The Clinton County Bulldogs won its first game of the season Friday night during its road game to McCreary Central.

Head Coach Rocky Tallent said the game started off slow for the Bulldogs, but his team was able to recover and come out with the 35-7 win.

“We actually got the opening kick off and put together a really nice drive,” Tallent said. “We made a mistake in the passing game and threw an interception. They had a pretty nice return on it and defensively we didn’t play that well on the first drive.”

Tallent said McCreary Central scored off of Clinton County’s turnover to lead the game, 7-0.

Tallent said on the following kick return, Bryson Cross ran the ball for 80 yards for a touchdown to put the Dawgs down by one, 7-6.

Daniel Mazariegos kicked a field goal for an extra point to tie the score at 7-7.

“From that point on, the defense played really well and the offense put some points on the board,” Tallent said. “We pretty much dominated the game after that. The kick off return was a huge point for us during the game.”

Compared to the first game of the season against Celina, Tallent said both sides of the ball improved drastically which allowed them to put points on the board.

“The first game we just left so much on the field,” Tallent said.

The Bulldogs move into week four with a bye week, which gives Clinton County two weeks to prepare for Monroe County on September 20, which will be Clinton County’s first district game of the season.

“We are going to look at everything we have on them. We actually went over and watched them play Celina during week one,” Tallent said. “We feel pretty good about what we can do. They are playing a whole lot like we are right now … throwing the ball a little more than what they are running. They are a well coached team and I know they will be ready. They are always a consistent football team.”

Quarterback Chase Stines threw the ball Friday night against McCreary Central for 269 yards passing with four touchdowns and one interception. On defense, Stines grabbed an interception as well.

“We are really proud of where he is at,” Tallent said. “I think he’s only going to get better. The offensive line did a tremendous job of giving him time to throw the ball. I give some props to Blake Melton. I don’t know if you will ever have a kid who starts as quarterback on JV on a Monday night and starts right tackle on the offensive line on Friday nights. That’s a pretty change in positions. For him to just be a sophomore, he did a really good job for us.”

Adam Herald has a touchdown catch as well as around 50 yards receiving, Cameron Matthew had 70 yards receiving and Parker Tallent had six catches for 105 yards with two touchdowns.

“Chase Gibson had a pick on defense so we had a lot of good individual great gains,” Tallent said. “As a whole, as a unit, we played really well as a team. We got 27 kids in the game Friday night. We got some breaks for some guys and we will continue to work on that. We aren’t used to having that many guys. Any time we can get players who are playing both ways a break, it’s going to be big for us.”