ROGERSVILLE — Lauderdale County held Lexington to only 47 yards of total offense and squeaked out a 14-7 win over the Golden Bears in a defensive grudge match.

Lexington (5-5) forced four turnovers to keep Lauderdale County (9-1), the fourth ranked team in Class 3A, on the ropes.

“When we play each other, you can throw records out the window. It’s going to be a war,” Lauderdale County head coach Bob Grisham said.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t move the ball better,” Lexington head coach Jason Lard said. “That’s the best defense we’ve seen all year. Our guys played hard though. I’m proud of their effort. That hold killed us.”

Lexington was flagged for holding with around three minutes left in the game to take away what appeared to be a long completion from Matthew Putman to Brandon Putman which would have given the Golden Bears 1st-and-goal inside the five. The penalty led to a 4th-and-19 from their own 36 and the Golden Bears opted to punt.

Lexington got the ball back after forcing a Tigers punt, but Zack Simbeck broke up a pass on fourth down to ice the win.

Lauderdale County scored on its first offensive possession when quarterback Samuel Grisham found DJ Simmons deep for a 60-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 first quarter lead.

After trading punts for most of the second quarter, the Tigers drove the ball 74 yards in 14 plays before Lexington’s Wesley Shirley recovered a fumble at the 2-yard line with 1:49 to play in the half.

The Golden Bears were forced to punt, one of eight on the night, from deep in their own territory. A couple of plays later, Caleb Vinson intercepted a Grisham pass and ran it back 64 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7 late in the half.

The only other touchdown came on the first possession of the second half when Grisham broke a 51-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead with 10:24 to play in the third quarter.

The Tigers outgained the Golden Bears 253-10 on the ground. Lauderdale County’s defensive end Tyler Smith led team with 11 tackles.

Lexington’s Matthew Putman had an interception, and John Greer added a fumble recovery.

“We have to eliminate those turnovers on offense,” Grisham said. “We have a lot of work to do. We played hard though. Give credit to Lexington.

There was a long injury timeout in the fourth quarter when Lexington linebacker Tristan Clark suffered an apparent head or neck injury. He had movement in all of his extremities by the time he left the field, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.