Monday, August 24th- The Bulldogs of Claiborne held their season and home opener against Pennington Gap. The Bobcats came into town with a purpose and left with a win. During the first half the Bulldogs struggled with line play and the Bobcats took advantage of the young inexperienced Bulldog players. Defensively the Bulldogs played well at times but gave up some big plays that seemed to break the will of the young team. The offense sustained some good drives in the first half but couldn’t put points on the board. Finally in the second half a long run put 6 on the board for the Bulldogs. They made the two-point conversion and the Bulldogs were behind 20-8. The Bobcats continued great play and finished with a 28-8 win. Head coach Travis Bailey said, “There was a lot of positives but we had a lot of kids out of space. The kids had their heads in the game and overall I am pleased. Our offensive line has to step up and play better. We matched up in some areas but could not match their experience. We start four or five that has never played football and we expect to get them better. It was the first time that I have ever called the offense and I too had some jitters. We will go to practice tomorrow and try to get better.” Next up for the Bulldogs is an away game with Oneida this Thursday.