CELINA-The Clay County Bulldogs (10-1) will host Whitwell (9-2) for their fourth-straight Sweet 16 showdown here Friday night at John Teeples Field in the second round of the TSSAA playoffs, after advancing with a 49-0 shutout of Sale Creek last week.

The Dawgs are no stranger to playing the Tigers from southeastern Tennessee in the postseason, as they faced them in the first round in both 2017 and 2018 at Whitwell.

Each time the home team dominated Clay County, and Whitwell’s most recent win over the Dawgs led to the Tigers’ lone State Championship.

“Whitwell is a good football team and they are 9-2 for reason,” Clay County head coach Bruce Lamb said of the squad standing in the way of the Bulldogs’ second-ever Elite Eight appearance.   “They do a lot of things good.

“We are going to have to play Friday night, and we are going to have to play well to get past them and make it to that third round.”

Though his nine senior leaders weren’t suited up when Whitwell beat Clay County 56-6, or when they hung 65 on the Dawgs en route to the gold ball, Lamb explained his players were aware of how those games played out.

“I’m pretty sure that conversation will come up this week, along with their tradition,” the coach who has a state title of his own said, “but our kids have a lot of tradition too, and that was shown the other night by all the former players coming out and supporting these guys.

“That’s big and playing in front of our home crowd is going to be a lot bigger than that state title they won four years ago, especially with it all on the line—because it’s either win or go home.”

While Friday night will be the fourth second-round contest in as many years for the Bulldogs, it will mark the first ever to be held on the Clay County High School campus.

“From the guys standing over there on the side on the track, to the people in the stands, the student section, the fireworks, the fire engine—all of it.  It’s awesome,” Lamb said of the home-field advantage.  “It’s a great atmosphere, and it fires our kids up when they know everybody is behind them.

“And I hope we have a big crowd again Friday night, I hope they are cheering us on, and hopefully we will give them a show.”

Lamb detailed Whitwell as a team that is “good offensively,” with a “good offensive line” and a “good running quarterback.”

He said they were similar to Clay County in regards to having “eight or nine seniors,” a similar run-heavy attack, and an aggressive defense.

“They run a lot of things that we do with their tight end, and they’ll run counter, buck sweep, and then they will come back with the quarterback off the fake,” Lamb said of the Tiger offense.  “And they throw it decently too.

“Defensively, they are a four-man front and very aggressive, with a secondary that is pretty good.  So we are going to have to line up and play, find the cracks, find their weaknesses, and see if we can do what we need to do.”

As far as what the Dawgs need to do to be successful against Whitwell, Lamb said his team must be physical and execute.

“Coach (Jimmy) Maynard (OC) and coach (Mike) Dickerson (DC) do such a great job of putting the kids in the right places with their game plans, and we just need to be the most physical team and execute.

“If we can do those things, I think we will be alright.”

 

Dawgs pounce on

the Panthers early

Clay County disposed of first-round opponent Sale Creek 49-0 last Friday night behind suffocating defense and pure offensive efficiency.

While senior Keaton Arms was the leading tackler and paced the stingy Dawg defense to another shutout, the Clay County attack scored at will and put up their entire point total with less than 20 offensive plays—each averaging over 20 yards in length.

Senior All-State utility man Alec Kerr had three of the Dawgs’ seven touchdowns on the night, including a 42-yard scamper to paydirt, a 62-yard punt-return score, and a 51-yard reception from Arms he carried into the end zone.

Tailback Joseph Marcom added to his fine senior season with another 100-yard rushing performance, including a 21-yard touchdown run and another he took to the house from 52 yards out.

Senior tight end John Hamilton also added an eight-yard touchdown catch from Arms, while sophomore Nate Adams took a jet sweep in for a 71-yard score.

Though he was held out most of the game due to injury, senior Levi Garrett went a perfect seven for seven on extra-point kicks to account for the final margin.

Kerr’s rushing touchdown came on Clay County’s first offensive play, before Marcom added his initial score to put the Dawgs up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Arms found Hamilton to make it 21-0 on the opening play of the second stanza, while Kerr’s special-team score followed the ensuing Sale Creek drive.

