Players that Corey Fountain calls a blue-collar team came home Thursday afternoon with Clinton Football’s 9th State Championship, winning 35-6 over Barnwell.
The Devils D did not allow an offensive touchdown. The Warhorses needed 53 plays to gain 155 total yards.
Clinton broke on the scoreboard first with a 77-yard Tushawan Richarson run (Rhett Gilliam 2-pt conversion). Barnwell’s speedster Jordan Peeples countered that on the ensuing kickoff with a 90-yard scoring return.
And this – the first of 6 Championship Weekend games at SC State University – had all the makings of a shoot-out.
From there, Barnwell never scratched the scoreboard again. The AA Lower State Champions completed 15 passes in 35 attempts for 120 yards and 1 interception (Austin Boyd with a 25-yard return).
Barnwell ran the ball 18 times for just 35 net yards – 37 yards were credited to quarterback Cameron Austin.
Head Coach Fountain came to Clinton 6 years ago, after winning 4 consecutive state championships at Lamar. He and his staff have guided the Clinton players to the program’s 9th State Championship, the first since 2009 when Clinton was in Class AAA.
This season, Clinton was re-classified into AA, not because the school’s enrollment dropped, but because in a state growing in population, other schools’ enrollments have grown. Clinton is set next season for another title run because, although the team loses 21 seniors, it has 18 juniors ready to move up into leadership roles.
Fountain said, “I came here 6 years ago, and they worked their butts off. We weren’t very talented. We went 4-7, then 3-3 (covid year), and they were so close. We focused on the inside out this off season. Working on our character, working on developing integrity and toughness, the mental toughness, and it has paid off.”
He said lifting a championship trophy means “everything, because you talk about working hard – if you work hard, one day you will get this; if you work hard, one day you’ll win a championship -- and you come so close, and it’s been heartbreaking the last 3 -4 years. But we were able to do it tonight, and we got to write that last page and that last chapter with our seniors.”
After the teams exchanged touchdowns, DJ Clark broke free for a 27-yard scoring run; after the 1st quarter ended, Rhett Gilliam added a 5-yard scoring run. Clinton had a close chance as the 2nd quarter ended, when the defense snuffed out a fake punt and Barnwell was flagged for a personal foul. The Red Devils moved to the Barnwell 1 before there was a bad snap on 3rd down and an unsuccessful run on 4th down.
Devin Swindler caught both of Richardson’s pass completions, in six attempts, and one went for a 29-yard score in the 3rd quarter.
The Clinton defense stopped a Barnwell drive on 4th and 1 at the Red Devil 38. A 58-yard Javen Cook TD was taken off the board by a holding penalty, and Barnwell got the ball back. But Austin Boyd’s interception with 8:24 left to play led to Gilliam’s second score, an 8-yard run, with 6:49 on the game clock. The defense had one more 4th down hold before Clinton secured the championship.
The Red Devil offense mowed through the Warhorses’ defense for 311 yards rushing on 55 carries. Richardson led the way with 95 yards, followed by Cook’s 84, with 59 rough running yards by Gilliam, and Clark’s 37 yards.
On behalf of the team, Fountain accepted a ceremonial game ball, and after the trophy presentation to CHS Principal Dr. Martha Brothers, also accepted the Championship Trophy from her. He held it high for the Red Devils to see, and gather around.
Finishing at 12-2, this Clinton team has not lost since a Sept. 20, 37-12 defeat at AAAA Daniel.
Barnwell was on a 10-game winning streak, after having fallen Sept. 13 by 5 points to South Aiken.
Fountain reflected on what this means for the community. “You know it’s been hard. The hurricane, it was brutal, almost like starting the season over. We had a big fire in town that burned some of our best restaurants. It’s been hard on our community. They rally around football. They rally around our players, and you see it tonight; they filled this stadium up and that’s what it’s all about. It's for the players. That’s what it’s all about.”
Key to this title win, Fountain said was “our offensive line, it’s has been our key; it’s a group of guys who’ve been together the last 3 years. And, the offensive line, we tell them, ‘it happens in the trenches, it happens on the offensive line trenches and the defensive line trenches’ and that starts in the weight room.”
Coming to a community with football success expectations, Fountain said, “I came here from Lamar (played for 4 state championships and won 2) and we were used to winning, and we (Clinton) went 4-7, and it was a struggle going 4-7 – 4-7 is hard. It’s hard to win. You don’t realize that until you rebuild a program, and it’s not just … our whole coaching staff bought into it. This coaching staff has been together 5 years, and they bought into the work and the preparation, and they sold it to the kids and the kids believed in it. The guys who came beforehand, they came so close and worked really hard. I’m just so proud of them. I’m proud of our coaches. It’s a collective effort. The community and them.
“It’s a blue-collar town. We’ve got blue- collar kids that believe in bringing their hard hat, their sledgehammer like they did today. We’re going to dance when we get into the locker room. We’re going to have a good time; and you know what we’re going to do, like Dan Campbell (Detroit Lions) says, we’re going to turn the page. We’ll give them next week off; and when January rolls around, it’s turn the page.”
