CHATTANOOGA-The 2022 Clay County Bulldog football team doesn’t have to look hard for a silver lining in the quickly passing cloud of disappointment following their 34-14 BlueCross Bowl loss to Mckenzie.

Led by nine seniors who will go down as the winningest Bulldog class in history, this year’s Dawgs became legendary by earning the program’s first-ever Class A State Runner-up trophy, better known as a silver ball.

“I see a lot of work and a lot of pride,” head coach Bruce Lamb—who led his team to a State Championship berth in his first season at the helm of the Bulldogs (13-2)—said, while looking at the hardware Clay County brought home from last Friday’s battle with the undefeated Rebels (15-0).  “When I look at that, that’s what I see.

“I see kids that gave their all, I see coaches that gave their all, and, to have that ball sitting there—I take pride in that, because of those guys,” Lamb added.  “They’ve done the work, and it is a great thing.

“It’s very special, and, it may not be gold, but it is dad-gum silver, and that is pretty dang good.  I’m so proud of these kids.”

Lamb’s pride is warranted, not only because of what his team accomplished this season, but also because of the way they played in their final outing here at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium, where his Dawgs fought back from an early deficit to make a game of what could have quickly turned into a blowout.

“To be in that game, after being down—they could’ve laid down at anytime, but our kids kept fighting,” Lamb said.  “They fought their tails off, and I thought they played extremely hard.  We didn’t play perfect, but I thought we played extremely hard, and we knew we had to play extremely hard to even be in the game with that bunch.  That’s a very good football team.”

Heavily-favored McKenzie proved that on the first offensive play of the game, as Rebel tailback Marquez Taylor, who holds multiple SEC offers, took the first snap 55 yards to the house.

Then, after forcing a Clay County punt on the ensuing possession, McKenzie quarterback and Mr. Football finalist Jackson Cassidy found Zavier Webber for a 69-yard touchdown over the top of the Dawg defense, to give his team a two-score lead with just under six minutes gone in the contest.

“We knew that they were extremely good, we knew that they start fast, and we knew we had to weather the storm,” Lamb explained.  “Our kids have not seen that kind of speed and that kind of athlete that the Taylor kid was, besides their offensive line was huge, and the receiver can run too—we’ve not seen that, and I think the moment was a little big too.

“But after the second score, we settled down and talked a little bit about how we were there for a reason, and got the ball, and drove it right down, and we scored to make it 14-8—right back in the ballgame.”

The Clay County response was a product of the Dawg defense getting their first stop of the game, as they forced the Rebels to punt on their third possession, before senior All-State running back and wideout Alec Kerr put his skills on display.

Kerr burst free for what looked like a 41-yard touchdown run, but officials marked him out of bounds at the two yard-line, where senior tailback Joseph Marcom did the rest.

Marcom, who added to his single-season rushing yardage and scoring records in the contest with over 100 yards and a touchdown on the ground, bullied his way into the end zone, before sophomore Nate Adams added the two-point run to pull the Dawgs within six of McKenzie on the last play of the opening period.

“It was huge for our confidence level,” Lamb said of the momentum-swinging sequence.  “You saw the excitement of the guys on the sideline and the kids on the field, and we knew we could compete with those guys.

“And we had our opportunities throughout the game, and we just couldn’t capitalize.”

Sophomore Worm Smith created the first opportunity on the ensuing Rebel drive, as he hauled in a tipped pass created by senior John Hamilton and picked off Cassidy to set his team up near midfield, but a Bulldog fumble quickly gave the ball back to McKenzie.

The teams then swapped punts, prior to Taylor capping a seven-play, 63-yard drive by punching it in for the Rebels from 11 yards out, which sent McKenzie into the locker room up 20-8.

“It hurts your confidence level a little bit, but I knew our kids were going to come out and fight,” Lamb said of the score right before the buzzer.  “I thought our kids came out in the second half and played super in the third quarter—defensively we played awesome.

“We laid it on the line, and we did that the entire second half,” he continued.  “Those kids never quit and that is definitely a compliment to them.  They could have folded at 14-0 and they didn’t.  They fought the entire game.  Super, super proud of those kids.”

