Hound Dogs Top Thrashers 28-10

 [This is a fictional sports article]

Nashville, Tennessee - A week after suffering their first loss of the season, the Tennessee Hound Dogs (5-1) rebounded this week with a dominant 28-10 win over the winless Georgia Thrashers (0-6).

"We needed to come out strong," said Hound Dogs Head Coach Colton Preston.  "After we got our butts kicked last week, we needed to get back to doing what we do well.  We also didn't want to assume that Georgia would be an easy game either."

The Hound Dogs had their way on offense outgaining the Thrashers 490-134 in total yardage as well as an overwhelming 41:43 in time of possession and had 26-5 advantage in first downs.

"We had a lot of good drives," said Hound Dogs Quarterback Rich Lewis.  "Once we got rolling, our offense had their way."

After David Coutee gave Tennessee an early 3-0 with a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter, the Thrashers stunned the Hound Dogs in the second quarter as Thrashers' quarterback Steven Gould found a streaking Dennis Robey-Coleman behind the Tennessee defense to take a 7-3 lead.  

The score by Georgia proved to be a wakeup call for the Hound Dogs.

"I told them not to lay down and that touchdown got them to wake up," added Preston.  "We took over the game after that."

Tennessee took their next possession down the field and got the lead back on a 29-yard pass from Lewis to Darnell McCoy to go up 10-7.  Coutee added a 43-yard field goal for a 13-7 lead at the break.  The Hound Dogs had other offensive possessions which could have widened the gap but Coutee was off on field goal attempts.  He missed four field goals in the game which were his first misses of the season.

"I'm not worried about Dave.  We did ask him to bail us out with three of those field goals over 50 yards so that was a lot of us to ask from him," Preston said.

The Hound Dogs took their opening possession of the third quarter to extend their lead with an eight-yard pass from Lewis to Demetrius Perry.  On the conversion, the snap was low forcing holder Mark Williams to pull up and find McCoy for two points and a 21-7 lead.

Tennessee added a three-yard pass from Lewis to Perry in the final quarter to seal the win 28-10.

The Hound Dogs will go on the road next week to Greensboro, North Carolina to face the North Carolina Copperheads.  Both teams are tied at 5-1 for second place in the Southeast Region.

Top Dogs:

• Byrd had 35 rushes for 177 yards
• McCoy had seven catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter

TN - David Coutee 38 FG

TENNESSEE 3, GEORGIA 0

2nd Quarter

GA - Dennis Robey-Coleman 27 pass from Steven Gould (Terry Ragnow kick)

GEORGIA 7, TENNESSEE 3

TN - Darnell McCoy 29 pass from Richard Lewis (Coutee kick)

TENNESSEE 10, GEORGIA 7

TN - Coutee 43 FG

TENNESSEE 13, GEORGIA 7

3rd Quarter

TN - Demetrius Perry 8 pass from Lewis (McCoy pass from Mark Williams)

TENNESSEE 21, GEORGIA 7

GA - Ragnow 44 FG

TENNESSEE 21, GEORGIA 10

4th Quarter

TN - Perry 3 pass from Lewis (Coutee kick)

TENNESSEE 28, GEORGIA 10

Around the USA League:

• Michigan, Alabama and Texas are the only remaining undefeated teams at 6-0.
• North Dakota's Russell Reese leads the league in rushing with 699 yards and over 100 yards in each game so far.  
• The Mid-Atlantic Region has the most competitive race with New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware all tied for first place at 4-2.  Maryland is just behind in fifth place at 3-2-1.  Last place DC is 3-3

Southeast Division Standings

1. Alabama Hammers (6-0)
2. Tennessee Hound Dogs (5-1)
3. North Carolina Copperheads (5-1)
4. Florida Tarpons (4-2)
5. South Carolina Skyhawks (1-4-1)
6. Georgia Thrashers (0-6)

Week 6 Results:

Tennessee 28, Georgia 10

Florida 18, South Carolina 13

Alabama 27, North Carolina 20