CELINA-The Clay County Bulldogs head into homecoming here at John Teeples Field Friday night with a 7-1 record, after shutting out Grundy County 54-0 last week.

Following the day’s parade and pageantry, the Dawgs will play host to head coach Derwin Wright’s York Institute Dragons (5-3), a team Clay County head coach Bruce Lamb knows all too well.

“I’ve coached against them every year I’ve been a head coach and know Derwin really well—he is a good friend of mine,” Lamb said.  “You know when you go play York, especially a Coach Wright coached team, they are going to hit you in the mouth, and they are going to come right back and hit you in the mouth again.

“They are going to be very physical and they come right at you.  We just gotta come out, be ready, and execute.  If we do that, I think we will be in good shape.”

Lamb described Wright as “one of the best coaches around,” who “teaches physical, hard-nosed football,” and he explained his team was “going to have to play” in order to win.

“There are no easy games left,” he said.  “That was kind of like the preseason as far as what we’ve done before and now everything is for real.

“So, we are going to have to be focused, and we are going to have to execute and do what we need to do to win.  It’s going to be tough, because they are a good football team.”

Lamb said the Dragon attack “centers through their quarterback” who is “extremely fast and athletic.”

He also said York has some “good offensive linemen” in front of Wright’s spread attack featuring “a little wing-T out of the gun.”

On the other side of the ball, Lamb said the Dragons run a “3-3 stack” with a heavy blitzing influence.

“They come at you man and are going to make you make a decision right now,” Lamb said.  “It is typical Derwin Wright football, which makes things hard.”

Besides York’s prowess, the Dawgs have other distractions to deal with this week, including homecoming and potentially looking ahead to the much-anticipated Region 4-A Championship game next week against Gordonsville, but Lamb said he thought his team’s experience dealing with outside factors would prevail.

“I think the maturity of our kids will take care of that, because I think they understand what is in front of them,” Lamb said.  “I think we are looking forward to these next few weeks.

“As we talked about after the game the other night, it is time to play and it’s not just this week, it is the next seven weeks,” he continued.  “That’s what we want to work on.

“We’ve got to focus, we’ve got to get ourselves better, and get prepared.”

One aspect which will already be better this week is the health of Clay County, as seniors Keaton Arms, John Hamilton, and Stone Lynn return to the lineup.

“We should be 100% this week,” Lamb said.  “We sat Keaton, John, and Stone out this past week, pretty much for precautionary reasons, and they are itching to get back in the game.”

Lamb said Arms will start at quarterback against York, and he praised sophomore signal-caller Nate Adams for his relief work.

“Nate did a phenomenal job,” Lamb said.  “He is amazing and I can’t say enough good things about him.

“I think they are two special kids period, both of them, and it makes it tough for everybody to prepare for when you have two kids like that.”

Adams triggered the blowout win over Grundy County last week by accounting for five touchdowns.

He threw three—two to senior wideout Jimmy Burchett and another to senior tailback Joseph Marcom, and ran for two more.

Marcom’s score was the first of the contest, and it came when Adams turned a sure sack into six points, by utilizing his improvisation skills to avoid multiple defenders and complete a one-handed touchdown pass.

Adams then found junior Weston Birdwell for the two point conversion and hit Burchett from 12 yards out for his initial score on the Dawgs’ next offensive possession, which surged Clay County ahead 16-0 midway through the first quarter, after Marcom added a two-point run.

Senior Alec Kerr dented the scoreboard next with an 18-yard rushing touchdown, before Adams called his own number from four yards out, and he and Marcom each added two-pointers on the ground.

Another Kerr rushing score, paired with Marcom tossing a two point conversion pass to Burchett, sent the Dawgs into halftime up 40-0.

In the second half, Adams threw his final touchdown to Burchett and ran in another early in the third period.  Senior Levi Garrett also added two extra point kicks to account for the final margin, and reserves finished out the contest.

Stats

Clay County amassed 388 total yards on 45 plays, including 286 yards rushing (4TDs) and 102 total passing yards (3TDs) by three different players.

Nate Adams (8/10 for 94 yds./3TDs/2PT), freshman Nolan Adams (1/2 for 5 yds.), and Marcom (1/3 yds./2PT) completed passes to Burchett (4/53 yds./2TDs/2PT), Kerr (2/23 yds.), Marcom (2/18 yds./TD), Birdwell (1/3 yds./2PT), and junior Brayden Allred (1/5 yds.).

Marcom was the leading rusher (13/116 yds./2 2PTs), while Nate Adams (7/44 yds./2TDs/2PT), Kerr (5/42 yds./2TDs), Burchett (2/9 yds.), Birdwell (1/25 yds.), Nolan Adams (1/11 yds.), junior Leighton Brown (2/13 yds.), and freshman Cole Eads (2/26 yds.) also had carries.

Burchett and Garrett (TFL) led the way defensively with four tackles each, while six others posted two apiece:  Marcom (TFL) and fellow seniors Ricardo McElroy (TFL) and Hunter Kyle, juniors Parker Smith (TFL) and Ben Maxfield, and sophomore Worm Smith (TFL).  Brown, Kerr (TFL), Birdwell, Allred, Nolan Adams, juniors Haydyn McGee (Sack/TFL) and Austin Anderson, and sophomore Eli Burnette all recorded one tackle, while Nate Adams had an interception.

Homecoming festivities begin with the parade starting at 1:30 p.m., continue with recognition before the game at 6:30 p.m., and end with kick off at 7 p.m.

Coverage of the battle between the Dawgs and the Dragons begins at 6 p.m. with the Horizon Sports Network’s pregame show at www.dalehollowhorizon.com.  Live audio and video can also be found on the Dale Hollow Horizon Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dalehollowhorizon.