The Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the season against American Christian Academy, losing 54-70, making their record 4-1.  

“I am proud of our guys for playing all 48 minutes,” coach Brandon Wilcox said. “We played until the finish and backed down from no one! I want to encourage my guys to keep working; we are building something special!”

In two pass plays, American Christian grabbed an early lead of 7-0 in the first quarter.

Montevallo then turned the ball over on downs on their first drive of the night and the Patriots, with a long drive from ACA’s quarterback, ran in from 10 yards out for a 14-0 lead.

Sure enough, ACA came out strong and ready to score, which meant the Bulldogs had to do the same.

The Bulldogs then got the ball and made it to midfield, but a crushing fumble was recovered by the Patriots.

After two first downs, ACA ran the ball into the endzone with yet another touchdown against the Bulldogs. Taking a 21-0 lead.

At half time, the Patriots had a 35-0 lead against the Bulldogs, but the Bulldogs were not giving up.

Montevallo then came out stronger than ever. Junior Deon Gilliland picked up a 90-yard kick return for a touchdown that gave the Dogs a boost of energy. After a failing the two-point conversion, the Dogs trailed 35-6.

On a 5-yard rushing touchdown, the Bulldogs scored, but ACA came back with its sixth touchdown of the night.

American Christian used a lot of new players, but Montevallo never gave up and fought back with two scores making the final score 70-54.

“We played really well,” Gilliland said, “And we’ll come back stronger next week.”

Junior Malik Inabinette ended the game 12 of 29 passes for 249 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Gilliland led in rushing with 18 for 123 yards, 1 touchdown, and 5 two-point conversions.