GO TIME-Clay County hosts Gordonsville with a State Semifinal berth on the line tonight in Celina, where the Dawgs and Tigers will face off in a rematch of last month’s Region 4-A Championship game. (photo courtesy Kyndra Reagan/cchsmedia.zenfolio.com)

Lamb and Dickerson

break down rematch

CELINA-Clay County (11-1) is set to host a TSSAA State Quarterfinal here tonight on John Teeples Field for the first time in school history, as they welcome arch-nemesis Gordonsville (9-3) to town the second time this season for a rematch of last month’s Region 4-A Championship game.

And Bulldog head coach Bruce Lamb said he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“You want to play the best teams and that is who you are going to play when you get this far in the playoffs,” Lamb explained.  “Gordonsville, as you saw when they played here in Week 11, is good.

“They are a good football team—well coached, great fundamentals, and it was a battle all night long,” he said of the 27-20 Clay County victory.  “We ended up with more breaks than they did and got the win.

“So, it’s going to come down to that again I’m sure, and I think our kids are ready.  I think they are just tired of waiting.  They are ready to get it on.”

READY TO ROLL-Bulldog head coach Bruce Lamb said he thinks his team is ready for the challenge Gordonsville brings to Celina tonight for the Round 3 Rematch between the two teams. (photo courtesy Kyndra Reagan/cchsmedia.zenfolio.com)

Though the Tigers have historically dominated the series, since the nine Bulldog seniors began their careers Gordonsville has never won in Celina—where the same group is currently 23-2 on their home field.

If they can eliminate the Tigers tonight, the Clay County senior class will become the first Bulldog team since 1985 to advance to the State Semifinals next week.

“We are 11-1 for a reason, because our kids do what they do and I can’t wait to see what happens,” Lamb said.  “We just got to go play man!

“I think they are ready and I think it is time.”

Bulldog defensive coordinator Mike Dickerson agreed with Lamb, when asked if this Bulldog team had what it takes to beat Gordonsville twice in one year and reach the elusive semifinal round.

“We are in the quarterfinals with an opportunity to go to the semis through a team that has maybe been a nemesis in the past,” Dickerson said.  “It’s tough to beat a team twice, but it can be done.

“These guys have now won what I think is the game that got them over the hump… our playmakers have to make plays and, if that happens, then we will have an opportunity to win the game.”

Dickerson is no stranger to Gordonsville—having grown up in Smith County, playing them as in-county rivals in high school for the Owls, and coaching against the Tigers every year of his career spanning three decades.

“1985 was the first time that I got to go against Gordonsville, and you take my five years I was in college away, and I faced Gordonsville every year,” he said, before breaking down what he expects from the Tiger attack tonight.  “There is no team that I have any more respect for than them, but no team than I want to beat anymore than them, as well.

FAMILIAR MATCHUP-Bulldog defensive coordinator Mike Dickerson knows Gordonsivlle all too well, after playing and coaching against them his entire career and he said there is no team he respects more, but no team he had rather beat more. (photo courtesy Kyndra Reagan/cchsmedia.zenfolio.com)

“(They are going to) get the ball to their playmakers on occasion, but I expect it to be ground-game oriented from them and we just gotta hold up and limit the amounts of times that we let them get down here in scoring position,” 

Lamb said a quick start from the Bulldog offense would also be key, along with the mentality of his team.

“If we score quick on them and get ahead, I think it takes them out of their game plan, (because) I think they want to power us,” he said.  “I think they want to line up and try to run it down our throats, (because) they are big and strong up front.

“Never get down and I’m not talking about the score,” Lamb said pointing to the one thing he thought would make a difference in the game.  “Attitude… we gotta believe and I think we do.

“If something happens, something goes wrong, you can’t put your head down.  You gotta keep working and I think our kids will.  I think the maturity will come out tonight.”

Lamb also used a famous analogy to describe the mentality of his team, referring to a theme he used prior to this year’s first go-around with Gordonsville—a program with a 70-man roster, a multitude of coaches, and a tradition of deep playoff runs.

“The last time we played them we talked about David and Goliath,” he said.  “And that is one thing we will talk about, that David knocked him down with the stone, but they don’t talk about what happens after the stone knocks him down.

“That’s what we want to do tonight.  We want to make sure we take care of it and make sure we kill Goliath.”

Coverage of the battle between the Dawgs and the Tigers begins at 6 p.m. with the Horizon Sports Network’s pregame show at www.dalehollowhorizon.com, where a full interview with Lamb and Dickerson will be aired.

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