A fumble, an interception and a missed field goal attempt by Alexander did little to hinder the Cougar’s overall effort in a 28-0 drubbing over the Bremen Blue Devils Friday night at Alexander.

After a scoreless first half, the two teams continued their sluggish battle up to the 8:07 mark in the third quarter. That’s when Alexander finally got its stimulus package, in the form of a powerful defense fronted by seniors Shaderick Walker and DeAngelo Ashley, and juniors Trey Armstrong and Andrew Evans.

Bremen’s quarterback Brent Copeland, on his own 29, tried a reverse handoff and got plastered by three Cougar defenders. The ball popped loose and was picked up by Alexander linebacker Andre Carter. Carter ran untouched into the end zone. Senior Austin Shelnutt’s point after made it 7-0.

But the Blue Devils struck back quickly against an unsuspecting Cougar special teams. On the kickoff, Bremen’s Nick Cash rumbled 75 yards down to the AHS 17. The Blue Devils marched to a first down at the 4. But the Cougar defense stiffened, and Bremen faced a fourth-down situation, still at the AHS 4.

With fans on their feet, Copeland took the snap before sophomore linebacker Carson Newman busted through the line for the tackle and a four-yard loss, and Alexander took over on downs.

From that point, the Bremen offense could muster no further threats.

Alexander scored three fourth quarter touchdowns. The first came on a 14-yard pass from sophomore Dempsey Abernathy to his senior tight end Sam Cook, with 10:32 to play in the game. The point after attempt was blocked and the Cougars led 13-0.

Alexander’s next touchdown was on a four-yard run by senior running back Brian Holmes. Abernathy connected with senior wingback Dion King on the two-point conversion attempt and the score was 21-0 with eight minutes to go in the game.

Alexander’s final touchdown came with 2:47 left in the game. From three yards out, Abernathy took this one in himself. Shelnutt’s point after capped the night’s scoring.

The Cougar defense was solid, allowing the Blue Devils no first downs in the first quarter, no passing yards for the game and forcing numerous fumbles.

In his varsity starting debut, highly touted quarterback Abernathy met and exceeded expectations. The only thing that marred his subtle brilliance were three dropped passes, plus an interception on a pass that bounced off his receiver’s hands, ricocheted off the helmet of a Bremen defender and fell into the hands of a second defender. For the night, Abernathy was 14-of-22 for 146 yards.

The Cougar offensive line game Abernathy enough time to do his math homework. And his prettiest pass of the night was a 45-yard completion in the first quarter to sophomore wide receiver Allen Igwebuike that threaded three needles, all the way down to the Bremen 9.

The Cougars get ready for a big test next week as they travel to Northgate for an early season Region 5-AAAA battle.

against the Vikings.