With the Harvest Moon hanging in the October sky, the Region 5-A leading Fayetteville City Tigers came to Frog Bottom on a Homecoming Friday night looking to wrap up the region championship against their bitter rival Cornersville Bulldogs.

The game began with hard hitting defense and a second quarter surge from fourth-ranked Fayetteville City put the Tigers ahead 14-0.

The third quarter was highlighted by melee that resulted in one Bulldog player and five Fayetteville City players being ejected from the contest.

After the dust cleared from the brawl, Cornersville mounted a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt, but came up short and Fayetteville City survived to the claim the region title with a 14-7 win.

“This one is a hard one to lose, we had our opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them, something you have to do against a good Fayetteville City team,” Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph said.

The Bulldogs, who are in a bye week, fell into fifth place in the region standings and must now win at Richland on October 16 and at home against Huntland on the following week to have a chance of making the playoffs.

Cason Warner led the Bulldogs’ rushing offense with 18 carries for 78 yards and Brady Calahan chipped in 45 yards on 15 carries.

On defense, Rhett Woodard led the Bulldogs with nine solo tackles and three assists, followed by Riley Qualls with three solo tackles and three assists.

The Bulldogs won the toss and elected to defer until the second half and Cornersville kicker Jackson Williams surprised the Tigers with an onside kick which was recovered by Woodard, but the referees determined that a Bulldog had touched the ball before it had gone the necessary 10 yards, so Fayetteville took over on their own 35-yard line.

The Tigers converted a first down to the 48-yard line, but on third down an illegal motion penalty which was the first of 11 flags against Fayetteville ruined the drive and they were forced to punt.

The Bulldogs began their first possession on their own 27-yard line and like the Tigers they converted a first down but after a long third down pass fell incomplete, Tyler Brockman punted the ball away for Cornersville.

Fayetteville City freshman running back and punt returner TJ Jackson had a nifty 32-yard punt return, but a block in the back penalty negated most of the run and the Tigers began their second possession from their own 38-yard line.

Two more penalties, on back-to-back plays, killed the Tigers’ drive again to force another punt.

The Bulldogs were driving as the scoreless first quarter ended and early in to the second quarter, the drive stalled at their own 47-yard line and Brockman was forced to punt again.

This time the Tigers watched it bounce and roll to the 13-yard line.

After a one-yard run and an incomplete pass, Jackson took a handoff and the freshman beat everyone to the corner and cut back across the field, shaking off tackles and out running the Bulldog defense for a 65-yard touchdown.

Isaiah Thomison snagged a pass from Corian Cash for the 2-point conversion and with 7:44 remaining in the first quarter, Fayetteville City led 8-0.

The Bulldogs responded with a drive that featured the running of Warner, Calahan, Woodard, and Qualls as the entire Cornersville backfield got involved, but a fumble gave the ball to the Tigers.

Jackson promptly got loose on a 49-yard run with only a Calahan tackle at the Bulldog 6-yard line saving a touchdown.

The next play saw Jackson rip over for the score, but this time the 2-point conversion was stopped and with 1:38 left in the first half the Tigers led 14-0.

Cornersville did not score in the first half and received the second half kickoff, but the Tigers’ defense was hard to penetrate and Brockman punted again.

The Tigers responded with a long drive all the way to the Bulldogs’ 2-yard line where they faced a second-and-goal with a chance to go up three scores on Cornersville.

The Tigers went to the Wildcat formation with running back Graham Pace taking off on a run to the right side where Eli Welch was waiting close to the Tigers’ side lines for the tackle, but an unnecessary roughness penalty was called and that’s when tempers boiled over.

The third quarter debacle stemmed from crashing defenses, combined with many penalties that caused lost tempers and trash talking between the teams that exploded into a melee on the visitor’s side, resulting in to the six ejections.

The TSSAA will no doubt be looking at film from the game as well as the referee’s assessment and the penalties for the ejections is under review.

Fayetteville was flagged 15 times for 110 yards and the Bulldogs had nine penalties for 75 yards in the contest.

When the dust settled, Fayetteville faced a third-and-62 after just being two yards away from taking a three-score lead.

After a Tigers’ punt, the Bulldogs’ ground game came alive as Warner ended the quarter with an 18-yard run, dragging and carrying defenders down to the Tigers’ 1-yard line.

The final quarter began with Brady Calahan bulling over the goal line and Williams’ PAT cut the Tiger lead in half to 14-7.