Neither team found the end zone in the third frame, but Clay County came the closest on the opening drive of the second half, as Marcom advanced the ball inside the McKenzie five yard-line with a pair of powerful runs.

He first put the Dawgs in business by breaking initial contact, making a move at the Rebel second level, and bouncing it to the outside for a 40-yard gain down the sideline, before banging straight ahead for six more to set up a Clay County first-and-goal at the McKenzie three yard-line.

Four plays later, the Rebels completed a demoralizing goal-line stand, but the Dawg defense never got down.

A McKenzie three-and-out ensued when junior Weston Birdwell stopped Cassidy short of the sticks to force a punt, which was disrupted by Marcom and carried out of bounds at the Rebel 32 yard-line.

Another squandered Clay County scoring opportunity followed, and the same result came on the next two drives by both teams.

Senior Levi Garrett turned back the Rebels on third down to make them punt again, before the Dawgs followed suit, after another game-changing play by Kerr was wiped out by a penalty.

The infraction was a holding call on the Clay County offensive line, thrown as Arms stepped up in the pocket and lofted a pass towards the goal line, which Kerr went up and got between two defenders, before falling to the turf at the McKenzie five yard-line.

Instead of having it first-and-goal, the Dawgs found themselves back near midfield and had to punt it back to the Rebels.

But this time McKenzie made them pay, as they scored what appeared to be the game-clinching touchdown on the opening drive of the fourth quarter, after marching 80 yards and claiming a 27-8 advantage on a 25-yard Cassidy-to-Webber touchdown.

“They made more plays than we did and we just couldn’t get it in the end zone,” Lamb said.  “But they kept fighting—that is one thing we talked about on the sideline.  We said ‘it ain’t over, don’t quit,’ and they didn’t.

“That showed they have a lot of heart and that’s the way we’ve played all year,” he said of his team.  “We needed to do what got us there, and when we did that, we drove it right down there, scored, and tried the onside, missed it, and had an opportunity with a minute or so to go, but…”

Lamb didn’t finish his statement, due to holding back comment on McKenzie’s final score, which replay showed didn’t happen—as Taylor dropped a Cassidy pass in the end zone, though the final stat sheet shows it as a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Prior to that, Kerr provided the Clay County spark, as he caught passes of 18 and 11 yards from Arms during the Dawgs’ 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive, before rushing 16 yards to paydirt to narrow the margin to 27-14 with 2:23 to play.

McKenzie then tried to run out the clock for the 13-point win, but the Clay County defense had other ideas and stopped the Rebels on third down to bring up a fourth-and-11 near midfield.

But instead of punting, McKenzie split Taylor out wide and took the shot.

“We did everything we could, but it was hard to contain those guys,” Lamb said of the Rebels.  “The defense played super well, especially with the athletes they had on their side, and I thought our kids did a good job.

“I just think it is a testament to these kids—the hard work and dedication that they put in, especially those nine seniors, and the leadership that they gave us,” he added about Kerr, Marcom, Arms, Garrett, Hamilton, Jimmy Burchett, Stone Lynn, Hunter Kyle, and Ricardo McElroy.  “They got to play in the State Championship—something that has never been done here.

“They believed… they believed in us, we believed in them, and they believed they could do it, and we got close.  We just came up one short, but I am so proud of what they’ve done.”

Stats

The Rebels (376 yds.) did outgain the Dawgs, who finished with a total of 238 yards on 52 offensive plays, including 206 rushing yards on 41 carries and a total of 32 yards through the air on five for 11 passing.

Arms (4/10 for 26 yds.) and Adams (1/1 for 6 yds.) both had completions.  Arms caught Adams’ pass, while Kerr (2/29 yds.) and Marcom (2/-3 yds.) also had receptions.

Marcom was the leading rusher (20/119 yds./TD), and Kerr (9/81 yds./TD), Arms (10/10 yds.), Adams (1/3 yds./2PT), and Burchett (1/-7 yds.) also carried the ball.

Defensively Smith led the way with six tackles (INT), Burchett recorded five, and both Marcom and McElroy made four each.  Kerr, Garrett, and Birdwell had three stops apiece; Arms and Hamilton made two each; and Kyle and junior Austin Anderson both recorded one.