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| Lions 'bowl' over Jackson Co. |
By: Sara Reid — Special to the Weakley County Pres
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Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 5:02 pm
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A fine finish — The senior members of the 2009 Dresden Lions football team hoist the trophy after winning the inaugural Cumberland River Bowl by a 52-21 margin over the host Jackson County Blue Devils Saturday afternoon in Gainesboro.
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GAINESBORO, Tenn. — Though early penalties threatened to get them down, the Dresden Lion offense, behind the legs of Zach Jolley and the arm of Dale Hutcherson, got going in a big way.
Missing the TSSAA playoffs by the slimmest of margins, the Lions traveled to play the Blue Devils of Jackson County in the first-ever Cumberland River Bowl and exploded on offense for a 52-21 victory Saturday at Jackson County High School’s Kyle Sisco Field in Gainesboro.
In addition to having a career day with 203 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Jolley reached and surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing plateau. He was named bowl game’s MVP and Hutcherson was awarded Offensive Player of the Game for his 188 passing yards and two touchdowns.
The bowl victory capped a turnaround season for the Lions. In a season that began with Dresden carrying the burden of a 19-game losing skid, the Lions ended the 2009 campaign with a 7-4 record for the first winning season at DHS since and identical 7-4 mark in 2003.
When the game got under way on Saturday, Dresden started on offense, but soon faced fourth-and-long and punted the ball to the home team. On third-and-13, however, Gatlin Hatchel intercepted the ball at midfield and returned it to the Jackson County four. From four yards out, Jolley punched in his first score of the game to put Dresden on the board. Jay Wainscott’s kick sailed wide, but Dresden took a 6-0 lead with 7:08 left in the first quarter.
The Blue Devils were ready with an answer, though, and took their only lead of the game on a 27-yard keeper by quarterback Kaleb Allen. Ethan Kirby caught a pass from Allen for the two-point conversion and the home team led 8-6 with 4:36 to go in the first frame.
The Lions’ second drive started on the ground and then took to the air. Jolley took four straight handoffs 21 yards. Hutcherson fired incomplete, but connected with Matt Beaty and Isaac Butler on his next two passes for six and nine yards, respectively. Down to the Jackson County 12, Jolley found a seam and rushed to the end zone. The conversion failed, but Dresden led 12-8 with 47 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Dresden’s defense collected its second turnover when Allen fumbled the ball back to the Lions on the first play of the second quarter, but the Black and Gold gained just two yards and was forced to punt. The Blue Devils stalled on offense, but Dresden picked up its sixth and seventh penalties of the game without the Blue Devils having been penalized once.
Jolley had yet to cool down on offense, however, and after gaining 11 yards on two carries, the senior broke loose for a 66-yard run and a touchdown. Hutcherson found Beaty for the conversion and with 2:08 left before the half, Dresden stretched the gap to 20-8.
Not to be outdone, the Blue Devils stormed back and scored on a six-yard pass from Allen to Kirby. Uriah Bowman’s kick was good and as dominant as Dresden had been on offense, Jackson County trailed just 20-15 at the half.
The Lions, however, allowed the Blue Devils just one more trip to the end zone — a 27-yard pass from Allen to Kirby — while putting up 32 second-half points in the form of a 34-yard pass from Hutcherson to Butler, a seven-yard Butler run, a 56-yard Jolley run, an 11-yard pass from Hutcherson to Daniel Harris and a five-yard run from Daniel Janes.
When the smoke cleared, Dresden out-gained the Blue Devils in total offense, 451-273, out-scored them, 52-21, and was named champion of the first Cumberland River Bowl.
Cumberland River Bowl
Dresden-Jackson County, Stats
Dresden 12 8 20 12—52
Jackson County 8 7 0 6—21
First Quarter
DHS — Zach Jolley 4 run (kick failed), 7:08.
JCHS — Kaleb Allen 27 run (Ethan Kirby from Allen), 4:36.
DHS — Jolley 12 run (conversion failed), 00:47.
Second Quarter
DHS — Jolley 66 run (Matt Beaty from Dale Hutcherson), 2:08.
JCHS — Kirby 6 pass from Allen (Uriah Bowman kick), 00:15.
Third Quarter
DHS — Isaac Butler 34 pass from Hutcherson (Conversion failed), 9:13.
DHS — Butler 7 run (conversion failed), 7:13.
DHS — Jolley 56 run (Butler from Hutcherson), 2:40.
Fourth Quarter
DHS — Daniel Harris 11 pass from Hutcherson (Kick failed), 7:14.
JCHS — Kirby 27 pass from Allen (conversion failed), 3:59.
DHS — Daniel Janes 5 run (kick blocked), 00:36.
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DHS JCHS
First downs 20 15
Rushes-yards 32-263 17-57
Passing yards 188 216
Comp-Att-Int 8-15-0 22-39-4
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-1
Penalties-Yards 11-100 7-67
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Individual Statistics
Rushing — Dresden, Zach Jolley 18-203, Isaac Butler 4-27, Daniel Janes 6-26, Gatlin Hatchel 1-16, Matt Beaty 1-(-2), Dale Hutcherson 2-(-7); Jackson County, Kaleb Allen 8-34, Patrick Davis 7-13, Colby Fox 2-10.
Passing — Dresden, Hutcherson 8-15-0 188; Jackson County, Allen 22-39-4 216.
Receiving — Dresden, Colin Kanehl 3-79, Beaty 2-48, Butler 2-40, Daniel Harris 1-11; Jackson County, Blake Bowman 8-103, Ethan Kirby 7-79, Jordan Godwin 4-15, Hobie Leonard 1-10, Davis 1-8, Chris Stafford 1-1.
Records — Dresden 7-4, Jackson County 5-6.
Next Game — The Cumberland River Bowl marked the final game of the 2009 season for both Dresden and Jackson County.
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