By THOMAS P. WEAVER

HORIZON Editor

CELINA-Clay County took full advantage of their opportunity to host the first-ever playoff game here on John Teeples Field with a 28-2 victory over Sale Creek last Friday night—which was only the seventh time in history the school had won a first-round postseason game.

The Dawgs moved to 8-3 on the season with the win and earned the right to move on to the second round, where they are set to travel to AP #1-ranked South Pittsburg (10-0) at week’s end.

“It feels good, especially to do it at home,” head coach Jake Johnson said.  “Our guys played hard and they played through the whole game.

“I don’t know what more you could ask for out of a group of young men.  They’ve carried us this far and it’s been fun to coach them along the way.”

Clay County’s competition steps up this week as they face the best team they’ve seen in the form of a Pirate squad expected to bring home a state title this season, but Johnson explained, though he’s got the utmost respect for the perennial Class A power, he didn’t expect his Bulldogs to lay down and roll over when they make the 130-mile voyage south Friday night.

“They are very disciplined in the things they do, they are extremely athletic, and they’ve got speed that we’ve not seen all year—it’s definitely going to be a challenge,” he said, “but the mentality of these kids is what makes them so strong and they’re not going to back down from anybody.

“That’s just not what they do and I don’t think they ever will.  It’s not anything we’ve done to make them that way, that’s just who they are.  It’s just bred into them and they never give up.”

Johnson explained South Pittsburg does “a lot of different things” on offense making them “hard to get a bead on,” and said their multiplicity “will be problematic.”

On the other side of the ball, he said “there’s guys flying all over the place,” and thought the game would, in his opinion, “be a battle of two really, really good defenses” and “come down to offensive production” for both teams.

“I feel like the strong suit of both teams is on defense and it’s going to be a battle,” Johnson reiterated.  “We’ve just got to do what we do and from a mentality standpoint, we’ve not been blown out this year.  There’s not been anybody that has just come out and dominated us, so I feel like we should have the mentality that we can play with anyone regardless of who it is, because it’s not the first time we’ve been the underdog.

“Whatever happens and wherever the chips fall, I will be absolutely proud of these kids for what they’ve done and honestly not many people were expecting them to do it,” Johnson continued.  “They are the best football team to walk through these halls, because they’ve gone deeper in the playoffs than anybody.

“You can’t deny that and they will come to play Friday night.”

Clay County did just that in their postseason opener last week, where they battled through a scoreless first period, before putting together a 14-play, 65-yard scoring drive to take a lead they would never relinquish against the Panthers.

Freshman Alec Kerr got it started with multiple outside runs, senior Will Ogltree kept it going with rushes of his own, and his classmate Jake Ashlock capped it with a 16-yard touchdown strike snatched out of the air by junior Brison Burchett.

Ogletree then pounded in the two-point conversion and the Dawgs claimed an 8-0 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the first half.

The Clay County defense, which turned Sale Creek back on all of their possessions prior to intermission, then produced the Bulldogs’ second score.

Kerr picked off a Panther pass and followed a Clay County convoy to the end zone for a pick-six touchdown, before Ashlock found senior Wyatt Burks for the two-pointer and the Dawgs headed into the break up 16-0.

Then in the third quarter, following a Panther punt, sophomore Carson Sharp broke runs of 23 and 18 yards to set up the first touchdown of junior lineman Dalton Goad’s career.

Goad, who is better known for being the Dawgs’ career and single-season sack leader, blasted across the stripe from a yard out to make it 22-0.

Sale Creek finally dented the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter to make it 22-2, when they got a safety immediately following a Clay County goal-line stand, but the Panther momentum didn’t last.

Freshman Keaton Arms, who led the Dawgs in tackles in his first game back from injury, turned a Goad forced fumble into a 50-yard scoop-and-score on Sale Creek’s ensuing possession to put the game away.

“These guys find a way to win,” Johnson said, “and they did it in pretty convincing fashion.

“At no point in time did I really feel like they were in the game, even though the score may not have indicated it at that time.  We just kept plugging and overcame the physical size they had to get it done.”

Stats

Clay County finished with a total of 224 yards on 39 plays, including 28 rushes for 146 yards (TD) and 78 yards (TD) passing.

Ashlock accounted for all of the yards through the air on 11 of 21 passing (TD/INT) and he had completions to Kerr (5/29 yds.), Burks (3/19 yds.-2pt), Brison Burchett (1/16 yds.-TD), freshman Jimmy Burchett (1/14 yds.), and freshman Joseph Marcom (1/0 yds.).

Sharp was the leading rusher (8/83 yds.), while Ogletree (9/27 yds.-2pt.), Kerr (4/18 yds.), Ashlock (3/7 yds.), Marcom (2/10 yds.), and Goad (2/1 yd.-TD) rounded out the ground game.

Arms led the way defensively with eight tackles (RF-TD), Burks recorded seven, Goad had six (2FF), and both junior John Copeland (Sack/TFL) and sophomore Wade Coons made five stops apiece.

Kerr (INT-TD) and senior Wesley Walker (Sack) each had three tackles, while Marcom (Sack/TFL) and Brison Burchett had two apiece.  Sharp, junior Colin Dodson, and sophomore Andrew Burks also recorded one stop each.

The Dawgs’ game at South Pittsburg will kick off at 7 p.m. and Horizon Sports Network coverage begins at 6 p.m. with the Carquest Pregame Show online at www.dalehollowhorizon.com.

A Clay County win would pit them against the winner of this week’s Gordonville/Whitwell game the following Friday, while a loss will end their season at 8-4.