PIEDMONT – While fans arriving early for Friday night's game were filing past the white bulldog statue or purchased fried Snickers bars, diligent Ohatchee backs practiced the triple option on the field.

Though the offense won college championships in the 1970's, most modern high school programs now shun such old-fashioned attacks. It was this rarity of seeing the triple option in action that worried Piedmont coach Steve Smith.

“We told our kids all week long that it's a difficult offense to prepare for in just a few days' time,” Smith said.

For most of the first half, Smith's concerns seemed well-founded. Heavily-favored Piedmont, the No. 6 team in Alabama in Class 3A, struggled to pull away from the scrappy, but overmatched, Ohatchee Indians.

In the end, however, led by senior Christian Cantrell's 215 rushing yards and three touchdowns, the Bulldogs pulled out a 36-7 victory.

Before the Piedmont cheerleaders had time to reach for their yellow megaphones, Cantrell scored from 61 yards out on the second play from scrimmage. The air horn sounded, and a short time later the first of four PATs by Chris Strott had sailed through the uprights.

Ohatchee rebounded with a seven-play, 61-yard drive, capped off by junior quarterback Chris Brown's 39-yard touchdown.

Cowbells sold near the pass gate fell silent, and the partisan crowd grew antsy as the score remained 7-7 through alternating possessions. With Piedmont's no-huddle running attack stalled by Ohatchee's resilient defense, the Bulldogs resorted to the passing game.

Senior quarterback Chase Childers's tossed 19- and 26-yard strikes to juniors “Mookie” Jackson and Jamaal Johnson, respectively, advancing the ball to the Ohatchee 22. Three plays later, Johnson' s two-yard touchdown plunge increased the score to 14-7.

Ohatchee responded, moving the ball 35 yards, powered mostly by workhorse fullback Justin Areno. However, quarterback Chris Brown came up hobbled after a 13-yard keeper, and his freshman back-up could not keep the drive alive.

Piedmont scored two possessions later, on Cantrell's 15-yard scamper. Childers' two-point conversion made the score 22-7 late in the second quarter and put the game out of reach for the Indians.

With the Bulldogs comfortably ahead at the half, Piedmont's band appropriately chimed “Happy Trails,” for Ohatchee's offense would only tally two first downs until very late in the game, after Piedmont had sent in the reserves.

Johnson recovered two fumbles for the Bulldogs in the second half, one on the Ohatchee 8-yard line on the second play of the third quarter. The Bulldogs scored on the next play, on freshman Jamie Major's 8-yard romp to the golden “P' in the corner of the end zone, notching the score up to 29-7.

Piedmont's final score came on a 62-yard run by Cantrell.

After the game, Ohatchee coach Chris Cochran was quick to praise Piedmont.

“Coach Smith and the coaching staff do a great job with their players,” he said. “They deserved to win tonight.”

Smith was proud of the progress his offensive line has made since the season started and like what he saw from the defense, as well.

“We had some really well-blocked plays that went for touchdowns,” Smith said. “Defensively, I'd say the main thing to focus on is that we kept them out of the end zone all but one time.”

This week, Piedmont (4-1) will celebrate homecoming against region opponent White Plains. Ohatchee (1-4) takes their triple-option attack on the road to Lineville.