CELINA-Clay County’s nine senior leaders became the winningest Bulldog class of all-time last Friday night, when they eliminated Whitwell from the TSSAA playoffs to notch the 36th victory of their careers.

But a mark in history wasn’t all the Dawgs achieved with the 46-6 second-round blowout.

Clay County earned the school’s first home State Quarterfinal game—which serves as just the second-ever advancement to the third round by the program, and a rematch with arch-nemesis Gordonsville.

The Dawgs (11-1) won their first Region 4-A Championship just weeks ago with a 27-20 epic victory over the Tigers (9-3), a team Clay County head coach Bruce Lamb said his squad knows all too well.

“It is going to be a big game and they are good, as we know having played them before,” he said.  “After what happened the last time, I’m sure they will be fired up and little ornery, I guess you would say.

“They marked it on their calendar after we beat them, and they are going to be fired up, but so will we.”

Either the Dawgs or the Tigers will advance to the Class A State Semifinals to face the winner between Coalfield (11-1) and Oliver Springs (7-5) next week, but most believe this week’s game to be staged here on John Teeples Field will decide who heads to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium for the State Championship game.

“There is a good chance whoever wins this one is going,” Lamb said.  “It is a goal we’ve had since day one.  We want to play 15 games and we’ve got to get by this one to do that.

“You’ve got that, it’s Gordonsville, and these nine seniors are not ready for the season or their careers to be over,” he listed as forms of motivation.  “Now we’ve just got to go play and leave it all on the field.”

Lamb said he expects a huge crowd to assemble Friday night for the second go-around between the two longtime rivals, and he explained the masses would likely be treated to a show.

“I don’t care who you were for last time, it was a great game just to watch and I anticipate this one being the same way,” he said.  “They will bring a big crowd and they will be ready to go and the atmosphere has been great all year long on our side.

“Seeing that and seeing the success these kids have had.  I love it for these kids, but we are not satisfied.  We are not satisfied until we can get to Chattanooga and hopefully we can get there.”

Dawgs’ fast start

leaves no doubt

against Whitwell

Clay County jumped on Whitwell from the opening kick and dominated the Tigers from the south throughout the Dawgs’ second-round win.

Senior Alec Kerr, who broke the Bulldog all-time record for career receiving touchdowns in the victory, returned Whitwell’s initial boot 58 yards into Tiger territory to set up a two-yard rushing touchdown by senior tailback Joseph Marcom.

Senior Levi Garrett added the first of three extra-point kicks he made in the first half and the Dawgs led 7-0 with less than two minutes gone off the game clock.

And the route was on.

“The kids came out and played with such confidence the other night from the opening kickoff and that game was never in doubt,” Lamb said.  “That just deflated Whitwell and, when we scored, I knew it was over.

“We’ve just got to go do the same thing this week.”

The Clay County defense, led by Garrett at middle linebacker and the stout interior of senior linemen John Hamilton, Ricardo McElroy, and Hunter Kyle, stuffed the power run game of the Tigers on every possession and the Dawg attack fired at will to build a 26-0 first-half lead.

Quarterback Keaton Arms found Kerr for a big play to set up his team’s second score, where the senior signal-caller snuck the ball across the goal line from one yard out.

Marcom then ran across his second rushing touchdown of the night from the same distance on the next Clay County drive, before Arms engineered another two-minute drill to perfection to give the Dawgs a four-score advantage at intermission.

He picked up the initial first down with his legs and then hooked up with Kerr twice, first for 31 yards and then for a 14-yard touchdown before time expired.

Kerr also opened the second half with the highlight of the night, as he took a swing pass and streaked 62 yards to paydirt, prior to Marcom adding his third rushing touchdown with a 24-yard jaunt into the end zone.

Reserves entered the game for Clay County and sophomore Worm Smith added the exclamation point with a 15-yard score on the ground to open the final period.

Garrett also banged through his last three kicks following the Bulldog offensive highlights to put Clay County ahead 46-0, before Whitwell got on the board late to avoid the shutout.

Bulldog statistics

Clay County amassed 401 yards of total offense on 43 offensive plays, including 242 yards rushing on 34 carries and 159 yards passing.

Arms accounted for all of the yards through the air by competing six of nine attempts (2TDs).  Kerr was the leading receiver with five catches for 140 yards (2TDs) and sophomore Nate Adams also had a catch (1/19 yds.).

Marcom was the leading rusher (15/96 yds./3TDs), while Arms (8/51 yds./TD), Smith (5/58 yds.), Kerr (5/37 yds.), and senior Jimmy Burchett (1/2 yds.) also had carries.

Garrett led the way defensively with five tackles (Sack), Smith recorded four, and Arms and Kyle (Sack) each had three.  Marcom, Hamilton, Kerr, and junior Austin Anderson all had two stops, while Burchett, McElroy, juniors Weston Birdwell and Kanyon Short, and freshman Waylon Cherry all made one tackle apiece.

Coverage of the State Quarterfinal playoff between Clay County and Gordonsville begins at 6 p.m. with the Horizon Sports Network’s pregame show at www.dalehollowhorizon.com.

Live audio and video combined can also be found on the Dale Hollow Horizon Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dalehollowhorizon Friday night, courtesy of H&H Auto and Equipment Parts.