First round game moved up a day due to weather

CELINA-The Clay County Bulldog football team made history last Friday night, as the 2025 squad became the first to win two Region 4-A Championships in a row.

They also locked in home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs with their 46-21 win over Jo Byrns and will welcome Copper Basin to town Thursday night for their postseason opener, after the game was moved up a day and the kickoff time changed to 6 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather.

“The kids deserve it,” Bulldog head coach said of the historic region title.  “They’ve played hard this year and they’ve gotten better each week.”

Lamb also spoke of the importance of hosting the Cougars and having the chance to play two weeks in a row here on John Teeples Field.

“It’s huge to get to play at home,” he said.  “We are 26-2 here over the last four years, so that’s huge to have home-field advantage.

“It’s like we’ve put seven points on the board already.”

As they have been several times this season, the 9-1 Dawgs are a heavy favorite to beat 3-7 Copper Basin, who are Region 3-A’s #4 seed, but Lamb explained his team won’t be overlooking their first-round opponent.

“This team has matured a lot this year,” he said.  “They have a goal, and they know what it is going to take to reach that goal.

“So you don’t have to say a whole lot.  They know what’s at stake and they know what they are supposed to do.”

If Clay County can take care of business against the Cougars Thursday night, they will host the winner of a first-round matchup between Region 2-A #2 seed Midway (7-3) and Region 1-A #3 seed Cosby (6-4) in the second round.

The other teams battling to host a potential quarterfinal game with the Dawgs on Friday, November 21 include the winners of contests between Region 3-A Champion South Pittsburg (9-1) and Red Boiling Springs (0-10), and Region 1-A #2 seed North Greene (6-4) and Region 2-A #3 seed Oliver Springs (6-4).

Dawgs dominate

Devils for the title

Clay County scored 30 unanswered points to dominate Jo Byrns (5-5) from the start in their region title game victory.

“I thought it might be a little harder than what it was, but they came out ready to play and put in the most complete game of the year,” Lamb said of his team’s performance.  “I am very proud of what they did.

“It was the best week of practice we’ve had all year and they were ready to go.”

Senior quarterback Nolan Adams set the tone with a 62-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game, before senior running back Reece Adams added the two-point conversion to give the Dawgs an 8-0 lead.

Clay County upped their advantage to 14-0 on their next possession, when Nolan Adams found freshman Nemo Hamilton for a 17-yard touchdown catch.

Senior Waylon Cherry then capped a 78-yard Bulldog scoring drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown and Reece Adams ran in his second two-pointer of the night to make it 22-0 before first quarter’s end.

The second quarter saw Reece Adams join his cousin Nolan Adams in the 1,000-yard rushing club, as he eclipsed the mark with a six-yard score.  Nolan tacked on the two-point conversion for the Dawgs final points of the half.

Not only did the Adams put their team up 30-0, but they also became the first tandem in program history to rush for over 1,000 yards in the same season.

The Red Devils did end the shutout before the break with a long touchdown pass to make it 30-7 at intermission, but Clay County came out of the gate fast again to open the second half.

Reece Adams ran for scores of six and 41 yards on his team’s first two possessions of the third quarter, and he and Nolan Adams both added conversions to change the scoreboard to 46-7 in Bulldog favor.

Reserves entered the contest for Clay County, before the Jo Byrns starters scored twice in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin.

Bulldog stats

The Dawgs racked up 408 yards of offense on 44 plays in the win, including 370 rushing yards on 39 carries and 38 passing yards.

Nolan Adams was responsible for all of the yards through the air on two of five passing (TD).  Hamilton had both catches for 38 yards (TD).

Nolan Adams was also the leading rusher (14/194 yds./TD/2-2PTs) and Reece Adams joined him with over 100 yards on the ground (16/153 yds./3TDs/3-2PTs).  Cherry (3/6 yds./TD), Hamilton (3/11 yds.), and sophomores Isaiah Burnette (2/7 yds.) and Fletcher Strong (1/-1 yd.) also had carries.

Reece Adams led the way defensively with eight tackles (TFL), junior Cage Ashley made five tackles and had two sacks, and seniors Cole Eads (TFL/FF), Kolton Brown (Sack), and Bryson Sharp (TFL) all had four tackles each.

Burnette (TFL) and junior Rolan Holaway made three tackles apiece; Nolan Adams had two (FR); and Cherry, Hamilton, sophomore Cole Ledbetter, and freshman Bentley Johnson all had one.