Clay makes it seven straight wins over Jackson County

CELINA-It may have taken two days to do it, but Clay County eventually held on to beat Jackson County for the seventh-straight time here over the weekend by a score of 20-9 in a weather-delayed game, where the first half was played Friday night and the final two quarters ensued on Saturday.

After the Dawgs built a 20-0 lead with a dominating first-half performance, storms postponed the contest until the next day.

And the Blue Devils took full advantage of the time to regroup.

Clay County had posted 234 yards of offense and three touchdowns the night before, but Jackson County only yielded 23 yards to the Bulldog attack Saturday and held the home team scoreless the rest of the way.

The Blue Devils also cashed in a strip-sack fumble recovered on the Clay County seven-yard line early in the third quarter to narrow the score to 20-6, before a Jackson County field goal on their next possession pulled them within 11 points heading into the fourth quarter.

But that’s when the Bulldog defense, led by senior Kolton Brown’s 12-tackle performance, finally regained their footing.

The Blue Devils’ next two possessions ended in a three-and-out and a turnover on downs, before the clock ran out on their final advance to seal the Clay County victory.

The Dawgs’ game-winning cushion was created by seniors Reece and Nolan Adams the night before.

Reece Adams scored first on Clay County’s opening drive from one yard out, after Nolan Adams hooked up with senior Waylon Cherry for a field-flipping 38-yard reception and freshmen Nemo Hamilton for 14 yards to set up the touchdown.

The two-point conversion failed and the Dawgs led 6-0 with 7:08 to play in the first quarter.

Three punts later, Clay County struck again, as Reece Adams broke free for a 52-yard rushing touchdown.  Nolan Adams then found Hamilton through the air for the two-point conversion, and the Dawgs jumped out to a 14-0 advantage early in the second quarter.

A Nolan Adams 46-yard touchdown run upped the score to 20-0 prior to intermission, where lightning delayed the second half to the next day.

Statistics

Clay County finished with a total of 257 yards on 44 plays, including 156 rushing yards on 28 carries (3TDs) and 101 passing yards.

Nolan Adams was responsible for all of the yards through the air on eight for 16 passing with completions to Cherry (4/57 yds.), Hamilton (3/25 yds.), and Reece Adams (1/19 yds.).

Nolan Adams was also the leading rusher (19/100 yds./TD), while Reece Adams (9/54 yds./2TDs) and Cherry (1/2 yds.) also had carries.

Brown led the Bulldog defense with 12 tackles (2 Sacks/2 TFLs/FF), while Reece Adams had eight stops (Sack/TFL).

Nolan Adams, senior Bryson Sharp (FR), and junior Cage Ashley (TFL) each had four tackles; Hamilton, junior Rolan Holaway, and senior Cole Eads made three stops apiece; Cherry and sophomore Cole Ledbetter had two tackles each; and sophomore Isaiah Burnette made one tackle.

Up next

Clay County (2-1) will host Monterey (1-2) Friday night at John Teeples Field.

The Dawgs shut out the Wildcats last season by a score of 42-0.

The Horizon Sports Network will have live-stream coverage of the game beginning at 6 p.m. on the Dale Hollow Horizon Facebook page and online at dalehollowhorizon.com.