The Clinton County Bulldogs lost a hard fought game Friday night to the hands of Caverna, who received its first win of the season, 40-26.

Clinton County, now with a record of 3-2 on the year, are halfway through the 2015 season and will travel to Metcalfe County on Friday to take on the Hornets.

Head Coach Jamie Miller said his team played a good game Friday night, but they have to work on not committing turnovers.

“They (Caverna) have some pretty good athletes,” Miller said. “The had to really good athletes who are probably the most athletic players we will face all year. We had trouble containing them and tackling them.”

Clinton County went up 12-0, but several plays later Caverna tied the score.

“The final score was not indicative of how tight the game was,” Miller said. “We got beat 40-26, but we were down by only a touchdown within the closing minutes of the game.”

Miller said the Bulldogs were driving the ball down the field to try and tie up the game in the fourth quarter.

“We turned the ball over again and that was pretty much all she wrote,” Miller said. “They scored and went up by 14 and we got the ball back, ran a couple of plays and that was it.”

Miller said even though his team was defeated by 14 points, he felt like they had a shot to bring home the “W.”

“I fell like we had a good chance to win the game,” Miller said. “We still have five games to go and we are going to take it one game at a time still and try to win five more to finish 8-2.”

This week, Clinton County will travel to Metcalfe County with kick off set for 7 p.m.

“We’ve never beat Metcalfe County before, but we are going to prepare this week as though we’ve never played them, complete and win the ball game,” Miller said. “I try not to dwell on previous games. We will correct mistakes and coach the positives and build on what we’ve done so far.”

Miller said the weather has played a factor in practice and in games.

Since nights are getting cooler now, Miller says players will typically put more effort out on the field.

“They don’t get exhausted as easily and that’s good because some of them go both offense and defence,” Miller said.