Dawgs are back to back champs, headed to Owensboro
Our Bulldogs got past a somewhat slow start Sunday afternoon and ran out in their normal fashion to cabbage on the 4th Region All “A” Classic Championship title, defeating Monroe County 62-47.
The win will send our Dawgs to the All “A” State Tournament as the 4th Region representative next week and making the trip this year is even a little more sweet as the Dawgs are now “back to back” champions.
Bulldog fans were understandably warm inside Sunday afternoon as they watched our players sprint to center court at Todd County Central during the post-game awards ceremony, to take possession of and hoist the 4th Region All “A” Classic championship trophy into the air.
Congrats to our Dawgs and coaching staff on Sunday’s back to back 4th region title win.
That championship win will send the Dawgs to the All “A” State Tournament, hosted this year in Owensboro, Kentucky.
The Dawgs will be playing in the bottom section of the All “A” bracket and will face the champion of Region 7 in the opening game, set to tip Thursday, January 23, at Brescia University.
Winning through the brackets will then see Clinton County facing opponents at the Owensboro Sports Center.  A quarter final game would be played Friday, January 24, at 8:00 p.m., a semi-final game Saturday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m. and finally, a championship game on Sunday, January 26, at 2:30 p.m.
Good luck Dawgs in your quest to bring an All “A” Classic championship trophy home to Clinton County.
Dawg fans need to be in Owensboro next week in big numbers showing our athletes our community is behind them.

Stat leaders
Going into this week’s regular schedule games, the Dawgs were sitting on a 17-0 season record and with that kind of mark, it goes without saying that Clinton County is listed in several categories of the KHSAA stat leaders.
As of Monday’s stat releases released by the KHSAA, the Dawgs were in the Top 50 in several categories, both as a team and individually.
Two Bulldogs made the Top 50 Rebounding Leaders list, with Cannon Young filling the 37th spot with an average of 9.8 rebounds per game, while Nick Poore ranked 45th with an average of 9.7 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Dawgs ranked 31st in scoring, with an average score of 70.8 points per game, while hitting the 6th spot in points given up per game (Defensive Leaders), allowing just 46.2 points on average by their opponents.
The Dawgs are ranked 22nd as Field Goal Leaders, averaging 50.8 percent of their attempted field goals per game, and in the 11th spot in rebounding as a team, pulling down an average of 36.6 per game.
Clinton County leads the state in the Team Margin Leaders, defeating their opponents by an average of 24.6 points per game.

A little “regular” business first
While thoughts are understandably turned to next week’s All “A” Classic State Tournament in Owensboro, the Lady Dawgs and Bulldogs have some other business to attend to first.  Namely, a couple of regular season matchups against 16th District opponents.
Cumberland County was set to be in The Castle on Tuesday night of this week (too late for coverage in this week’s issue), and on Friday night the Lady Dawgs and Bulldogs play host to Monroe County, both being regular season 16th District matchups that will figure in post-season seedings.
On Monday night of next week, the Lady Lakers and Lakers of Russell County come across Wolf Creek Dam for more 16th District regular season games.
Then, it’s off to Owensboro for the Bulldogs’ Thursday night debut in the All “A” Classic State Tournament.

Don’t miss Friday’s special Lady Bulldog gathering
Friday night will be a special night in The Castle when we honor the first modern day Clinton County High School Lady Bulldog basketball squad.
Hard to believe it’s been 50 years since girls’ basketball came back to Kentucky after a decades long absence.
The 1974-75 Lady Bulldog squad will be honored during this special ceremony slated to be held between games when we host Monroe County.
Carol Bertram Peddicord told me during a brief conversation last Sunday that she has been in contact with most of the players from that original squad, and several of them plan on being on hand Friday night for the ceremony.
Girls’ basketball has come a long, long way since that initial year that saw the Lady Dawgs go 4-10.
It didn’t take long for girls’ basketball to catch on in this area of the state, and it took even less time for Clinton County to see its program improve immensely.
The Lady Dawgs finished with 17-6 and 21-3 records in the next two seasons, picking up 16th District Championship titles in both years.
Coach Haddix finished her short, three-year coaching career with a 42-19 career record.
Come on out Friday and see some of these players who got the ball rolling, so to speak, and giving our Lady Dawg basketball program that start to the respected program that it has become.