John Denton notched his first victory as the head football coach of the Cornersville Bulldogs on Friday night when CHS went on the road and defeated the Huntland Hornets 25-20 in their season opener.

Cornersville had their way with Huntland early on and built a 19-0 lead in the first half after scoring touchdowns on three of their first four possessions.

The Bulldogs then had to scratch and claw to hold on for the win in the second half, as they had to withstand a late Huntland rally to claim the six-point victory.

'Great feeling'

"It's a great feeling to get my first win. I'm more happy for the kids than I am for myself though. They go out and do all the work so I'm excited for them. They really played hard tonight," said Denton. "Anytime you can win the first game it's huge. It gets the school and the community excited so it's a big positive to get that first win."

With Friday's triumph, the Bulldogs have now won five out of the last six meetings against the Hornets.

Aided by their fast start, CHS finished with 345 yards of total offense. Junior quarterback Jamie Crowell had an efficient night throwing the ball and completed 18-of-21 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns to go along with a one-yard TD run.

Top target

Senior wide receiver Stone Riner was Crowell's primary target and hauled in seven passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Lowery also tallied six receptions for 38 yards, while Zack Welch and Justin Black both caught two balls for 24 and eight yards respectively. Bulldog tailback Chance Dyer had one catch for 11 yards as well.

"Jamie made some really good throws at some key points in the game. On one of the touchdown passes to Stone, he checked off to the play himself. He's doing a good job of keeping us out of bad plays," said Denton.

Cornersville supplemented their passing attack by rushing for 128 yards on 26 carries. Dyer toted the ball 17 times for 74 yards to pace CHS' ground game, while Riner added 51 yards and a touchdown on just two carries.

Hornet stats

The Hornets tallied 369 yards from scrimmage overall thanks to their second half offensive surge. Huntland took advantage of their superior size up front and churned out 246 yards rushing on 50 carries.

Cole Ashley led the Hornet's rushing attack by toting the ball 20 times for 100 yards, while Cameron Mahaffey added 90 yards on 15 carries to go along with a nine-yard touchdown catch. Quarterback Evan Ray accounted for all three Huntland touchdowns, as he rushed for 36 yards and two scores on eight carries and completed 8-of-15 passes for 123 yards and a TD.

Dyer, Black, and Lowery recorded seven tackles apiece to lead the Bulldog defense with Dyer notching a sack. Jody Sullivan also registered five tackles, while Welch and Dillard Hatchett both had four tackles. Lane Hagood and Levi Henry also tallied three tackles apiece for CHS with Hagood being credited with a sack.

Cornersville got off to a promising start and took a 7-0 lead on their opening possession when Riner caught a 9-yard touchdown pass to cap an eight-play, 56-yard drive, while Ivan Gutierrez tacked on the extra point.

Following a missed field goal attempt by Huntland, Crowell hooked up with Riner for a 59-yard touchdown strike to give the Bulldogs a 13-0 advantage with 3:35 left in the first quarter.

After holding the Hornets scoreless on their next two possessions, Crowell scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge to stretch CHS' lead to 19-0 with 5:07 left in the second period.

Close call

Huntland finally got on the board with 6:24 left in the third quarter when Ray scored on a one-yard TD run while Austin Scott converted the extra point to cut the deficit to 19-7.

The Hornets narrowed the gap to 19-14 midway through the fourth period thanks to a nine-yard touchdown catch by Mahaffey, but the Bulldogs got their offense cranked back up on their ensuing possession and extended their lead to 25-14 with 3:40 remaining on a 38-yard touchdown run by Riner.

After Huntland whittled the deficit to 25-20 with 1:24 left on a two-yard touchdown run by Ray, the Bulldogs kept the Hornets out of the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt before recovering the onside kick attempt and running out the clock to clinch the victory.