The Clinton County Bulldog Football team almost pulled off the unthinkable during Friday night’s district championship game, but a penalty of intentional grounding sent the Dawgs back 10 yards in the closing minutes of the game.

Most of the game was all Edmonson County as the Wildcats jumped out early with a 10-0 halftime lead.

During the second half, Edmonson County added to its score to reach a 17-0 lead.

“We were a little sluggish coming out,” Head Coach Rocky Tallent said. “There are a lot of seniors on this team and even our seniors have never been in a game of this magnitude. They’ve never been in a district championship game for football. The game was on the road and we have actually never played on that field.”

Just as spectators were just about to call it quits for the Dawgs, Clinton County made a comeback. That comeback even saw Clinton County score a touchdown in the final minutes to cut the lead to four points, 17-13.

On the next series of plays, Edmonson County made a wild snap and the Dawgs were able to recover the football with a chance to move up on the Wildcats.

With the Bulldogs on the Wildcat’s 47 yard line, officials made a call of intentional grounding on quarterback Chase Stines. Clinton County couldn’t reach a first down and was forced to turn the ball over on downs with time running out.

“The defense played pretty well. We missed a few plays early offensively and it hurt us in the long run, but at the end of the night we still had the ball in our hands with a chance to win. It’s great to show our kids didn’t give up,” Tallent said. “It could have got ugly quick with it being 17-0,” Tallent said. “Our kids clawed their way back. We had all the momentum at the end. We had a questionable call and I know that’s what everybody is going to talk about … and I agree it was a questionable call, but at the same time if we don’t make the mistakes we made early with the turnovers and things like that, then we’re not in a position to where that one call effects us so much.”

Clinton County didn’t pull off the win, but Tallent said he couldn’t be more proud of his team and all the obstacles they had to overcome to make it to the district championship.

“I hate it for the kids and with the amount of seniors we had … I’ve been with that group for a long time and they have worked really hard to get the program to where it’s at,” Tallent said. “A lot of other people have too … coaches before, players before, they set the foundation. For our seniors to get a little taste of playoff football, I feel bad for them.”

Tallent said any time a senior walks off the floor or court it can be emotional. He said emotions were running high in the locker room after Friday night’s game.

“The whole team always plays hard for me. They are hard nosed kids and they don’t give up,” Tallent said. “All of the underclassmen, they were very supportive of the seniors. Our seniors are great leaders. They have set a good foundation for a growing program. The locker room was pretty emotional after the game as it should be. Anybody who has covered our team this year knows we feed off of emotion.”

Tallent said Friday night’s game against Edmonson County really showed him how much his team had grown over the course of the season.

“In the biggest game of their lives, 17-0, and they claw back with a chance to win it in the end … that shows how much we’ve grown over the year and I’m proud of them,” Tallent said. “I’m proud of all our kids. I’m proud of the community who has shown us support. I can’t really say enough when you drive through town on Friday and there is blue ribbons everywhere and signs supporting us. I thought our community really rallied around our program.”

Clinton County has reached some milestones in the program this season including a first ever playoff win in school history and first ever district runner-up trophy in school history.

“We brought back some hardware even though it’s not what we wanted,” Tallent said. “There are a lot of good things to hang your hat on this year. Even though we lost Friday night, I think as a whole, the growth of our program in the last five or six years is unreal.”

Tallent said now thats it’s said and done, he believes his team has had a very successful season and is already looking ahead to next year.

“It’s going to be hard to let this group go, but we will return a lot of our offense for next year,” Tallent said. “This group of kids are a great group of kids. They are respectful on and off the field, but we just had a bitter loss at the end.”

Several Bulldogs took down an Edmonson County runner Friday night. Clinton County lost the game, 17-13 and finished its season with a 7-4 record.