The Tharptown Wildcats made an early attempt to upset the Sheffield Bulldogs, but injuries and turnovers stymied the Wildcats as they lost 56-24.

Tharptown got on the board first when quarterback Yovani Gomez nailed a 15-yard field goal to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead with 7:09 to go in the first quarter.

Sheffield answered with a quick scoring drive to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead with 6:12 to go in the first quarter.

Tharptown reclaimed the lead early in the second quarter on a three-yard run by Blake Daily, and the extra point by Gomez gave the Wildcats a 10-7 lead.

Again, Sheffield had a quick answer on a 35-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs up 13-10 with 11:17 to go in the second quarter.

Tharptown reclaimed the lead again later in the second quarter on a one-yard run by Chase O’Conner to give the Wildcats a 16-13 lead with 5:04 to go in the half.

Things spiraled downhill quickly for the Wildcats. Sheffield rolled off four straight touchdown passes – 11, 20, 15 and 19 yards – to score 30 unanswered points in the last four and a half minutes of the second quarter.

Sheffield scored 13 more unanswered points to open the second half before Tharptown was able to get back on the board with a one-yard run by Domonic Baker, capped off by a two-point conversion run by Colton Simmons.

Tharptown travels to Leighton to play Colbert County Friday night.