Despite coming up short on the scoreboard, the Cornersville Bulldogs showed some encouraging signs in their Tuesday night scrimmage against former Region 6-A foe Collinwood, as they dropped a hard fought 20-13 decision at home to the Trojans, who finished with a 9-3 record last year and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class A playoffs.

Collinwood held a 7-0 lead at the end of the first half before opening up a 14-0 advantage midway through the third quarter. The Bulldogs then scored on consecutive drives to slice the deficit to 14-13 early in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans tacked on another touchdown in the final minute of the contest to take home the seven-point victory.

'Starting to hit'

"I thought we gave good effort. We're not proud of a moral victory by any means, but I am starting to see improvement and we're starting to hit people," said Cornersville coach John Denton. "We made them drive the length of the field to score and didn't give up a lot of big plays."

Bolstered by their late offensive surge, the Bulldogs finished with 284 yards of total offense overall. Cornersville senior wide receiver Stone Riner showed off his versatility and accounted for 226 yards of total offense in the contest. Riner caught nine passes for 141 yards and a touchdown, scored on a 70-yard TD run, and completed all four pass attempts for 15 yards while serving as the teams backup quarterback.

"Stone is an explosive player. Whenever we need a big play, we go to him. He tries to do whatever we ask of him and he usually responds for us," said Denton.

Ground vs. air

Outside of Riner's long touchdown run, the Bulldogs had trouble moving the ball on the ground against Collinwood and ended the night with 103 yards rushing on 15 carries. Quarterback Jamie Crowell followed Riner with 24 yards on eight carries, while tailbacks Devante Spencer and Chance Dyer both toted the ball three times for five and four yards respectively.

Crowell looked sharp throwing the ball and completed 15-of-21 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown to go along with one interception. Justin Black was Cornersville's second leading receiver and hauled in four passes for 17 yards, while Jesse Phillips had three catches for 12 yards.

The Trojans featured a balanced offensive attack, as they tallied 178 yards rushing on 34 carries and accumulated 193 yards through the air en route to piling up 371 yards from scrimmage overall.

Trojan leaders

Dual threat quarterback Logan Montgomery was Collinwood's main offensive catalyst and completed 11 of 16 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown while carrying the ball 12 times for 81 yards and a score.

Wide out Dominic Norato was Montgomery's primary receiver and snared five passes for 114 yards. Trojan running back Peyton Risner also rushed for 40 yards on eight carries and caught four balls for 41 yards and a touchdown, while backup quarterback Ty Montgomery added 37 yards rushing on six carries and completed 2-of-4 passes for 24 yards and a touchdown to go along with one interception.

Black, Dyer, and Spencer notched seven tackles apiece to pace the Bulldogs' defensively, while Tyler Lowery and Kyle Dickson both had five tackles. Tyler King also recorded an interception for Cornersville.

Collinwood got off to a fast start offensively and marched 70 yards to the end zone in eight plays, capped by a three-yard touchdown run by Montgomery, to take a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Early stalls

Cornersville went three and out on their opening possession before seeing their next two drives stall out deep in Trojan territory.

Collinwood appeared they might add on to their lead in the waning moments of the second quarter when Montgomery hit Norato for a 50-yard gain on the final play of the half, but Lowery tackled Norato at the Bulldog two-yard line to keep the deficit at seven.

The Bulldogs lost the ball on downs on their opening drive of the second half before the Trojans stretched their lead to 14-0 when Robertson hit Drew Statom for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

Quick strikes

Cornersville finally found pay dirt on their ensuing possession, as Riner took the snap from center and raced 70 yards down the left sideline to narrow the gap to 14-6.

Although the Bulldogs missed the extra point, the defense got the ball back when King picked off a pass by Robertson after Collinwood had driven into Cornersville territory.

Riner struck again a few moments later, as he caught a short pass from Crowell and weaved his way through the Trojan defense for a 63-yard touchdown while Ivan Gutierrez tacked on extra point to whittle the deficit to 14-13 with 10:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.

After both teams came up empty on their next possession, Collinwood extended their lead to 20-13 with :18 left when Montgomery hit Risner for a 16-yard touchdown strike.

The Bulldogs then blocked the extra point attempt and advanced to the Trojan 34 on their final drive thanks to catches of 19 and 17 yards by Ringer before time expired.