After seeing a 20-point lead disappear, the Claiborne Bulldogs found a way to drive for the go-ahead score and held on to top rival Cumberland Gap 28-26 Friday night.

“I just want to thank the good Lord for this one,” Claiborne coach Barry Liles said. “He took care of us tonight.”

The Bulldogs jumped out quickly, scoring on their first three possessions.

Bobby Chadwell opened the scoring by hauling in a 10-yard TD pass from Cody Malone and Matthew DeClerg’s extra point made it 7-0 with 8:00 to play in the first quarter.

Senior running back David Fuson, who finished with 182 yards, then broke free for a 61-yard touchdown a little over a minute later to stretch the lead to 14-0.

“Every team has got somebody they hang their hat on and he’s ours. Aaron Noe did a great job, too, when he came in,” Liles said. “David really ran hard tonight. He didn’t get to play in this game last year and wanted to make up for that.”

It looked as if the Bulldogs would turn the game into a rout on the sloppy field at Cumberland Gap when Aaron Noe scored on a 10-yard run with 2:56 remaining in the first for a 20-0 lead.

But the Panther defense stiffened and didn’t give Claiborne much of anything over the next two quarters.

Cumberland Gap finally got on the board with 55 seconds to go before halftime when Joseph Jenkins hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Shipley and the score was 20-6 at the half.

“Our fight, our effort, our determination to try and win this thing I’m pleased,” said Panther coach Neal Pucciarelli. “I told them they could have folded their tents and gone home at the end of the first quarter but they kept battling, I’m real proud of them.”

The Panthers opened up the third quarter with a solid ground game. Shipley and Jeremy Jones took turns running right at the Bulldog front seven. Shipley broke a pair of long runs to get the Panthers deep in Claiborne territory, but left the game with an ankle injury midway through the third quarter.

Freshman Blake Franklin took over behind center and looked to have a 17-yard touchdown run, but it was called back on a holding call. Facing a 4th and long from the 13, Shipley hobbled back onto the field on a heavily taped ankle and lobbed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Whitt Willis. Willis was making his first start of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

The two-point pass attempt was intercepted by Chadwell so the score was 20-12 with 4:44 to play in the third.

Claiborne went three and out and the Panthers took over with good field position after a short punt. They drove down the field with Franklin and Shipley alternating snaps at quarterback. Franklin would run and Shipley would pass.

Jenkins went up to haul in a 22-yard pass from Shipley for a first down at the Bulldog 30. Jones and Franklin both ran for decent gains to get the Panthers down t the 13.

On the first play of the fourth quarter Jenkins took a pitch from Shipey and found a seam down the right sideline. His 13-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion run on a similar play to the left tied the game at 20 with 11:54 to play.

“Give it o them, Cumberland Gap never quit when we got up and they played hard the whole ball game,” Liles said. “I was really proud of the way our guys came back in the fourth quarter and played the way they played.”

The teams traded interceptions on their next two possessions and the Bulldogs took over at their own 35 with about 8 minutes to play.

Fuson did most of the damage as they went 65 yards on nine plays. Malone converted a 4th and inches on a quarterback sneak and then found Chadwell wide open on a play-action pass. Cumberland Gap safety Seth Sharpe saved a touchdown with a hard tackle at the four yard line. But Fuson ran once for two yards and again for two more and a touchdown to put the Bulldogs back on top.

Claiborne went back to play-action again in going for the two-point conversion and it worked perfectly as Josh Roberts was all alone in the end zone to haul in Malone’s pass.

“I got that play from my dad (Harold Liles). He coached little league football for 30 years and he made a living off that play and it’s been a good one for us also,” said Liles, who remembers losing to the Panthers three years ago on a late two-point conversion after he opted to kick an extra point to go up by seven.

The Panthers took over with 5:31 to play and quickly drove the field. Shipley passed to Jenkins and Austin Oney for big gains down to the Bulldog six and Jone ran it in from there.

With 4:44 to play the Panthers went for two but Jones was stopped at the one.

Claiborne got the ball back and converted a pair of first downs on big runs from Malone. They were able run almost all of the clock out. By the time they punted the Panthers had time for one play from their own 30. Shipley’s pass was incomplete as the Bulldogs held on.

Claiborne (7-1, 4-0 in district play) plays at South Greene next week

“To us it’s another region win. Nobody understands how the heck this playoff system goes now,” Liles said. “We’ve just got to keep winning ballgames and try to put ourselves in the best position we can to get there.”

Jenkins led the Panthers with 111 yards on seven catches and also ran for 20 yards on three carries. Shipley was the leading rusher with nine carries for 50 yards and Franklin added 28 yards on six rushing attempts.

Pucciarelli praised the play of those two young players.

“Blake Franklin did a real good job when Ryan got hurt, stepped in and kept us in position to win the football game,” he said. “We’re still a work in progress. All the kids played well, but Joseph keeps getting better every week. He’s going to be a real good player, I’m looking forward to having him the next two years.”

Cumberland Gap (3-5, 2-3) plays at Cosby next Friday. Pucciarelli is hopeful that Shipley will be close to 100 percent for that game.

“He’s our our heart and soul and we were whooping up on them when he got hurt,” he said. “I think it’s just a real bad sprain and it’s going to take a while to rehab and he probably won’t take a lot of reps this week.”.