NATCHEZ — An interception for a touchdown by Laurel High School Golden Tornadoes sealed the fate for Natchez High School Bulldogs in Thursday night’s 48-14 loss to the Golden Tornadoes won.

The Golden Tornadoes scored seven touchdowns in the game against the Bulldogs.

“I thought we struggled offensively at times, but we found other ways to score tonight,” Golden Tornadoes Head Coach Todd Breland said. “We found other ways to score tonight. We scored two touchdowns on defense and one on special teams. When one side struggled, the other side picked them up. The way the kids and coaches handled this week, I’m proud of them.”

Amir Smith scored two rushing touchdowns in the first half. The first rushing touchdown was for 15 yards. The second rushing touchdown was for 18 yards.

“I’m not satisfied with my rushing performance,” Smith said about his running ability in the game. “I’m just doing my job. Once you do your job, you can’t be satisfied with it.”

After Smith scored his first rushing touchdown in the first quarter, the Golden Tornadoes kicked an onside-kick and recovered it. The Golden Tornadoes would go three-and-out.

In the second half, the Golden Tornadoes continued to score touchdowns. The Golden Tornadoes recovered a fumble, returned a kickoff and intercepted the ball for three different touchdowns.

“That was kind of unusual for the special teams to play so well without any preparation,” Breland said about the special teams’ performance. “They did a good job tonight.”

The Bulldogs scored two touchdowns in the game. James Singleton ran a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter. L.J. Minor scored the second touchdown on a 12-yard fumble recovery.

“We were working on our game plan pretty good at first,” Bulldogs Head Coach Roy Rigsby said about the Bulldogs performance. “I felt like we were very competitive in the first half, more so than what the score shows. At the end, we let them go. We’ve got to find ways to contain teams. We can’t let great teams like Laurel have any kind of leeway. Once Laurel got momentum, it was hard to stop them.”

Thursday’s game was the second straight Mississippi High School Athletic Association Region 3 game the Bulldogs have lost.

With this loss, the Bulldogs (3-4, 1-2 Region 3) will fall to fifth place in the Region 3 standings. Meanwhile, Laurel (6-1, 3-0 Region 3) moves into first in the standings.

The Bulldogs will travel to Forest Hill High School at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18.