In football games Friday night, Albemarle hosted Charles D. Owen High School from Black Mountain while South Stanly traveled to Rowan County to take on the Carson Tigers.

Owen 34, Albemarle 21

The Bulldogs rallied from an early deficit to lead at halftime, but the visiting Warhorses shut the Bulldogs on in the second half en route to the win.

Owen outscored Albemarle (0-3) 14-0 in the first half with two rushing touchdowns, but the second quarter belonged to the Bulldogs.

Early in the period, Albemarle faced a fourth-down conversion attempt at the Owen 39. Bulldogs quarterback Ander Artis found Zion Geiger on a fly pattern down the home sideline for a touchdown. Cristo Sanchez’ PAT cut the Warhorses’ lead in half, 14-7, with 10:25 left on the clock.

Six minutes later, the Bulldogs caught a break. A swing pass on fourth down at the Owen 5-yard line was fumbled into the endzone. Geiger recovered the fumble for a touchdown to pull the ‘Dogs within one, 14-13.

The “Oak Tree” defense set up a late touchdown for the Bulldogs in the second on a Miles Gregory sack followed by a C.J. Ellis punt return to the Owen 46.

A long pass from Artis to T.J. Rushing then set the Bulldogs up at the two-yard line. With 15.5 seconds left, Jaylen Pinkney plunged in from two yards out to give Albemarle the lead. A two-point conversion from Malik Watkins gave Albemarle a 21-14 halftime advantage.

Owen opened the third quarter with an onside kick, recovering the ball at the Albemarle 38. The Warhorses drove the field to tie the game with a quarterback keeper from two yards out with 8:31 left in the period.

A 21-yard touchdown run with 3:41 left in the third gave the Warhorses the lead for good, 27-21.

Albemarle drove down inside the five-yard line to start the fourth quarter but a false-start penalty pushed the Bulldogs back. An incomplete pass on fourth down stopped the drive.

Owen added a touchdown in the final four minutes of the game to seal the win.

“We’re extremely young and improving every week. It was a tough loss but I couldn’t be more proud of the way our guys fought,” Albemarle head coach Richard Davis said.

The Bulldogs’ home game this Friday with Anson County has been cancelled because of the Bearcat being in COVID quarantine. Davis said the team is looking for an opponent for this Friday.

Carson 40, South Stanly 6

The Bulls fell to 0-3 Friday night with a road loss to the Tigers (1-1).

South Stanly trailed 14-0 before Trevor Tucker scored on a four-yard TD run cutting the lead to eight points.

Carson built a 24-6 halftime lead and continued to add to it in the second half. The Tigers led 33-6 after three quarters adding a touchdown and getting a safety after a punt snap for South went through the end zone.

South Stanly continues non-conference play Friday night at South Davidson (0-1). The Wildcats have not played since Aug. 20 when South Davidson lost at North Stokes, 20-0.