October 16th- The Division leading Bulldogs took their 5 game winning streak into Cumberland Gap to battle the Panthers in the 2009 version of “The Game.” Always circled on the schedule by players and fans alike this game seems to take on a playoff-type atmosphere and this one was no exception. The weather was rainy and cold but it did not stop the great fans from both sides from attending. The evening began with the Panthers acknowledging their seniors and ended with both teams exhausted for their efforts. The two teams took to the saturated field due to weeks of persistent rainfall looking to win a most important contest. The Panthers won the coin-toss but deferred to the second half giving the Bulldog offense the first shot at scoring. The defense from both teams stopped each others offense on the first possessions of the game; however, the Bulldogs struck first with a long run by sophomore QB Cody Malone capped off by a 10 yard TD pass to Bobby Chadwell. The PAT was added by Matt DeClercq to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 advantage. After the kickoff the Bulldog defense forced a punt and took possession on their own 39 yard line. A few plays later Fuson exploded down the field for a 61 yard TD run with 6:49 on the first quarter clock. After the PAT was good the Bulldog lead was now 14-0. The kickoff was caught by Joe Jenkins and returned to the 40 yard line to set up the powerful Panther offense. Ryan Shipley and his offense struggled to find momentum against the Bulldog defense and with 5:46 on the clock had to punt the ball back to the Bulldogs. Starting from their own 30 yard line The Bulldogs handed off to Fuson who broke loose again this time for a 53 yard run all the way to the Panther 12. Later, Aaron Noe scored on a 10 yard TD with 2:56 remaining in the first quarter. The PAT was no good but the Bulldogs had extended their lead to 20-0. With most teams, being down by 20 points seems insurmountable but the Panthers would find a way to get something going. The Panther offense started running Shipley on QB keepers and found that they could move the ball. While trying to mix in a few passing plays Aaron Noe stepped in front of a Shipley pass and picked it off with 58.9 seconds remaining in the first. The Bulldog offense began struggling against the Panther defense and could not get anything going throughout the second quarter. While continuing to run the ball with Shipley and completing a pass or two to Jenkins the Panthers moved the ball down the field and scored its first TD of the game with 58.4 seconds remaining in the first half. The PAT attempt was no good and the Panthers narrowed the Bulldog advantage to 20-6. The Bulldogs took the ball and ran out the remaining time taking the 20-6 lead into the locker room. David Fuson’s 12-143 halftime rushes were enough for him to cross the 1,000 yard mark on the season. The Bulldog defense held the vaunted Panther passing attack to 103 yards. The second half began just as the second quarter had ended. The Bulldog defense was on its heels as the persistent Panther offense kept running its QB for long gains. At the 8:02 mark the game would change slightly as Shipley was hammered hard by the Bulldog’s Adam Ament leaving the Panther QB shaken up. Blake Franklin came in the contest and simply continued the Panther game plan. On a 3rd and 3 with 5:28 showing on the 3rd quarter clock Franklin ran nearly untouched into the end zone for an apparent TD that was quickly disallowed by a penalty against the Panthers. On a 3rd and 8 Shipley came back into the game with his ankle looking like he was wearing a big white boot due to the heavy layers of tape. He promptly threw a touchdown pass with 4:22 remaining. The Panthers missed on the two-point conversion but had brought the score to 20-12. The Panthers defense stopped the Bulldogs and their offense quickly had the scoreboard reading 20-20 by another rushing TD. The Bulldogs had possession of the ball and was looking at a 4th and inches when Cody Malone rushed for an all-important first down. David Fuson scored another rushing TD at the 5:31 mark giving the Bulldogs the lead again. The Bulldogs went for two and was successful extending the lead to 28-20. The Panther’s responded on their next drive and scored with 4:44 remaining on a run by Jeremy Jones that set up a game tying two-point conversion attempt. The Bulldog defense rose to the challenge and denied the attempt all but securing the win for Claiborne. The Bulldog offense still had to run off the remaining time and did just that. By the time they had punted the ball back to the Panthers there was only.3 seconds left allowing one more play for Shipley to work some magic. The Bulldog defense pressured Shipley into an early throw down field that fell to the ground ending the 2009 rivalry game. The Bulldogs had spoiled the Panther comeback attempt and won the contest 28-26. Statistically the Bulldogs continued its powerful ground attack with 250 yards on 37 rushes. David Fuson had 171 yards on 22 rushes. The passing attack only gained 30 yards on 4 passes with 3 completions. The Bulldogs had 7 first downs, lost one fumble and was penalized 10 times for 55 yards. The Panthers had 13 first downs and rushed 29 times for 95 yards. The passing game had 205 yards on 30 attempts with 14 completions and 1 interception. The Panthers were penalized 7 times for 55 yards. In a losing but gutsy effort Panther Head Coach Neil Pucciarelli said of his teams efforts, “We could of gave up when we were down 20-0 but we didn’t. It’s a good testimony to the character our kids have. We just kept making plays even when Ryan got hurt and we have lots of positives to take from the game even though we lost. I am just proud of them because we have had lots of injuries, illness and adversity. I just can’t say enough about our kids tonight.” Bulldog Head Coach Barry Liles said, “You got to give it to Cumberland Gap, they never gave up even when we got up on them. They played hard the entire ballgame. I was just proud how our guys came back in the fourth quarter and played the way they had to. We knew they had to throw it when Ryan was in there and was going to run it when seven was in there but they have two or three great weapons and we just couldn’t key in on one guy and that’s what gave us as much trouble as anything. To us its another region win and that’s what we have to do because no one really yet understands how the playoff system is going to go so our best bet is to just keep winning games and put ourselves in the best position possible going into the playoffs.” When asked about the seemingly risky pass play to keep the final drive alive he added, “I actually got that play from my dad, Harold Liles. He coached little league for 30 years and it has always worked well for him so we just added it as well.” The win was the Bulldogs 6th in a row and 7th overall against one loss. The Bulldogs travel to South Greene on the 23rd looking for another important win. In a contest that sometimes surprises but always satisfies the fans this edition of “The Game” will go down in the record books as being one of the most enjoyable ones that the two teams have ever had. Both teams can look back at this one and take pride in the fact that they had given their all.