If someone could have foretold that UMS-Wright would get outgained nearly three to one and get punctured like a leaky bucket the first time its defense was on the field Friday night, many people would have thought the Bulldogs would be packing up their equipment until the spring.

Instead, they packed up No. 3-ranked Central Clay County and headed back to Mobile to prepare for the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

In a rare postseason appearance as an unranked underdog, UMS-Wright undercut the undefeated Vols, took advantage of a fumble in the second quarter for William Taylor’s 1-yard touchdown run, then kept Central Clay from mustering any other serious scoring threats in a 7-0 upset in Lineville.

In the historic first matchup of the two winningest coaches in state history, Terry Curtis once again won a close game and beat Danny Horn at his own game, forcing two turnovers, avoiding big mistakes and playing patient football while steadily ratcheting up the pressure on the Vols.

“This one ranks right up there,” said Curtis, the state’s winningest all-time coach at 355-97.

A few weeks ago, it seemed the Bulldogs might miss the playoffs for the first time in Curtis’ 25-year career at UMS-Wright. Now they’ll host Headland (10-2) in the second round.

“The pressure was on them to try to get to the playoffs,” Curtis said. “They didn’t want to be the team that broke the streak. I couldn’t be more proud of a bunch of kids.”

The victory showed again Curtis’ greatness in close games and in the rare cases when his teams are the underdog. In his career, he is 58-40 in one score games, 13-5 against undefeated teams in the playoffs and 20-13 against higher-ranked or higher-seeded teams in the postseason.

“You always feel you have the advantage when you have coach Curtis,” said Bulldogs sophomore linebacker Perry Hand, who caused the fumble which led to the only touchdown. “We definitely didn’t want to lose. We’re ready to roll now.”

Central Clay, which finished 10-1, outgained UMS-Wright 206 yards to 69, held the Bulldogs to three first downs and lost.

“The best team won tonight,” said Horn, who is 351-97. “We got outcoached, outplayed and out-everythinged. We couldn’t get it going.”

This post will be updated