The Cornersville Bulldogs traveled to Leipers Fork to take on the Division II, Class A, East Region foe Grace Christian Academy-Franklin Lions on Friday night.

The Bulldogs built a first half lead and then withstood a furious GCA rally to turn back the Lions 32-22 in an exciting high school football game.

“We started out well in the first half, we had some blunders on special teams as far as extra points go but the defense stopped Grace’s offense and we ran the ball like wanted to do,” Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph said.

The Bulldogs were led by a bruising ground game that tallied 384 rushing yards, utilizing the full complement of running backs.

“I think with the backfield we’ve got with Alex (Hillard), Cason (Warner), Rhett (Woodard), (Riley) Qualls, and Jackson (Farler) is a running quarterback that makes him a dual threat, gives us a lot of options,” senior running back Brady Calahan said.

Warner with 19 rushes for 165 yards and a TD and Brady Callahan who had 19 rushes for 127 yards and a TD led the way for Cornersville.

Rhett Woodard, Alex Hillard and Farler chipped in with touchdown runs of their own to give the Bulldogs five rushing touchdowns by five different players.

A special pre-game ceremony honoring 9/11and veterans, pass and present, along with first responders from both school communities were presented to the crowd from the 50-yard line of each sidelines.

A representative from those honored was selected to accompany a player from both sides to the opening coin toss at midfield.

Cornersville’s John Luna, a 22-year veteran of the Tennessee Army National Guard and Bulldog senior Alex Hillard witnessed the toss, won by the Bulldogs who elected to receive the ball.

Brady Calahan fielded the kickoff at the Bulldog 20-yard line and returned it 17-yards to the 37-yard line.

The Bulldogs then unleashed the running attack of Calahan and Warner, on a seven-play drive and the duo chewed up the yardage until stalling on the GCA 33-yard line when Cornersville gained 4-yards and needed 5-yards on fourth down, turning the ball over on downs to the Lions.

Woodard led the defense that stopped the Lions, forcing a punt that traveled six yards and Cornersville offense was back in business from the GCA 47-yard line.

Five plays later, all of it on the ground, Woodard crashed over from the 1-yard line for the touchdown, but the PAT kick was low and blocked and the Bulldogs led 6-0 with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldog defense stymied the Lions for the rest of the first half with Woodard and Tyler Brockman leading the way.

Hillard ran for a touchdown and Farler took off on a nice scramble first to his right and then reversing directions back to the left, outran the Lions’ defense for the touchdown, but both PAT’s failed and at the half, the Bulldogs led 18-0.

The third quarter began with the Lions receiving the kickoff and with halftime adjustments from coach Rusty Smith, a former Tennessee Titan quarterback, and his staff, GCA began to move the ball with quarterback Ashton Kelly throwing passes that found open receivers and ended with a Blake Barton run for 2-yards and a touchdown at the 8:26 mark of the third quarter.

Kelly then found Barton on a pass for the two-point conversion and the Lions cut into the Bulldog lead, now trailing 18-8 with 8:26 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half began with the run game as Calahan and Warner, shouldering the work load on a 13-play drive, moved the ball from the Bulldog 30-yard line to the GCA 3-yard line where Calahan found pay dirt, but again the PAT was blocked and Cornersville’s lead was now at 16 points, 24-8 with 46 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I’m the type of player that likes to give credit to the big guys up front,” Calahan said. “They are the heart of the team.”

The fourth quarter saw the game tighten up and aggressive play by both teams revved up the crowd on both sides.

The Lions went on a 14-play drive with Kelly passing and mixing in runs by running back Maddux Lambert as they moved the ball down field despite a couple of penalties against GCA.

Barton scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run and Lambert ran the two-point conversion over as the Lions closed to within eight points at 24-16 with 8:17 left in the ballgame.

The Bulldogs received the ensuing kickoff and things did not start off well as a holding penalty on first down pushed the Bulldogs back, but runs by Warner and Calahan and an offsides penalty on the Lions brought up a third-and-six from the 21-yard line.

