After having to endure the sight of the Fayetteville Tigers claiming the Region 5-A championship on their home turf at Frog Bottom, the ninth-ranked Cornersville Bulldogs (6-2, 2-2) took the bye week to heal physically before travelling over the hill Friday night to take on the Richland Raiders (3-4, 1-2)

The Bulldogs took a 15-0 halftime lead and then saw Richland take advantage of back-to-back turnovers to cut the lead to two points, but offensively and even more so defensively, Cornersville stepped up to stop the Raiders for a 30-13 victory.

“I’m very proud of my team tonight, they came out after losing a big region game two weeks ago and they came back and worked and pulled out a big win against a good Richland football team,” Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph said.

The Bulldogs evened their region record at 2-2 and can secure the third seed for the playoffs with a win against Huntland on Friday.

Senior running back Brady Calahan answered the bell with a quick first step on running plays and sure hands on pass receptions, leading the Bulldogs with 136 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns, while catching two passes for 62 yards and he had two interceptions on defense.

The rivalry between these two teams meant there were times when bad feelings caused tempers to flare and penalty flags to fly, most notably against the Raiders as they were penalized 13 times for 126 yards.

Cornersville won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half.

The Raiders began their initial possession on their own 36-yard line and on second-and-six play, Cornersville’s Trenton Posey burst through the Richland line and sacked quarterback Sam Edwards for a nine-yard loss.

The Raiders’ Jack Norman punted on fourth down, but a short kick of just 15 yards gave the ball to the Bulldogs near midfield.

One play was all the Bulldogs would get as quarterback Jackson Farler fumbled after an eight-yard run and Richland recovered.

The Raiders returned the favor as Edwards’ second down pass was intercepted by Brady Calahan.

This time the Bulldogs rolled out the running game featuring Calahan, Cason Warner, and Rhett Woodard with Woodard crashing over the goal line for the touchdown and Calahan ripping through the Raiders’ line for the two-point conversion, putting Cornersville in the lead 8-0 with 6:21 left in the first quarter.

The teams traded possessions before Richland began a seven-play drive towards the Bulldogs’ goal line as the first quarter wound down.

On the last play of the quarter, the Raiders were faced with a third-and-four at the Cornersville 12-yard line where Trey Walkington was stopped one yard short of the first down by Ben Franklin.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Raiders tried again on fourth-and-one, but Woodard stopped Edwards for no gain and the Bulldogs took over.

The Bulldogs stuck with the running game with Calahan shouldering most of the load, but Warner added tough running yards.

Calahan darted through the Raiders’ line for an 11-yard touchdown run and Jackson Williams’ PAT split the uprights to make it 15-0.

Both teams’ defenses worked hard and neither team could break the goal line as the horn sounded to end the first half with the Bulldogs leading 15-0.

The second half kickoff went to the Bulldogs, but on second down they fumbled and the Raiders were in business at the Cornersville 48-yard line.

The Raiders put together a six-play drive that ended when Edwards found Walkington on a 10-yard pass for a touchdown, but the PAT was wide right and the Cornersville lead was cut to nine points at 15-6.

A Farler interception gave the ball right back to the Raiders, who took full advantage of the turnover with a four-play drive that resulted in a Edwards six-yard run and with a Colton Trimble PAT to cut the Bulldog lead to two points at 15-13.

Cornersville received their third kickoff of the third quarter, but this time the bruising running style of Warner was highlighted on a rambling 40-yard yard touchdown run, but a bad snap on the PAT left a point off the board, making it 21-13.

“We faced some adversity in the third quarter, we didn’t do what we needed to do coming out after the half,” Randolph said. “But we were able to get the ball and drive down the field for a touchdown.”

After the Warner TD, the Bulldogs defense made a stand and forced the Raiders to punt.

“We made some adjustments, we didn’t have our on-line I-Pad working so we had to talk to the boys and they were smart enough to tell us what they were seeing and we made a couple of adjustments, swapped players around and it worked out,” Cornersville Defensive Coordinator Eliot Cook said. “Credit them (players) to be savvy enough to know what was happening. One thing about them (defense) they don’t give up, they keep fighting, they believe in the system.”

With the defense righted, the Bulldogs took charge and kept the Raiders out of the end zone for the rest of the game as Cornersville’s Blake Estes made a tremendous leaping tip away on a pass into the end zone to Edwards to save a touchdown.

“I just played my coverage and did what I’m supposed to do,” Estes said.

Calahan got his second touchdown and Woodard tackled Edwards in the end zone for a safety to round out the scoring for Cornersville as the boys from Frog Bottom pulled away for the 17-point win.

“It’s not just me. Our big guys made some big holes, I mean it is hard to find lineman that can make holes that big,” Calahan said. “It is the whole team, Coach Randolph and the coaches making the right calls.”

The Bulldogs return home for the final two games of the season versus the Hornets Friday night and the regular season finale against Zion Christian Academy on October 30.

Cornersville 8 7 6 9- 30

Richland 0 0 13 0-13

Scoring Plays

First Quarter:

Cornersville-Rhett Woodard 1-yard run (Brady Calahan 2-point run), 6:21.

Second Quarter

Cornersville-Brady Calahan 11-yard run (Jackson Williams kick), 5:51.

Third Quarter:

Richland-Ethan Ehrhardt 10-yard pass from Sam Edwards (Kick failed), 7:15.

Richland-Sam Edwards 6-yard run (Colton Trimble kick), 4:49

Cornersville-Cason Warner 40-yard run (Kick failed), 4:13.

Fourth Quarter

Cornersville-Brady Calahan 2-yard run (Jackson Williams kick), 9:51.

Cornersville-Safety, 2:20.

Stats: Cornersville, Richland

Plays: 51, 56.

Total Offense: 360, 183.

Time of Possession: 22:59, 25:01.

Rushing Attempts – Yards: 43-290, 36-117.

Passing: Completions – Attempts: 3-8, 9-20.

Passing Yards: 70, 66.

Passing: Touchdowns – Interceptions: 0-1, 1-2.

Fumbles: Lost: 2-2, 1-1

Turnovers: 3, 3.

First Downs: 19, 13.

First Downs - Rushing: 10, 9.

First Downs – Passing: 3, 4.

First Downs – Penalties: 6, 0.

Third Down Conversions/Attempts: 4/9 (44.4%), 4/12 (33.3%).

Penalties – Yards: 4-25, 13-126.

Defensive Sacks- Yards: 4-22, 0-0

Punt Average: 3-27.7, 3 – 24.3

Passing:

Cornersville: Jackson Farler 3-8-70-0-1.

Richland: Edwards 9-20—66-TD-2INT.

Rushing:

Cornersville: Calahan 14-136-2TD, Warner 15-121-TD, Farler 8-23, Woodard 5-10-TD.

Richland: Trey Walkington 14-69.

Receiving:

Cornersville: Calahan 2-62, Tanner Edwards 1-8.

Richland: Trey Walkington 6-38.

Defensive Stats:

Cornersville Tackles: Rhett Woodard 8 (2TFL, SACK), Trenton Posey 6 (TFL, SACK), Barrett Powers 6 (2TFL, SACK), Brady Calahan 5 (2INT), Riley Qualls 4, Ben Franklin 4 (SACK), Garrett Alder 3, Williams 2, Blake Estes 2, Boone Solomon 2, Hunter Fitzgerald 1.5, Mason Calahan 1, Wesley Pigg 1.

Kicking

PAT: Jackson Williams 2-3.

Punting: Tyler Brockman 3-83

Returns

Kickoffs: Tyler Brockman 1-5, Brady Calahan 1-0.