BREAK AWAY-The Bulldog team hopes to bring home the league championship behind runs like this against Hartsville this week. (photo courtesy Jan Kerr)

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 23, 2013

BAXTER-Two Clay County Youth Football League teams will be playing for championships this weekend here thanks to winning their first-round games last week.

The Bulldogs knocked off Cannon County and the Junior Bulldogs blanked Gordonsville to keep their seasons alive over the weekend.

The Bulldog team struggled early with the Lions ground attack as Cannon County took an early lead, but a fumble recovery by Andrew Smith sparked the Clay County attack and they went on to take the 50-26 win.

The Dawg offensive line opened holes that led to seven Clay County scoring drives.  Along the way, Lance Burchett and Nate Adams combined for a whopping 400 yards rushing to secure their matchup with top-ranked Hartsville here this week.

The Junior Bulldogs also put up big numbers in their win, but it was their defense that kept the Tigers out of the endzone and helped notch the 32-0 shutout of Gordonsville.

The Dawgs struck first and scored on five drives–on two of which Alec Kerr found the endzone en route to rushing for 120 yards on the day.

Clay County’s defensive effort was highlighted by a trio of fumble recoveries.  John Hamilton, Keaton Arms, and Wade Coons each fell on a Tiger fumble to help lead their team to victory.

The Junior squad will also face the number-one-ranked Hartsville team in Baxter this week.

MOVING ON UP-The Clay County Youth League Junior Bulldogs (pictured) were one of two local teams to advance to the championship round of the playoffs with wins last week. (photo courtesy Jan Kerr)