BUCKINGHAM — Carrie Dudley kept her helmet on, grabbed her bat and rushed toward home plate. With several swings of the bat, she demonstrated how she made contact with the previous pitch that went foul.

Gretna coach Ketina Brooks pled Dudley’s case, showing as much mental anguish as displeasure.

However, the umpire would not overrule his decision that Dudley’s foul ball with two strikes was a bunt attempt and ruled her out, ending the game and the defending state champion’s season.

GRETNA — With a deep breath and a reassuring voice, Kevin Saunders uttered the words that most every Gretna football player wanted to hear:

“We’re running the spread offense.”

And with those five words, it was clear that Saunders was the new football coach for the Hawks.

CHATHAM — In terms of next week’s Region B tournament, Friday’s Dogwood District championship game had no meaning for Chatham and Gretna. Win or lose, the teams already had their opponents locked up before a pitch was thrown. Yet, that hardly seemed like the case once the teams took the field.

Chatham held off a furious Gretna rally for a 16-12 victory, giving the Cavaliers a sweep of the Dog-wood’s regular-season and tournament championships.

ALTAVISTA — Dogwood District Player and Pitcher of the Year Brooke Short pitched a perfect game and struck out 13 as Altavista swept both the district regular season and tournament titles with a 10-0 victory over defending tournament champion Gretna on Friday.

Short was downright dominant after being rocked two Wednesdays ago against the Hawks in both teams’ regular-season finale. Gretna (14-6) got the ball out of the infield once against the southpaw — a first inning fly ball off the bat of Nichole Mills — and put the ball in play another seven times.

NARUNA — For the first three innings, Gretna would collect a couple of hits, put a few runners on, but William Campbell pitcher Amber Marstin would shut the door each and every time.

Before the top of the fourth inning, Gretna coach Ketina Brooks gathered her players around and told them that the hits would start resulting in runs.

And boy, did she ever speak the truth.

GRETNA — Gretna’s offensive explosion from the regular season finale carried over into the Dogwood District tournament as the Hawks scored 13 runs on 10 hits and easily dispatched No. 6-seed Nelson County 13-0 on Monday in the tournament’s first round.

Gretna (13-5) advances to the second round of the Dogwood District tournament and will play at William Campbell on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The second-seeded Generals defeated seventh-seeded Dan River 12-0 on Monday. The Hawks and Generals split the two regular season meetings, winning on the other’s home field.

The Gretna Hawks averaged more than 40 points this season on their way to a 9-1 record and the top seed in the Group A Region B Division 2 state playoffs. But on Friday night, the fourth-seeded Goochland Bulldogs were able to keep the Hawks’ potent offense under wraps — for the first half, anyway.

GRETNA — At most high schools, when the football team qualifies for the state playoffs, words like “excitement” and “anticipation” can usually be used to describe the mood in the classrooms, the hallways and the community.

But at Gretna High this week, there’s been almost a “business as usual” approach, both for the players and for the student body as a whole. After all, the Hawks and their fans are accustomed to playing deep into November, and often into December as well. Since 2003, they are 71-4 overall and have captured three state titles.

NARUNA — Everything was going wrong. Gretna scored two touchdowns in the first three minutes Friday night at William Campbell and added another one before the Generals could catch their collective breath midway through the second quarter.

Scores for Friday night’s football games

NARUNA — William Campbell football coach Brad Bradley has a name for the type of game fans have come to expect whenever the Generals battle Dogwood District rival Gretna, as they will at home tonight at 7. “It’s going to be one of those slobberknockers,” he said.

Gretna sophomore quarterback Nick Miller, the state’s Group A player of the year as a freshman last fall, dislocated his left ankle and fractured his tibia in a scrimmage at Jefferson Forest last Friday night and will be sidelined indefinitely.