The Cornersville Bulldogs (6-4) appear to be playing their best football at the right time of the year, as they wrapped up the regular season by hammering the Perry County Vikings 55-19 on Friday night to record their third straight victory.

Needing a win to qualify for the postseason, Perry County (3-7) played with a sense of urgency early on and held a 19-12 lead with 8:43 left in the second quarter.

Taking over

The Bulldogs then dominated the contest from that point on, as they notched touchdowns on their last two possessions of the first half to take a 24-19 advantage into the break before outscoring the Vikings 31-0 over the final two quarters to claim their second straight victory over Perry County.

With Friday's triumph, Cornersville clinched their first winning season on the gridiron since 1994 and earned the sixth seed in Quadrant 3 of the Class A playoffs where they will take on Wayne County in the first round.

"Finishing with a winning record means everything. It's what we've working for all Spring and all Summer. It feels great to have all that work pay off," said CHS senior quarterback Stone Riner. "I think we're peaking right now and coming along at the right time."

Points power

Having averaged slightly over 29 points per game in their last three contests, the Bulldogs continued their recent offensive surge and churned out 308 yards rushing on 38 carries en route to accumulating 411 yards from scrimmage overall.

"The offensive line did a great job. They have continued to jell and improve each week. We told them at the start of the season that if they continued to improve each week we had a chance to do something special," said Cornersville coach John Denton.

After racking up over 350 all-purpose yards in each of CHS' three previous games, Riner shredded another opposing defense on Friday night and accounted for six of the Bulldogs' nine touchdowns. Along with returning a kickoff 74 yards for a score, Riner rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries and completed 7-of-9 passes for 103 yards and three TDs.

Tailback Chance Dyer also toted the ball 13 times for 67 yards and two touchdowns, while Hunter Keel tallied 15 yards on four carries. Zack Welch also added a seven-yard TD run for the Bulldogs.

Five-game streak

Senior wide out Tyler Lowery extended his touchdown streak to five games after hauling in two passes for 75 yards and two TDs. Welch had three receptions for 16 yards and a touchdown as well, and Devante Spencer added two catches for 12 yards.

Perry County finished with 288 yards of total offense, but mustered only 39 yards in the second half while committing four turnovers during that span.

"We made some defensive corrections at halftime. Their offensive alignment was a little bit different than it appeared on film and we had to make some adjustments. The turnovers really helped too," said Denton.

The Vikings relied heavily on their ground game and rushed for 282 yards on 44 carries. Quarterback Dylan Churchwell paced Perry County's rushing attack by toting the ball 12 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Dolton Forrester also tallied 95 yards rushing and two TDs on 11 carries, while Zach Pepin added 37 yards on eight carries.

Grounded

Perry County was unable to accomplish much through the air, as Forrester and backup quarterback Cameron Wilson combined to complete just one-of-five passes for six yards with Wilson tossing one interception.

Welch led Cornersville's defense with 11 tackles, and Kyle Dickson recorded 10 tackles, one and a half sacks, and a fumble recovery. Jody Sullivan, Dyer, and Curt Taylor notched nine, seven, and five tackles as well with Dyer recovering a fumble, while Blake Tomlin tallied four tackles and an interception. Keel also registered three tackles and one and a half sacks for the Bulldogs and Dallas had a fumble recovery.

The Vikings grabbed an early 6-0 lead thanks to a 57-yard touchdown run by Forrester on their opening possession before Pepin missed the extra point to keep the margin at six.

Quick tie

CHS quickly counterpunched and tied the game at 6-6 just 36 seconds later when Lowery caught a screen pass from Riner and raced 68 yards for a TD.

After coming up empty on their next two possessions, Perry County recovered a Dyer fumble at their own 49-yard line before Forrester scored on a 24-yard touchdown run six plays later to give the Vikings a 12-6 advantage with 11:07 left in the second period.

Perry County's lead would once again be short lived, as the Bulldogs drove 67 yards to pay dirt in only three plays to knot the score at 12-12. Following consecutive runs of 30 and 35 yards by Riner, Cornersville was penalized five yards for illegal motion before Riner found Lowery in the end zone for a seven-yard TD pass.

The Vikings then seized a 19-12 lead a few moments later on a 65-yard touchdown jaunt by Churchwell while Pepin tacked on the extra point, but Riner returned the ensuing kickoff 74 yards for a TD to narrow the gap to 19-18.

Ahead to stay

Although Perry County stopped Riner short of the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt to maintain their slim one-point lead, the Bulldogs forced the Vikings to punt on their next possession before Dyer broke loose for a 29-yard touchdown run to stake CHS to a 24-19 advantage with 5:23 left in the second quarter.

Perry County advanced from their own 25 to the Cornersville 12 in the waning moments of the first half on eight straight runs, but the Vikings saw time expire in the stanza after Churchwell was sacked twice by Dickson and Keel over the next three plays.

The Bulldogs then began to distance themselves from the Vikings at the start of the third quarter, as they put together a six-play, 58-yard scoring drive on their opening possession of the second half that was capped by a 22-yard touchdown scamper by Riner to push their lead to 30-19.

Tomlin then made a diving interception of a deflected pass by Wilson at the CHS 46 before Riner scored on a 33-yard touchdown run while Ivan Gutierrez tacked on the extra point to give Cornersville a 37-19 advantage midway through the third quarter.

Fumble aids TD

Things quickly went from bad to worse for Perry County, as Dyer recovered a fumble by Forrester at the Viking 29 prior to rumbling into the end zone from 10 yards out three plays later to push the Bulldogs lead to 43-19 with 3:19 left in the third period.

After stopping the Vikings on downs at the CHS 40, Cornersville forged a 49-19 advantage midway through the fourth quarter when Welch caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Riner to punctuate an 11-play, 60-yard drive.

The turnover bug bit Perry County once again on their ensuing possession when Dickson pounced on a fumble by Churchwell at the Viking 20. Welch then scored on a seven-yard TD run to cap Cornersville's 55-19 victory.

The Bulldogs will take on Wayne County this Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Waynesboro.