By THOMAS P. WEAVER

HORIZON Editor

CELINA-The 2019 football season has already been one for the history books for the Clay County Bulldogs, but this Friday night will mark another first for the team and the school when they take the field for the opening round of the TSSAA playoffs.

Not only will the 7-3 Dawgs’ contest versus Sale Creek (4-6) at week’s end serve as the first time a black-and-gold team has hosted a postseason game in 23 years, but it will also be the first-ever playoff to be played here on John Teeples Field.

The last came back in 1996 when Celina High School (CHS) hosted Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) on the old CHS field downtown and Friday night will be the inaugural postseason game to be played on the CCHS campus since it was established 16 years ago in 2003.

“This is a huge deal,” head coach Jake Johnson said of the historic game against the Panthers set to kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday night.  “We are hoping for a big crowd, because that’s something these kids have earned and it’s something they need respect for.

“Hopefully we get a big turnout from Bulldog Nation, because these guys deserve it,” he continued.  “We’ve got a special group of kids here who have set their sights on being the first team to do it and they went and got it.

“They obtained their goal and what more can you ask for.  How can you not get behind something like that, because these kids have worked so hard for it and people need to come support them.”

With the first seven-win season in over a decade (2008) under their belts and their only three losses coming by a combined 15 points, Johnson said he was proud of what his team had accomplished, but he also explained they were far from done.

“We were in every single one of them and had opportunities to win all of them, but right now starts a whole new season,” he said.  “Everything we’ve done was great and it helped prepare us for this, but now it’s over.

“We are looking forward to trying to make a postseason run, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and start this week against a much-improved Sale Creek team.”

The coach explained the Panthers have “some big bodies out there,” rely on a pistol-type offensive scheme where “they try to spread you out,” and run a “3-3 stack” defensively—out of which “they like to blitz a little bit more and try to man up with you on the outside.”

“They are no slouch,” Johnson said of his first-round opponent whose half-dozen losses have come to Monterey (35-12), Jackson County (20-18), Copper Basin (40-7), Zion Christian (29-28), Fayetteville (43-13), and top-ranked South Pittsburg (52-6).  “It’s going to be a challenge, because that’s the thing about football postseason play—there is no room for error.

“There’s a little more sense of urgency right now. because it is lose and you’re done.”

Sale Creek’s wins came four weeks in a row over Pickett County (47-8), North Georgia (23-20), Lookout Valley (55-6), and Whitwell (13-0).

“It’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, because they did shut out the defending State Champions, their quarterback has some speed and is a pretty good athlete, and they’ve got some size up front,” Johnson said.  “Hopefully we will follow the same recipe of running the football, throwing it enough to keep them on their edge to empty the box, and playing our brand of defense.” 

“I think our kids will be ready, because their attitude is just different.  It’s a different air.  We’ve encouraged that, but it’s just in them.  I think that mentality is here to stay and we are looking forward to it.”

Dawgs destroy RBS

to cap 7-win season

Clay County destroyed a depleted Red Boiling Springs (RBS) squad here last Friday night by a score of 48-0 to notch their seventh win of the season and use the ‘Battle of the Bulldogs’ with their neighboring-county rival as a tuneup for postseason play.

Seniors Jake Ashlock, Will Ogletree, Wyatt Burks, Wesley Walker, Jonathan Maynard, Wesley Huff, and Peyton Vanduyn were honored prior to the game and Senior Night patrons were treated to an offensive explosion by the home team.

The Dawgs scored on all seven of their possessions in the contest, while the Clay County defense kept RBS off the scoreboard and held them to under 50 yards of total offense in the game.

Led by sophomore Wade Coons, the Dawg defensive front took up residence in the RBS backfield with multiple tackles for loss and Clay County’s coverage on the back end produced a trio of interceptions—one each by junior Brison Burchett, and freshmen Alec Kerr and Jimmy Burchett.

With the RBS attack shut down, the Dawgs poured it on to lead 28-0 at the half, thanks to four scores and pair of two-point conversions.

Ogletree got it started with a two-yard rushing touchdown and he also added a two-point conversion before the break, while Ashlock ran one in from two yards out and threw two more.

The signal-caller hooked up with Jimmy Burchett for an eight-yard touchdown and then found Kerr for a 30-yard score through the air.

Freshman Joseph Marcom then accounted for the final first-half points with a two-pointer, before he continued the onslaught in the second half with rushing touchdowns of 13 and 40 yards.

Sophomore Andrew Burks (1-yd. TD) and freshman Levi Garrett (2 PATs) then added to the tally for the final score.

Clay County stats

Clay County racked up 335 total yards on 35 plays, including 199 yards rushing on 26 carries (5 TDs) and 136 passing yards (2 TDs).

Ashlock was responsible for all of the yardage through the air on 8 of 9 passing (2 TDs) with completions to Kerr (3/50 yds.-TD), Jimmy Burchett (3/34 yds.-TD), and Brison Burchett (2/52 yds.).

Ogletree was the leading rusher with 84 yards (TD) on 12 carries, while Marcom (3/56 yds.-2 TDs), Andrew Burks (6/28 yds.-TD), Ashlock (3/10 yds.-TD), and junior Dalton Goad (2/21 yds.) rounded out the ground game.

Coons’ five tackles (2 TFLs) led the way defensively, but freshman John Hamliton wasn’t far behind with four of his own (2 TFLs).  Recording three stops were Wyatt Burks, Kerr (INT), Marcom (TFL), and junior John Copeland (TFL), while Brison Burchett (INT), Walker (TFL), Goad (TFL), Jimmy Burchett (INT), and Garrett all had two apiece.  White, Huff (TFL), and Andrew Burks (TFL) als had one tackle each.