The Bulldogs tough defense and the loss of many of Tigers’ offensive weapons by ejection caused a punt from their own 25-yard line.

The kick only traveled two yards, putting the Bulldogs were in great field position to try to tie the game.

Warner shouldered the load as the Bulldogs drove inside the Fayetteville 5-yard line, setting up a first-and-goal, but a vicious caused a fumble and the Tigers recovered again.

The Bulldogs defense bowed their back and stopped the Tigers and after another poor Tigers’ punt, Cornersville was right back knocking on the door.

Fighting the clock, the Bulldogs fought and clawed their way down field and now faced a fourth-and-two at the Fayetteville 10-yard line with 2:06 left in the game.

Woodard was stopped for no gain and Fayetteville (6-0, 5-0) took over.

Jackson sealed the victory with a third-and-17 dash for 20 yards and a first down and Cornersville’s hopes were crushed.

To a man, the players interviewed echoed Randolph’s words on the loss.

“We had too many mistakes, you take away the mistakes I believe we could have won the game,” Woodard said.

Warner, with tears in his eyes said, “We got to take time and get better and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes.”

Calahan also commented, saying, “Ewe made a lot of mistakes, but we kept playing hard and Coach Randolph did a great job steering us away from all that (the ejections).”

Qualls echoed the statements, saying, “It was a close game and we played hard. We just made more mistakes than they did. We played hard for four quarters.”

Cornersville, which remained in the number-nine spot in the AP Poll, has a bye week to rest and mend before going over the hill to Richland (3-2, 1-1) to take on the Raiders in another tough region game before their final regular season home game against the Huntland Hornets (4-3, 1-1).

The Bulldogs (5-2, 1-2) travel to Zion Christian (3-4) for the finale.

Fayetteville 0 14 0 0-14

Cornersville 0 0 0 7-7

Scoring plays

Second Quarter

Fayetteville City-KJ Jackson 65-yard run (Isaiah Thomison pass from Corian Cash), 7:44.

Fayetteville City-KJ Jackson 6-yard run (2-pt run failed), 1:38.

Fourth Quarter

Cornersville-Brady Calahan 1-yard run (Jackson Williams kick), 11:17

Stats

Fayetteville, Cornersville

Number of Plays: 36, 54.

Total Offense: 211, 193.

Time of Possession: 22:14, 25:16.

Rushing Attempts – Yards: 27-192, 6 – 13.

Passing: Completions – Attempts: 6-9, 9-17.

Passing Yards: 19, 51.

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

Fumbles Lost: 0-0, 4-2.

Turnovers: 0, 2.

First Downs: 11, 14.

First Downs – Rushing: 8, 11.

First Downs – Passing: 1, 1.

First Downs – Penalties: 2, 2.

Third Down Conversions/Attempts: 4/11(36.3%), 6/13 (46.2%).

Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts: 0/4 (0%), 1/3 (33.3%).

Penalties – Yards: 15-110, 9-75.

Defensive Sacks – Yards: 0-0, 0-0.

Punts – Average: 5-21.2, 3-39.

Passing

Cornersville: Jackson Farler 6-12-51-0-0, Caden White 0-1-0-0-0.

Fayetteville City: Kyle Parker 6-16-19-0-0.

Rushing

Cornersville: Cason Warner 18-78. Calahan 15-45-TD, Rhett Woodard 4-14, Jackson Farler 1–7, Riley Qualls 1-3, Alex Hillard 1–-2.

Fayetteville City: K J Jackson 16-199-2TD.

Receiving

Cornersville: Cason Warner 1-39, Tanner Edwards 2- 5, B. Calahan 1-4, Eli Welch 1-3.

Fayetteville City: Corian Cash 1-11.

Defensive Stats

Cornersville Tackles: Rhett Woodard 10.5 (3.5 TFL), Riley Qualls 5 (1.5 TFL, Brady Calahan 4, Eli Welch 3.5 (TFL), Hunter Fitzgerald 2.5 (TFL), Blake Estes 2, Trenton Posey 1, Boone Soloman 1, Blake Jones .5

Kicking

Cornersville

PAT: Jackson Williams 1-1.

FG: Jackson Williams 0-1.

Punting: Tyler Brockman 3-117.

Returns

Punts: Brady Calahan 2-22.

Kickoffs: Brady Calahan 2-59.