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Claiborne High School football team welcomed Cumberland Gap on campus for the annual “Small Town Throwdown, Battle of the River” or whatever you want to call it.

This year just like all things would be different. The Panthers came in with players quarantined and a quarterback in place who had never took a snap of high school football.

Still, the game was scheduled and the teams had to play. Before the game both head coaches took time to talk about what their team needed to do to get a win.

Panthers coach DeLynn Cline had this to say about the meeting, “They are having a great year. We must slow down their running game, they have athletes that can score from anywhere on the field. Offensively we must control the ball.”

Bulldogs coach Nathan Medlin said this about the big game, “This is a great opportunity for our seniors and it’s going to be a challenge. We must stop the run game and stop their big play guys.”

It was senior night for Claiborne and they were celebrated for their dedication and commitment to Claiborne High School along with cheer, band, fishing and golf teams.

When the ball was kicked off the Panthers were executing their game plan to near perfection.

They desired to keep the ball for long amounts of time while on offense and on defense they were taking away the big play.

However, Claiborne finally put a drive together and scored with 1:13 remaining in the first. Jimmy Del Ervin scored on a five yard rush but the extra point missed, 6-0.

During the second quarter, Storm Livesay had the first big play of the night on a 53 yard run and Alex Bailey’s point after was true making it 13-0.

There was no more scoring and at the half Claiborne enjoyed a 13-0 lead but their coaches were unhappy with the performance.

After the CHS Blue Battalion played their halftime show, the teams came back out on the field and traded punts.

Claiborne found pay dirt at 4:47 on an Eli Stone rush of 16 yards and they tried a two point conversion which failed leaving the score at 19-0.

Stone scored again with 1:02 remaining and Bailey kicked the extra point through the uprights extending the score to 26-0.

During the final quarter, Claiborne found the end zone twice. The first was on a Livesay 13 yard rush and the other was a fumble recovery in the end zone by Isaac Lester. Both points after missed the mark but the Bulldogs lead was 38-0.

The game ended and the streak was broken. Defensively the Bulldogs were all over the field but it was James Satkowski that the fans were talking about along with Livesay and Tristan Cowan who each had seven tackles.

Following the game Coach Medlin was asked to give his team a grade and he replied, “I think it would be a “C” because we didn’t play well at first. Our defense carried is especially in the first half and on offense our focus wasn’t where it was needed to be.”

Medlin also spoke about his seniors, “I am happy for our seniors, they haven’t beaten the Panthers and they wanted it this year.”

The Bulldogs are now 8-1 on the season and have tied two other Bulldogs teams for the best ever record and may stand alone at the top if they win next week against North Greene.

There is a three way tie at the top of the standings and although Claiborne should host the opening playoff game a loss might clutter things up even more.

Video: Jimmy Del Ervin finds running room (Photo by Allen Earl)

By ALLEN EARL

allen.earl@claiborneprogress.net