Adams’ highlight reel rush came next, prior to the Arms-to-Kerr scoring toss sending Clay County into halftime up 42-0.

Marcom then crossed the stripe on the second snap of the third period with his 20th rushing touchdown of the season, which served as the final scoring play of the night.

 

Current Bulldogs

quickly moving up 

all-time-leader list

The score tied Marcom for second all-time with Bulldog all-time leading rusher Gary Davis (1993). He currently stands third all-time in career rushing touchdowns with 40, behind Davis (1991-94) with 50 and Jimmy “Crank” Hull (1982-85) with 54.

Marcom’s single-season yardage ranking also improved to fifth all-time and stands at 1,169 yards after the win over the Panthers.  His career rushing yardage of 2,338 also currently ranks him fifth all-time.

Like Marcom, Kerr’s receiving score also helped him rise in the history books.  It gave him nine on the year and tied him for second in a season with John Carlisle (1987) and Brian Burchett (1989).  All three are one behind leader Greg Craig’s 10 from 1974.  The catch also vaulted him into a tie for first with Wyatt Mabry (2012-15) in all-time career receiving touchdowns with 22.

Both Kerr and Burchett currently rank in the top five when it comes to career all-time receiving yardage.  Kerr is second (1,662) behind Mabry (2,500), while Burchett (1,231) is fourth, presently sitting one yard behind his uncle Brian Burchett’s 1,232 amassed from 1987 to 1990.

Jimmy (14) also trails Brian (17) in all-time career receiving touchdowns, and ranks tied for fourth with B.J. Emberton (2015-18).

Both Arms and Adams have also made it into the record books this season.  They both rank in the top 10 all-time when it comes to career passing touchdowns and career passing yardage.

Arms sits in seventh all-time with 22 scores, just behind Chase Stephens (2000-03) and Alex McLerran (2009-12)—who are tied for fifth with 23, while Adams’ 26 knots him up with Bill Napier (1971-74) in third.  Arms (1,943) also currently ranks eighth and Adams (2,002) seventh in yards.  The all-time leader in both categories is Arms’ father Steven, who holds all the passing records by throwing for 3,858 yards and 46 touchdowns from 1986-1989.

Career interceptions is another category current Bulldogs show up in, as Jimmy Burchett and Adams are tied for sixth with Carson Sharp (2018-21) and Hull—who all have 11.  Kerr ranks tied for 10th with nine and Marcom is 13th with eight.  They all trail all-time leader Brian Burchett’s 27.

 

Bulldogs statistics

Clay County racked up 452 offensive yards on 31 plays after reserves entered the game and finished out the second half, including 338 yards on 23 rushes and 114 yards on four of eight passing.

Arms went three for six for 87 yards (2TDs), while freshman Nolan Adams (1/2 for 27 yds.) also had a completion to junior Brayden Allred (1/27 yds.).  Kerr (2/79 yds./TD) and Hamilton (1/8 yds./TD) also had catches.

Marcom was the leading rusher (8/122 yds./2TDs), while Kerr (3/75 yds./TD), Nate Adams (1/71 yds./TD), Burchett (1/21 yds.), sophomore Worm Smith (4/19 yds.), Nolan Adams (2/17 yds.), Arms (3/13 yds.), and Allred (1/-4 yds.) also had carries.

Arms led the way defensively with eight tackles (FF); Kerr recorded five stops (PR-TD); and Marcom (Sack/TFL), Hamilton (FR), Smith (TFL/FF/FR), and senior Hunter Kyle (TFL) all had four tackles apiece.  Burchett and fellow senior Ricardo McElroy (TFL) each had three, while junior Weston Birdwell had two.  Rounding out the tackle list with one each were juniors Leighton Brown and Wyatt Browning (Sack), sophomore Hayden Adams, and freshman Waylon Cherry.

Coverage of the second-round playoff between the Dawgs and the Tigers 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.