The Cornersville Bulldogs made the best of a bad situation on Friday night, as they defeated District 11-A rival Richland 26-14 at home despite losing starting quarterback Jamie Crowell to a dislocated elbow late in the first half.

Having beaten CHS 63-34 last year, the Raiders (0-3, 0-1 District) grabbed an early 6-0 lead in Friday's contest when Caleb Briggs scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

After returning the ensuing kickoff deep into Richland territory, Bulldog running back Chance Dyer bulled his way into the end zone from six yards out before Ivan Gutierrez converted the extra point to give Cornersville a 7-6 advantage with 1:30 left in the first quarter.

WR to QB

Senior wide receiver Stone Riner moved to quarterback in the second half and stretched the Bulldogs lead to 14-6 early in the third quarter by scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run while Gutierrez tacked on the extra point.

Richland came up empty on their next possession before Cornersville opened up a 20-6 advantage with 4:00 left in the third quarter when Zack Welch caught a six-yard TD pass from Riner.

"The first half wasn't pretty. Richland possessed the ball for 22 out of 24 minutes and we ran only five plays on offense," said CHS coach John Denton. "At halftime, we challenged the kids to play harder. We told them that we weren't going to change anything scheme wise. They played a lot harder in the second half and got the job done."

Final Bulldog TD

Riner then extended the Bulldogs' lead to 26-6 late in the fourth quarter by picking off a pass by Raider quarterback Trenton Risner and returning it 30 yards for a touchdown.

The Raiders finally hit pay dirt again in the waning moments of the game when Risner hit Bailey Peloquin for a 65-yard TD strike with :26 left before Briggs ran in the two-point conversion for the 26-14 final.

With Friday's triumph, CHS has now won four out of the last five meetings against Richland on the gridiron.

Aided by their third quarter surge, Cornersville (2-1, 1-0 District) finished with 274 yards of total offense overall, which included 158 yards rushing on 27 carries. Riner filled in admirably for Crowell at quarterback and completed 5-of-8 passes for 116 yards to go along with one interception while also rushing for 92 yards on 11 carries.

'Exceptional job'

"Given the circumstances, Stone played really well. You never want to move your best receiver to quarterback, but he runs the ball well and throws the ball just well enough to keep you honest. He's a threat anytime he has the ball in his hands and I thought he did an exceptional job," said Denton.

Dyer toted the ball 11 times as well for 62 yards and Crowell added eight yards rushing on two carries. Lowery paced Cornersville's receiving corps with two catches for 70 yards, while Dyer, Justin Black, and Welch each had one catch for 21, 19, and six yards.

Running back Payton Hammlett paced Richland's offense by rushing for 143 yards on 26 carries and hauling in four passes for 50 yards.