right sideline moving the ball to the Tiger 22-yard line with 56 seconds left in the half.

Another huge pass play to senior Ivan Glenn put the ball down to the 7-yard line. With the seconds ticking down, the Red Devils called timeout with 10 seconds to go in the half facing a second-and-goal from the 4-yard line.

Cheeks drove the ball to the 1-foot line with three seconds left.

After another Bowdon timeout, Glenn bullied his way over the goal line with one second showing on the clock to send Bowdon into the locker room with a 12-6 advantage.

The third quarter was a messy affair with the sky seemingly raining yellow penalty flags. One key play in the third quarter was a fumble by the Tigers in the backfield on the Bowdon 25-yard line, stopping the Darlington drive. The loose ball was scooped up by Cheeks who ran it back for what seemed to be a third score but the play was ultimately called back on several Bowdon penalties giving the Red Devils a possession on their own 35-yard line.

The big hits for the Bowdon defense continued into the final quarter with the biggest stop midway through the quarter.

A Tiger drive had stalled at midfield on fourth-and-7. Darlington attempted a fake punt which the Devil defense stopped for no gain. The Tigers would have two more possessions but neither threatened the six-point Bowdon lead and the game ended on a Red Devil pass interception.

Beasley (49 yards on 14 carries) and Glenn (45 yards on 19 carries, TD) led the rushing attack while Cheeks passed for 68 yards and one touchdown. Nance led the Darlington attack with 32 yards rushing and 54 yards passing.