Published: September 29, 2007 02:35 am      

Rice surprises Blooming Grove

RICE — A seven-yard touchdown run by Blake Lewis in the fourth quarter capped off a wild 15-14 Homecoming victory for the Rice Bulldogs (1-0, 2-3) over the Blooming Grove Lions. Jansen Allen added the two-point conversion to give the Bulldogs the winning margin.

Lewis’s touchdown capped an 18-play, 80-yard drive that chewed up over 8 minutes in the third and fourth quarter.

The Lions (0-1, 1-4) final chance for victory ended when Byron Rhodes recovered a Blooming Grove fumble at the Rice 12-yard line with 36 seconds play.

Lee Grounds had led the Lions from the own 20-yard line, after stopping the Bulldogs with 1:25 to play.

"It was a great win for the kids," said Rice head coach David Currey.

The Rice offense struggled in the first half, gaining only 30 yards of total offense.

The Bulldogs defense provided the first points of the game when Humberto Aguinaga picked off a Grounds pass and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter.

Blooming Grove responded with a 7-play, 70-yard drive to tie the game at seven. Trent Harris caught a deep pass from Grounds for 47 yards and a touchdown. Darius Harris kept the drive alive with a seven yard catch on third down.

Blooming Grove took the lead in the third quarter when Grounds scored on a 10-yard run. Grounds had a key 33-yard reception from Darius Harris.

Trey Davis led all rushers with 92 hard-fought yards on 28 carries.

The Bulldogs will be back in action in on Oct. 12 at Malakoff while Blooming Grove will host Malakoff next week.

Kickoff for both games is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.



Rice 15, Bl. Grove 14

Bl. Grove 7 0 7 0 — 14

Rice 7 0 0 8 — 15



First Quarter

R — Humberto Aguinaga 69 interception return (Jansen Allen kick) 3:48

BG — Trent Harris 47 pass from Lee Grounds (Juve Sanchez kick) 0:16

Third Quarter

Second Quarter

K — Terrence Sayles 6 pass from Faulk (Faulk pass intercepted), 8:12

G — Jake Dorsey PAT interception return, 8:12

G — Tony Taylor 1 run (Ruston Boyd kick), 3:25

K — Derrick Polk 50 pass from Faulk (Leerskov kick), 2:34

K — Polk 76 punt return (Leerskov kick), 1:04

Third Quarter

BG — Lee Grounds 10 run (Sanchez kick) 6:42

Fourth Quarter

R — Blake Lewis 7 run (Allen run) 10:20



BG R

First downs 6 21

Rush-yards 42-101 37-316

Passing yards 25 164

C-A-I 3-12-3 8-10-0

Fumbles-lost 4-2 7-3

Punts-avg. 4-26.0 1-38.0

Penalties-yards 4-22 7-80



Individual

Rushing —BG: Jordan Watkins 4-13, Lee Grounds 8-10, Brandon Ferrer 1-7, Jordan Tennell 4-4. R: Trey Davis 28-92, Geoffrey Hammonds 9-21, Joey Pate 1-0, Blake Lewis 12-(-7).

Passing — BG: Lee Grounds 14-23-1 198 yards, Darius Harris 1-1-0 33 yards. R: Blake Lewis 2-5-0 31 yards.

Receiving — BG: Trent Harris 3-98, Darius Harris 7-74, Lee Grounds 1-33, Scott Ackley 3-21, Juve Sanchez 1-5. R: Humberto Aguinaga 2-31.