Farler ran a draw up the middle, but the Lion defense caused a fumble that was recovered by Kytn Wolf.

From there the Lions went on the move with Barton catching a pass for 12 yards before three straight rushing plays by Barton resulted in a touchdown at the 3:52 mark of the third quarter.

The Lions went for the two-point conversion and the tie, but the Cornersville defense came up with a big play gang tackle as Calahan, Woodard and Riley Qualls corralled Lambert short of the goal line as the Bulldogs turned back the Lion’s effort and maintained their 24-22 lead with 3:52 left in the game.

The onside kick was recovered by Cornersville’s Blake Estes and the Bulldogs took over and once again featured the pounding running style of Warner as they moved the ball downfield to the Lions’ 10-yard line.

Warner then crashed through a hole, knocking aside Lion defenders and dragging the rest, bulling his way over for the touchdown and Farler ran the two-point conversion over to push the Bulldog lead to 10 points at 32-22 with 1:17 left in the game.

Warner echoed his teammates words when he said, “I couldn’t have done it without the blocks from my line and Eli Welch coming in to help out. We run the Power-I and we pull together.”

Calahan executed a squib kick to the Lions’ 30-yard line, but two plays later the Lions fumbled and Woodard recovered for the Bulldogs to seal the win.

“In the second half, they (GCA) made some adjustments and I think we got a little tired with their up-tempo play, missing tackles and doing things we don’t normally do,” Randolph said. “We’ll have to work on those things, but overall I’m super proud of the team for coming into this environment, against a much-improved GCA team, a tough team.”

Eighth-ranked Cornersville’s game at Mt. Pleasant on Friday had been postponed because of COVID-19 at the Maury County school.

Cornersville 6 12 6 8-32

GCA 0 0 8 14-22

First Quarter

Cornersville-Rhett Woodard 1-yard run (kick failed), 4:34.

Second Quarter

Cornersville-Alex Hillard 30-yard run, (2-pt. conversion failed), 11:51.

Cornersville-Jackson Farler 3-yard run (2-pt. conversion failed), 2:16.

Third Quarter

GCA-Blake Barton 2-yard run (Maddux Lambert pass to Barton), 8:26.

Cornersville-Brady Calahan 3-yard run, (PAT blocked), 0:46.

Fourth Quarter

GCA-Blake Barton 6-yard run (Lambert run), 8:17.

GCA-Blake Barton 2-yard run (2-pt conversion failed), 3:52.

Cornersville-Cason Warner 10-yard run, (Farler run), 1:17.

Total Offense: Cornersville 447, GCA 253.

Time of Possession: Cornersville 28:44, GCA 20:16.

Rushing: Cornersville 54-384, GCA 25-109

Passing Yards: Cornersville 65, GCA 144.

Turnovers: Cornersville 1, GCA 3.

First Downs: Cornersville 25, GCA 21.

Penalties: Cornersville 11-110, GCA 7-65.

Cornersville Offense

Jackson Farler: 3-4-65-0-0.

Rushing: Cason Warner 19-165-TD, Brady Calahan 19-127-TD, Alex Hillard 4-56-TD, Riley Qualls 3-18, Jackson Farler 7-9-TD, Rhett Woodard 2-7-TD.

Receiving: Tanner Edwards 1-29, Alex Hillard 1-22, Eli Welch 1-4.

Defense

Tackles: Rhett Woodard 7.5 (2TFL, INT), Brady Callahan 5 (TFL), Wesley Pigg 5, Riley Qualls 5 (TFL), Hunter Fitzgerald 3.5, Barrett Powers 2.5, Cason Warner 2 (TFL), Tyler Brockman 2, Blake Jones 2, Trenton Posey 1.5, Eli Welch 1, Alex Hillard 1, Tracy Wood 1.

Returns

Punts: Brady Calahan 3-41.

Kickoffs: Alex Hillard 1-44, Brady Calahan 3-27.