The Dawgs came out on fire Friday night and jumped out to a early 12-0 lead on the Bears of Butler County, but the teams youth and inexperience showed up later in the game as Clinton County took the 63-24 loss.

“We recovered a couple onside kicks and had the ball with a chance to take a three score lead, but couldn’t score and Butler County settled in and scored to trim it to a 12-8 lead,” Head Coach Rocky Tallent said. “After that we had to punt and they scored again to go up 14-12. Butler County then recovered a couple of onside kicks themselves and the defense struggled to stop the run. We kind of lost all momentum at that point and found ourselves in a 44-12 hole at the half.”

After halftime, the Dawgs once again came out and played well as Adam Herald returned a pick for a 102 yard interception touchdown. The defense came up big again after that and recovered a fumble which lead to a 89 yard touchdown pass to Herald to cut the lead to 44-24.

“At that point we had regained a ton of momentum, but much like the first half after that we struggled defensively. This time it was against Butler’s passing attack. The Bears scored several more times, mostly through the air. We played well in spurts on Friday night but were unable to put together a whole game,” Tallent said. “That’s part of having a young team. They are explosive and fun to watch, but on the other side of that when things are tough and momentum swings, young teams struggle to settle down. We have made big strides from the first of the year in a lot of areas and are playing some pretty good football even though the scoreboard doesn’t always reflect that. We are looking for a good game this Friday versus Paris to grab some momentum heading into the playoffs where we will face #1 seed Metcalfe County in the first round.”

On offense the Dawgs were lead by sophomore quarterback Bently Boils, who was 16-33 for 278 yards and three touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions. On the ground we were lead by Malachi Upchurch who had eight carries for 51 yards.

On the receiving end of Boils’ passes were to senior Bryson Cross, who had seven catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns, Herald had one catch for 89 yards and one touchdown. Nick Delk also added two catches for 61 yards. On defense, the Dawgs were lead by sophomore Steele Burchett with nine tackles, one for a loss, Cross with six tackles and a interception, Christian Derryberry with six and a fumble recovery, Christian Marcum with five, Evan Little with four and one for a loss and Cole Nuetzman with four tackles. Adam herald also added a 102 pick six on defense.

The Dawgs will be back in action for their final regular season contest this Friday night against the Greyhounds of Paris at Bulldog Field with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

Nick Delk went up to make the catch during the first quarter against Butler County Friday night. Clinton County would later score on the drive putting the Dawgs up 12-0. Clinton County ended up losing the game by a final score of, 63-24. The Dawgs moved to 1-8 on the year.