ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- The Robertsdale Golden Bears varsity football team fell to 0-4 overall, 0-3 in 6A Region 2 play, getting toppled by the Dothan Tigers 40-14 in their home opener Friday night at J.D. Sellars Stadium.

RHS spotted the Tigers to a 40-0 lead through the first three quarters of play before Tevin Sykes picked off a Dothan offering and returned the ball 62 yards for the score with under half a minute to go in the third period. Chandler Cordova's extra point cut the lead to 40-7 with 24.5 seconds to go before the final period of play.

Ninety-five of the Golden Bears 145 total yards in the game came on their final drive to cut the lead to 40-14 with just under two minutes to play in the game.

After scoring on the interception, Robertsdale tried an onside kick, but the Tigers recovered at their own 44-yard line and drove 53 yards in eight plays all the way down to the Golden Bear 3-yard-line.

But the Robertsdale defense would stiffen as the Tigers lost a yard each on the next two plays and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down, giving the Golden Bears back the ball on their own 5.

RHS would drive 95 yards from there in 15 plays, mostly behind the running of senior QB Alphonso Stewart and running back Denzel Smith. Stewart also completed 3 of 4 passes on the drive for 42 yards, taking the opening snap 12 yards before handing off to Smith foir runs of 17 and two yards, then connecting with Joshua Laird for another 17 into Tiger territory at the 47.

After a run and an incomplete pass brought up third-and-10, Stewart connected again with Laird on a 14-yard strike to convert, followed by a five-yard run by Smith and an 11-yard strike to Onyx Brown crossing the Red Zone to the Tiger 17.

Another 10-yard run by Stewart followed a 1-yard run by Smith to give the Bears a first-and-goal at the 6, but two plays netted just one yard and a penalty pushed the Bears back to the 10 to set up a third-and-goal. Stewart would take the ball in from there, gaining eight yards before crossing the endzone on fourth down from two yards out.

Cordova added his second extra point of the night to cut the lead to 40-14 with 1:55 to go in the game.

But it was too much for the Golden Bears to overcome after spotting the Tigers to a 33-0 halftime lead.

The Tigers outgained the Bears 293 to 83 in the first half, gaining 184 yards on just five plays, three of them resulting in scores, beginning with a 40-yard strike from quarterback Nathaniel Kennedy to Nicholas Erwin  to convert a third-and-9, tacking on the extra point to go up 7-0 with 8:26 to play in the first.

Kennedy would add two more scores in the first half on equal runs of 34 yards each, but the Tigers converted just one of two extra points to take a 20-0 lead with 9:32 to play in the half.

Dothan would then drive 93 yards in nine plays, including a flea-flicker reverse with Erwin tossing to Jarron Hardnick for a 34-yard strike down to the Golden Bear 24. Joseph Power scored  on a 16-yard run four plays later, but failed to convert a 2-point play leaving the score at 26-0 with 4:06 to go in the half.

The Tigers tacked on a final score in the first half as the ball sailed over Golden Bear punter Kenneth Sanderson's head giving Dothan a short field at the Golden Bear 2. Power marched in from there untouched and the extra point gave Dothan a 33-0 lead with 2:21 to go in the half.

It looked to be more of the same as the Tigers started the second half in Golden Bear territory and marched 45 yards in seven plays, capped by a one-yard run by Hardnick to take a 40-0 lead with 8:51 to play in the third.

From there, however, the two teams would trade turnovers. Robertsdale then failed to convert a fourth down play in Dothan terrirtory before Sykes' interception and two long drives, one a defensive stop and one a score for the Bears finished off the game.

Thanks to the long scoring drive in the fourth quarter, the Bears finished the game with 92 yards rushing on 37 carries, led by Smith with 52 yards on 14 carries and Stewart, who had 48 yards on 17 carries.

Stewart and sophomore Dylan Smith traded quarterback duties for most of the game, each ending with 53 yards passing, a total of 11 of 19 (6 of 12 for Smith, 5 of 7 for Stewart) for a total of 106 yards.

The Tigers spread the wealth using nine different runners for pile up 235 yards on 46 carries, led by Kennedy with 96 yards on just five carries. Power added 43 yards on seven carries with Fred Hosey (11 carries) and Forrest Smith (seven carries) adding 31 yards each on the ground.

Kennedy, Erwin and Hardnick each completed a pass in the first half, a total of 3 of 9 with one interception for 115 yards in the first half. Hardnick was 2 of 4 passing in the second half for 25 yards.

The Golden Bears hope to garner their first win of the season and first under head coach Brian Campbell taking on the Baker Hornets for Homecoming Friday night, but it will be no easy task as the Hornets are now 3-1 with a 28-0 win over Theodore Friday night.