Middle school Panthers roll at Claiborne

Published 3:09 pm Friday, October 9, 2020

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Claiborne middle school hosted Cumberland Gap, October 8 at Claiborne High School. The Panthers were a better team on paper but you can throw out the records when these two rivals battle.

The Panthers; however, lived up to the hype and won by the final score of 42-6.

The Dogs won toss and deferred to the second half and after the kick, the Panthers drove to the Dogs 20 but fumbled.

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Claiborne went three and out on offense and had to punt but they failed to get the punt off.

One play later, Panther Gavin Owens found the end zone. It was 6-0 after failed conversion.

The Bulldogs offense stalled on their next drive and went for it on fourth down. The ball was stripped beautifully by Owens and he went the other way 34 yards for the Panthers second score of the game. The conversion failed but the Panthers now led 14-0.

The Bulldogs ensuing drive began with an Isaac Daniels pass across the middle and one run later the first quarter clock ticked down to zero.

The Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs on the Panthers own 48. Cumberland Gap withstood two holding penalties to score with 1:33 left in the half on another run by Owens. The conversion was good and the Panthers extended their lead to 22-0.

To start the second half, Bulldog’s Isaac Daniels threw a pass to Hunter Gibson for a TD but the two point conversion failed, 22-6.

The Panthers’ Brayden Painter scored on the ensuing kickoff down the Bulldogs sideline but the conversion failed, 28-6. The Bulldogs started another drive but threw an interception at 3:08.

The third quarter ended 28-6 with the Panthers driving. Painter found the end zone once again and after the conversion failed the Panthers led 34-6 but they were not done.

Panther Hunter Norris scored on a pass play to add to the lead, 42-6.

The Bulldogs never got any closer as the game clock counted down. It was a big win for the Panthers.