The Cornersville Bulldogs hosted an old foe Friday night for Homecoming at Frog Bottom as they entertained the Grace Christian Academy Lions, who moved to Division II this season after spending its first four years in the same region as Cornersville.

The two squads put up over 300 total yards each, but the Cornersville defense, gaining confidence with each game, bent but did not break and the Bulldogs rolled to a 50-13 victory.

Lions’ quarterback Ashton Kelley threw for 307 yards, completing 26-of-45 passes with one touchdown and one interception, but the Bulldogs pressured him on numerous throws.

Jackson William kicked off and GCA’s Carter Murphy fielded the ball at the 6-yard line and rambled to the Lions’ 43-yard line before the Bulldogs dragged him down.

Using their version of the “Spread Offense”, Kelley found Maddux Lambert on a 16-yard pass to advance the ball to the Bulldog 47-yard line and a first down.

After a Kelley incompletion, Murphy fumbled the ball and a pile of Dawgs pounced on it at the Bulldog 43-yard line.

The Bulldog’s first offensive play of the night went to Brady Calahan who was dropped for a four-yard loss.

Cornersville quarterback Jackson Farlar then completed a pass to Wes Calahan, who found room to get to the GCA’s 43-yard line for a first down, but a fumble on the next play gave the ball back to the Lions.

After a GCA timeout, Kelley began to find his receivers Ty Davidson for 22 yards and Cruz Hartman for another 22 that moved the ball down the field.

Penalties slowed the Lion’s progress and the drive stalled at the Bulldog 27-yard line where GCA kicker Cruz Hartman attempted a 44-yard field goal that was blocked.

The Bulldogs strung together seven running plays and a Tanner Edwards catch for 6-yards that moved the ball to the GCA’s 34-yard line as the first quarter ended with the score tied 0-0.

The Bulldogs ripped off runs of 8 and 12 yards by Cason Warner and an 11-yard burst by Wes Calahan to put the ball at the Lions’ one-yard line.

“We’ve been working all week to get better, we’re finally coming together as a team,” said Wes Calahan.

Farlar ran off the right side for the Bulldog touchdown and Williams’ PAT was good, making the score 7-0 at the 10:31 mark of the second quarter.

“My offensive line is getting better and better and I’m trusting them more and more,” Farler said.

GCA fielded the Bulldogs’ low and bounding kickoff at their own 23-yard line and after a first down pass to Jackson Olivo, Kade Clarke fumbled after catching a short pass and the Bulldogs recovered.

On a second-and-10 play, Alex Hillard took the handoff from Farlar and raced around the left side, kicked in the jets and streaked past several Lions for a 42-yard touchdown.

Williams kicked the PAT and the Dawgs led 14-0.

GCA used a short yardage passing attack to begin to move down the field, but a Kelley fourth down pass fell incomplete and the Bulldogs took over.

The Bulldogs moved to the Lion 49-yard line where Farlar dropped back and found tight end Eli Welch cutting across the middle.

Welch caught the ball, found a seam and went untouched to the end zone for the touchdown.

After a Lions’ offside penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard line the Bulldogs went for two and Wes Calahan pushed across the goal line and the lead was 22-0.

Hillard intercepted a Kelley pass and Farlar made them pay as he found Brady Calahan for a touchdown.

The rout was on after Williams’ PAT made it 29-0.

Brady Calahan when asked about the good game both of the Calahan brothers had said, “We show up at practice and work hard to improve just like all my teammates and the coaches do a good job of coaching us up, making us all a better team.”

The Bulldog defense flexed but did not give up the big play as the Lions used their short yardage passes to move to the Cornersville 12-yard line as time ran out in the first half.

The Bulldogs received the second half kickoff and Hilliard flashed his speed again with a return to the GCA 35-yard line.

Echoing his teammates Hillard said, “We’re working hard every week to get better.”

Cornersville began a seven-play drive that featured the running of Brady Calahan, Warner, and Farlar that moved the ball to the GCA 25-yard line.

