GOOD HOPE — For the third straight season, the Good Hope middle school football team celebrated on its home field after proving to the rest of the county it’s going nowhere any time soon.

Austin Knight ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns, the Raider D stifled Hanceville’s O, and the Red and White earned their third straight county championship — and 21st straight win — following a 28-14 triumph over the Dawgs on Monday.

For the Gatorade-soaked Patrick McDonald, he couldn’t say enough about his assistants and his players.

“I’ve had great help,” the Raider head coach said. “They’re responsible for much of this success. The players have really bought into what we’ve wanted to do this year. We went to more of a run-heavy offense. We’ve always had terrific lines, but this year we added good running backs and it’s showed.”

Good Hope (7-0) marched down the field on its first drive, scoring in 11 plays on a Knight 4-yard touchdown run which gave the home team a quick 8-0 lead after a two-point rush from quarterback Preston Bagwell.

The Raider defense forced two straight three-and-outs for its offense, which added another score — a 2-yard scamper from Knight — to grab a 14-0 halftime lead.

Knight, who was filling in for starter Matthew Dixon, was a hoss for the Red and White. The eighth-grader finished most runs dragging multiple Hanceville defenders to the ground in droves — much to the delight of his coach.

“I didn’t have a second guess as to who would step up for our team tonight,” McDonald said. “Austin’s a big kid who’s running style is tough. I challenged him, and he responded.”

Added Knight: “We did a great job tonight. I was proud of the team for blocking and helping us get those touchdowns. It’s just great to end the year like this and to be a part of it. Just hope they can do it again next year.”

After an 11-yard Knight TD run, Hanceville finally found its offense on a 61-yard catch-and-jaunt from quarterback Alex Campbell to running back Romael Simmons to cut the deficit back to 14.

Unfortunately for coach Phillip Key’s group, its defense just didn’t have an answer for Good Hope’s running backs, as the Raiders marched 53 yards on a grueling 13-play drive to get on the board again with a 2-yard sneak by Jones.

“Good Hope is real impressive,” Key said. “Coach McDonald does a great job over there. I just wanted it so bad for these kids. None of our games were easy this year. We found many ways to win ugly. We just aren’t at their level yet. Nobody is. No one’s figured out how to stop them. I’m very proud of my team, though. We gave it everything we had.”

Discounting the aforementioned long pass, the superb Good Hope defense yielded just 67 yards — 30 of which came on a late fourth-quarter scoring drive against the second stringers.

“Our starting defense only gave up three touchdowns in our seven games,” McDonald said. “They fly to the football and it shows they aren’t afraid to hit someone, either. We want our teams to be physical. When we are, I think we can play close with any team in the state.”

Bagwell completed 2 of 6 passes for 52 yards to go with his rushing score. Both tosses were brought in by Matt Hancock. Noah Fendley, Dylan McDonald and Cole Grattan combined to earn 47 rushing yards for the Raiders, which tallied 258 total yards of offense in the win. Brandon Oliver fell on a fumble.

For Hanceville, Simmons rushed for 22 yards on 11 carries and notched four catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns.

Campbell completed seven passes for 113 yards. Mark Dyer, Antonio Bautista and Colin Lang each had a reception for the the Bulldogs in the losing effort.