By GALE CAVNESS
pressbox1.com

BROWNSVILLE - A game measured by the yard was decided by two feet.

Longtime rivals Dyersburg and Haywood County met Friday night at John B. Hooper Memorial Stadium in a tradition-rich series filled with smackdowns and shootouts. This time, an early-season Region 7-3A showdown was settled by the kickers.

Jose Lopez booted a 32-yard field goal with 1:49 to play to give Haywood County a 6-3 victory in a contest dominated by defense.

Lopez and Dyersburg's Kyle Youmans, a pair of senior kickers touted to be among the elite in West Tennessee, split the points in the first half and figured to be the deciding factors in a contest filled with offensive futility. Lopez started off the scoring early in the second quarter with a boot from 29 yards before Youmans knotted the contest with a 30-yard effort with less than four minutes remaining in the half.

Haywood County moved into position for the game-winner by putting together its best drive of the evening, a 60-yard trek to the Dyersburg 15 to set the stage for Lopez.

The Trojans had almost two minutes with which to work, but lost the ball on downs at its own 28 exactly 60 seconds after beginning their final possession.

The Tomcats promptly took a knee and the win. Haywood County's victory gives them a 1-0 mark in the region and an overall slate of 2-1. Dyersburg is 0-1, 1-1.

The Tomcats continue a homestand next week by hosting Memphis Kingsbury. The Trojans will try to regroup on their home turf against Jackson North Side.

Last year's skirmish between the Trojans and Tomcats in Dyersburg was a thriller comparable to Friday night's tussle in Brownsville. The Trojans overcame an early deficit and six lost fumbles in that battle to nip the visiting Tomcats 21-14 in double overtime.

Dyersburg's stingy defense was the key in that contest and was equally impressive Friday night in Brownsville, but the offense never got into gear.

Hampered by three turnovers, all fumbles, and a paltry passing game that was 1-of-9 for three yards, the Trojans managed just 124 yards of total offense on 44 snaps.

Dyersburg head coach James Counce was not happy with his team's poor offensive performance and costly turnovers. "

Anytime you hold somebody to two field goals, you're doing something right on that side of the ball," he said. "Too many turnovers. That was the difference in the ball game."

Haywood County finished with 144 yards of offense on 43 plays, their longest a jaunt by Terry Grandberry on the game-winning drive.

Dyersburg had six possessions in the first half. Three ended with punts, one was fumbled away, Youmans' kick got the team's only points and the other ended at the halftime horn.

A defensive effort, an interception and determined return run by Patrick Walden, actually set up the Trojans' lone scoring play. After picking off the Tomcat pass near midfield, Walden ran down the home sideline and dragged two would-be tacklers by the tail of his jersey before being hauled down at the Haywood 21.

When the offense stalled, Youmans split the uprights to make it a 3-3 game with 3:42 remaining in the half.

Dyersburg had four chances with the football after the break, including its best opportunity to get into the end zone.

After starting at their own 41, the Trojans got a solid push from the offensive line and good rushing efforts from Xavier Taylor and Justin Click to march into scoring territory.

On second-and-goal from the Tomcat 10, a bobbled exchange stopped their deepest penetration of the night at the 3:17 mark of the third quarter.

Two other efforts ended in punts, including a march to the Haywood County 31 that went backwards and out of scoring range due to a sack. A special teams blunder resulted in another turnover and the final chance ended on downs deep in the DHS end of the field.

"Defensively, I thought we did a good job, outstanding job," Counce added. "We put them in a some bad situations, the offense did, and we left them on the field too long.

"We've got to make some corrections, do whatever we've got to do to get some offensive production."

Taylor finished with 22 carries and 104 of the team's 121 rushing yards. Cory Nunez made the only pass reception of the game for DHS for a gain of three yards.