Fans and players alike from both teams know what those two words mean. “The game” is a simple description of the cross-county rivalry between the Bulldogs and Panthers. The players from both squads place a circle around the date at the beginning of each season. This year’s match up would be played on a wet field at the home field of Cumberland Gap.
An early interception and a second-quarter downpour weren’t enough to keep the Cumberland Gap Panthers from defeating county rival Claiborne Friday night.
The Panther defense held the Bulldogs to 120 total yards and quarterback Ryan Shipley had a hand in four touchdowns as CGHS won bragging rights with a 28-0 shutout.
Claiborne High School’s head coach Barry Lyles said before the game, “I think it will be a pretty good ballgame with two teams that are evenly matched. They are pretty sound but we will be all right if we do the things we are supposed to do.” When asked about the health of his team he replied, “I think they are all right but we’re going to test them before the game to see.”
Coach Stone added, “The players have been talking about this game all week and the teams do seem to be evenly matched. We have watched hours of game film on them and we think our players will be prepared.”
Claiborne Bulldog’s Aaron Noe would receive the opening kickoff to begin the contest. The offense was not able to move the ball and had to punt the ball away. Erik Stone intercepted a Shipley pass and gave the ball back to the Bulldogs offense; however, the CGHS defense held the Bulldogs to a three-and-out and the offense quickly got back on track.
“It’s a sign that we’re growing up, overcoming adversity,” said Panther coach Neal Pucciarelli. “That was a gamble, we wanted to show them that we wanted to pass it deep and (Erik) Stone made a great play.
“But I’m real proud of them. The kids showed a lot of character.”
At the end of the first half it was Panthers 21 and Bulldogs 0. The Panther defense was relentless in its attack and kept the Bulldog offense on its heels.
Coach Lyles said at the half, “We’re going to have to play better defense and play better overall. We need to go back to doing what we do and that is block people and tackle people.”
The Bulldogs never found the key to breaking the Panther defense but at times could move the ball. Mistakes and penalties created 3rd down and long situations that were seemingly impossible to make against the solid Panther defense. Noteworthy performances were made by David Sweet, David Fuson and Erik Stone on offense while Adam Ament, Josh Roberts and Ryan Nelson played well on defense.
The Bulldogs’ strength this season on offense is the rushing attack and with 26 attempts they were able to gain only 59 yards. Cumberland Gap out rushed the Bulldogs with 125 yards and gained 294 through the air. In the passing attack Claiborne only gained 82 yards.
Shipley finished 22-of-41 passing for 317 yards on a less than ideal night for throwing the ball. He threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores, though he was picked off three times.
“Ryan, I thought he threw the ball extremely well and we did enough to keep them guessing so we were able to move the ball,” Pucciarelli said. “One constant thing was that our offensive line pretty much controlled the line of scrimmage and we were able to do some things.”
Hunter Hassler led the Cumberland Gap defense with nine tackles and three assists. Johnson helped set the tone with a big sack on Claiborne’s first possession.
Cumberland Gap put the game away with a long drive to start the third quarter. Shipley’s 8-yard run completed the scoring as the Panthers went on to the 28-0 win.
After the game coach Stone said, “Gap is a good team and they executed well. We give them all the credit tonight. They played well and we didn’t.” Coach Lyles was asked after the game if there was anything that could be taken from the loss that could help the team in the future and he replied, “Not from this kind of loss. They just outplayed us. We played a little flat and that’s my fault.”
Claiborne was limited as they played without their top offensive threat in David Fuson and they never got on track against the Panthers.
“We got another great effort defensively and I feel bad for them because Fuson was out,” Pucciarelli said. “It’s a rivalry game and I know he was wanting to go. Jamie Richardson for us was also limited to just a few snaps because of a bad foot.”
Next up for the Bulldogs is a homecoming game Oct. 3 versus Hancock County. Lyles added, “We got to get ready for a much improved Hancock team and we will have to play better than we did tonight.”
Also on Friday, Cumberland Gap entertains region foe Happy Valley for homecoming.
The game was highly competitive but both teams showed respect for each other and great sportsmanship.
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