Houston County football opens up season with 57-10 beat down of Alpharetta in Corky Kell Classic

ATLANTA — A year ago the Houston County Bears blew out the Sumter County Panthers 56-12 to open up the season.

They used speed outside and blew the lid off of the defense to go up 49-6 at halftime.

This year they were up on Alpharetta 43-10 at halftime on their way to a 57-10 final, but looked much different doing it.

Here are three observations from Saturday’s win: 

PHOTOS: See more pictures from the Bears’ trip to the Benz.

1. The Bears sported a more diverse offense

Many have called Houston County’s offense one-dimensional in recent years with their constant use of receivers like Ricky Johnson and Kale Woodburn attacking the defense downfield.

The Bears’ offense on Saturday was anything but one-dimensional.

The first two touchdowns for HoCo came on the ground Newly surfaced junior running back Javien Durham claimed the first as he went for a couple of solid runs to take advantage of a Raiders fumble. 

Alpharetta fumbled a punt that was snapped too high, and the Bears recovered it on the one-yard line. Tight end Gavin Kurpis punched it in to make it 14-0 HoCo with 5:48 left in the first quarter.

The Bears did try to attack deep a couple of times but were unable to connect. They instead used screen passes and let either Durham, running back Austin Stinson or other receivers make plays in space. Wide receiver Isaiah Mitchell had one of the most successful plays in the first half with a pass he took all the way down to the seven-yard line.

2. Javien Durham looks to be a solid substitute for Amir Thomas

With the unfortunate injury to assumed RB1 Amir Thomas, the Bears had a hole to fill at running back.

They used Stinson plenty in Saturday’s win, but Durham also had some great moments throughout the game.

He did benefit from some good blocks from the offensive line, but he’s a different type of back from Thomas and Stinson.

He’s a little bit bigger and more physical up the middle, but he still had the speed to make a breakaway run in the first quarter that allowed HoCo to score on the next play to make it 21-3 in the second quarter. He doesn’t quite possess the top speed of the other two backs, but it’s good enough.

It’s to be determined what kind of role he’ll have throughout the season, but he had a good first showing.

3. The front seven was great, secondary gave up some tough catches

The Bears’ front seven had a noteworthy performance in the season opener as they constantly harassed the quarterback and brought the Raiders’ running game to a halt.

On the first play of Alpharetta’s first drive HoCo forced a fumble which led to a score.

When the Raiders got the ball back, their first two plays ended in tackles for a loss. On third down the Bears forced the quarterback to scramble back to the original line of scrimmage, forcing fourth-and-10.

HoCo’s secondary did allow some tough catches over the middle, but on the short outs and outside scrambles or runs they were able to limit the Raiders’ gains.

Noteworthy

The Bears forced three fumbles in the first half. All of them resulted in a score.

Gavin Kurpis scored five times.

UP NEXT

Houston County will reload for a short turnaround as they host Effingham County on Friday, Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m.