Lithonia Rolls Past M.L. King

The Lithonia Bulldogs scored on the opening drive of the 37-7 win over the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions and never looked back in the second game of the DeKalb County High School Football Kickoff Classic on Aug. 22 at Hallford Stadium. 

The Bulldogs marched 74 yards on the opening drive of the game, keyed by a 25-yard run by Timothy Behling on a fake punt from their own 40-yard line. Lithonia finished the drive five plays later as Dreyden Gibbs threw over the middle to Armani Myco. Myco hauled in the pass at the goal line for the touchdown. Achillies Buchannan ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0. 

Aubrey McDonough hit a 30-yard field goal with 8:33 to play to push the lead to 11-0 and added another from 26 yards with 15 seconds to left in the half to make it 14-0 as the teams went to the locker room. 

AJ Tillman raced 47 yards down the right sideline with 6:46 remaining in the third quarter to push the lead to 21-0 with McDonough’s extra point. 

The Lions got on the board with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Davis to Jeremiah Forde as time expired in the third quarter. The lead was trimmed to 21-8 with a two-point conversion as the snap on the extra point was mishandled. 

Lithonia opened a 16-point barrage with a Buchannan two-yard touchdown run with 8:48 to lay in the game. McDonough hit the extra point for a 28-8 lead. 

The Bulldogs got a 29-yard field goal from McDonough, and a touchdown pass from Ja’Mir Gibbs to Drake Dupreist in the final 1:30 of the game for the final score of 37-8. 

Most Valuable Offensive player of the game was Tillman, who finished with 92 yards rushing and a touchdown on 10 carries, and Myco – who had five receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown. 

Sophomore defensive back Leland Walker was selected as the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the game.  

 

Ja’Myis Chapple had two receptions for 57 yards and 11 yards rushing to lead the Lions.