On Friday October 3, 2008 the Hancock Co. Indians traveled to Claiborne Co. to face the Bulldogs. On this cool fall night the Bulldogs were celebrating their Homecoming. The contest featured a Bulldog team that was going to be missing a big part of its production. David Fuson would not play due to an injured ankle and could very well miss the remainder of the season according to the coaching staff. Head Coach Barry Lyles said before the game, “They are a much better team than they had been in the past but we had a good week of practice. I think they will try to run the ball tonight.” On the opening kickoff David Sweet took the ball down the sideline and into the end zone giving the Bulldogs the early lead. After the extra-point the Bulldogs led 7-0. Hancock began the game with a lot of running plays with a few keep-you-honest passing plays. Sweet scored again on a keeper with 2:21 remaining in the first quarter pushing the lead up to 14-0. The Bulldog defense led by Adam Ament, Chris Bell, Jacob Blankenship and others played a great first half of football not allowing the Indians to score. At the half the Bulldogs lead was 27-0. The focus now shifted to the Homecoming Queen candidates that had been escorted out on the field by Bulldog players. Freshman Princess was Abby Taylor. Sophomore Princess was Sarah Fultz. Junior Princess was Erin Gilbert. Kim Webb was the senior Princess and a surprised Cassandra Tucker was named Homecoming Queen.

Coach Lyles in an interview at halftime stated, “You don’t get any prizes for being ahead at halftime you got to go back out and play like we did in the first half to get this win and that’s what we are going to do.” The Indians were able to get the ball moving in the second half and put 12 points on the scoreboard but when the buzzer sounded the Bulldogs had won the competition. The final score was 34-12. Great offensive performances were had by the Bulldog’s Anthony Lewis, David Sweet, Erik Stone and Josh Roberts. In the team meeting after the game Coach Lyles told his team, “We lost our focus a little tonight in the fourth quarter and we had to play harder than we should have. With the next four games being region games; we need these games badly. I am proud of you for keeping your focus through the first three quarters tonight. But we can’t lose our intensity in the fourth quarter.” During the post game interview Lyles spoke of getting some reserve or second and third team players in the game, “Yes, we did get some of those players in the game and I was glad to see them play because they practice like everyone else, but still when they come in to get the experience they need to know that they have to get the job done also.” The Bulldogs had 93 passing yards and 113 rushing yards. They were penalized 9 times for 80 yards. The team had 11 first downs. The defense held Hancock to 129 yards total. 68 were passing yards while 61 were rushing yards. On the Indian side of the ball the team featured Jordon Horton # 23, a running back that was also named the 2008 Tazewell Speedway Pure Street Rookie of the Year and who also grabbed the overall season championship in that class. Next up for the Bulldogs is a match up against Gibbs on October 10th.

Photo: David Sweet had a great game running and passing in the Bulldogs win.(ALLEN EARL/Claiborne Progress)