Rhett Woodard got in on the act, rushing 14 yards to the GCA nine.

Wes Calahan found the end zone on the next play and Williams’ kick made the score 36-0.

GCA was stopped again on a fourth down pass and the third quarter ended.

Farlar tossed his third TD pass, this time to Wes Calahan and the Bulldogs upped the lead to 43-0 at the 11:43 mark of the fourth quarter.

After a Bulldog fumble, Kelley took advantage of the good field position and found Callan Jones for an 11-yard touchdown and Hartman’s extra point kick was good as GCA was on the board.

Hartman sent the ball deep to the Bulldog seven-yard line where Hillard took the ball, headed up field, cut across the middle, found an alley and returned the ball for a 93-yard touchdown.

“I had some good blocking on that run,” Hillard said.

“I’ve been telling him to just use his God given talent to run, because the kid is fast,” Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph said. “He turned the jets on with that kickoff return.”

GCA scored a late touchdown before the Bulldogs ran out the clock out in the 50-13 Homecoming victory.

“We knew they would throw the ball and our defense made adjustments with the coaches putting them in the right positions and we made the plays and held them, putting pressure on the quarterback was the key,” Randolph said.

Randolph also praised Farlar saying, “He is getting more relaxed in managing our offense, making the throws when we need them. I’m very proud of Jackson.”

The seventh-ranked Bulldogs (2-2, 1-0) must now get ready for the ninth-ranked Mt. Pleasant Tigers (2-1, 1-1), who come calling next Friday for a tough Region 5A game.

GCA 0 0 0 13-13

Cornersville 0 29 7 14-50

Scoring

Second Quarter

Cornersville-Jackson Farlar 1yard run, Jackson Williams PAT, 10:31.

Cornersville-Alex Hillard 42-yard run, Williams PAT, 9:22.

Cornersville-Eli Welch 49-yard pass from Farlar, two-point conversion NG, 4:02.

Cornersville-Brady Calahan 53-yard pass from Farlar, Williams PAT, 2:15.

Third Quarter

Cornersville-Wes Calahan 9-yard run, Williams PAT, 8:41.

Fourth Quarter

Cornersville-Wes Calahan 30-yard pass from Farler, Williams PAT, 11:44.

GCA-Callan Jones 7-yard pass from Ashton Kelley, Cruz Hartman PAT, 3:23.

Cornersville-Hillard 97-yard kick return, Williams PAT, 2:42.

GCA-Ty Davidson 2-yard pass from Kelley, PAT blocked, 0.04.

Total Offense: Cornersville 320, GCA 305.

Rushing: Cornersville 161, GCA (-2).

Passing: Cornersville 159, GCA 307.

First Downs; Cornersville 16, GCA 17.

Penalties: Cornersville 2-20, GCA 7-40.

Turnovers: Cornersville 2, GCA 3.

Time of possession: Cornersville 25:20, Moore County 20:44.

Cornersville Offense:

Rushing: Cason Warner 7-60, Alex Hillard 4-57-TD, Wes Calahan 3-23-TD, Brady Calahan 6-10, J Farler 5-8, TD, Rhett Woodard 1-6, Mason Calahan 2-3.

Passing: Jackson Farler 8-9-159-3TD.

Receiving: Brady Calahan 2-60-TD, Eli Welch 1-49-TD, Wes Calahan 2-44-TD, Tanner Edwards 2-6.

Kicking: Jackson Williams FG 1-2, PAT 1-1.

Kick Return: Alex Hillard 3-179, TD.

Defense:

Tackles: Tilden Jackson 5.5, Michael Bungay 4, Dylan Baus 4, Cameron Estes 3.5, Devon Massengill 3.5, Blake Jones 3.5, Rhett Woodard 3.5, Trenton Posey 2.5, Houston Williams 2.5, Tracy Wood 2, Alex Hillard 1 (INT), Jackson Mitchell 1, Wes Calahan 0.5.