Those middle school boys from Cornersville must have had a good night’s sleep after spending much of the day in the hot sun celebrating Homecoming before coming away with a wild 28-26 comeback win over Moore County Thursday night at Frog Bottom.

The Bulldogs never attempted a pass in the contest, rushing the ball 35 times for 249 yards with Ben Franklin leading way with 178 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns while averaging 10.5 yards per rush.

Every time it looked like the Raiders had the game in hand, the Bulldogs responded and the last counterpunch was the craziest as Peyton Hunnicutt came up with a miracle fumble recovery at the Cornersville one inch line to seal the victory.

The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and marched 56 yards in nine plays with Blaine Woodard capping off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

The ensuing PAT run was no good with 5:05 remaining in the first quarter.

The Raiders matched the Cornersville 56-yard drive with one of their own as quarterback Brett Dobbs capped off the effort with a 27-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

The Raiders also could not convert the PAT run.

The Moore County defense stymied the Bulldogs’ next drive and proceeded to take the lead on a Dobbs 36-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left in the first quarter.

Woodard came up with a big kickoff return to the Moore County 36-yard line and three plays later, Wesley Pigg found the end zone from 14 yards out, tying the game at 12-12 with 7:20 remaining in the first half.

Moore County started its next drive at the 27-yard line and went backwards to the 18 on a pair of penalties before Dobbs found Alex Copeland on a long bomb for a touchdown.

Copeland ran in the two-point conversion and the Raiders were in front 20-12 with 4:34 remaining in the first half.

The Bulldogs’ next drive stalled out and they had to punt with 1:07 left in the second quarter, but Woodard intercepted Dobbs to stymy a first half ending drive and the two teams went to their respective locker rooms for the halftime break with the Raiders in front by eight points.

Moore County took the second kickoff to the 39-yard line and after a 4-yard run by Logan Hegwood, Copeland ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run to make it a 26-12 contest.

The Bulldogs drove to the 49-yard line before Moore County’s Peyton Hill jumped on a loose ball at the Cornersville 41-yard line with 5:24 remaining in the third quarter.

Would the Bulldogs wilt from the long day of activities in the hot sun?

No!

They came up with a huge defensive stand and took over on downs on a big fourth down tackle by Riley Gillit at their own 39-yard line.

On the next snap, Ben Franklin went all the way to the house for a touchdown and Woodard added the two-point conversion run, cutting the Moore County lead to 26-20 with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter.

Once again the Cornersville defense stood tall, forcing a Moore County punt that was covered at the Bulldog 46-yard line.

Two Franklin runs and a first down run by Pigg moved the ball to the Moore County 38-yard line as time ran out in the third quarter.

Five plays later, Franklin burst through a big hole and scored from 11 yards out to tie the game at 26 and Franklin added the two-point conversion run to put the Bulldogs in front 28-26 with 6:19 left in the contest.

Moore County proceed to drive the ball all the way to the Cornersville 4-yard line where a fourth down pass by Dobbs was swatted down and the Bulldogs took over on downs.

The Bulldogs ran three running plays as Moore County used all three of its timeouts and after a shanked punt by Cornersville, the Raiders were in business with the ball at 12-yard line with 1:03 remaining in the contest.

Dobbs ran to the 1-yard line on first down and it looked like the Bulldogs hopes had faded, but on the next snap the ball popped out and Hunnicutt scooped it up and ran all the way to the Moore County 30-yard line where he was tackled with 41 seconds left.

Cornersville went in to the victory formation to seal the wild Homecoming win.

Moore County 12 8 6 0-26

Cornersville 6 6 8 8-28

Cornersville Stats

Total Offense: Rushing 35-249, Passing 0-0-0.

Rushing: Ben Franklin 17-178-2TD, Wesley Pigg 5-42-TD, Riley Gillett 6-38, Blaine Woodard 7-(-9)-TD.

Interception: Blaine Woodard.

Fumble Recovery: Peyton Hunnicutt.