Chris Boyd scored offensive and defensive touchdowns, and Javen Cook continued his stellar play running the ball, for an 11.1 yards per carry average, in Clinton’s Thursday night win at Chapman, 49-27.
The game was not that close. Clinton led 42-7 in the 3rd quarter and began substituting so everybody would get a chance to play. Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said that was to show good sportsmanship, but he said Chapman tried to “save face” by using timeouts and on-side kicking after their late touchdowns against the reserve unit.
“To be honest with you, you can get guys hurt,” he said.
Clinton and Chapman used to be region opponents, and they have had some barn-burners in the past. Last season, Chapman spoiled Clinton’s 100th year of football game by winning at Wilder Stadium. The Red Devils considered this pay-back.
Now, Chapman is a AAA team and has lost this season so far to Daniel, Boiling Springs and Clinton. Clinton is a AA team and has lost just once, the opener to Woodruff. This was Clinton’s 3rd consecutive win, against Laurens, Newberry and now Chapman. Clinton plays Daniel, also on the road, next Friday – in a rematch for season-ending, AAA playoffs loss for the Red Devils.
Of the Lions, now in AAAA, Fountain said, “We owe them for the last time we played them.”
With rain falling, Clinton ran the ball 48 times to gain 339 yards – led by Cook’s 156 on 14 carries – and completed 2 of 6 passes for 34 yards. The Red Devils will not be pleased with 14 penalties for 120 yards (home-standing Chapman was flagged 10 times).
Speaking about the short week – the game was moved to Thursday because heavy rain is forecast from a tropical storm this weekend – Fountain said, “We were ready to go. We had our game plan in -- the hay was in the barn. Usually on Thursday it’s just a walk through of the script. Our guys were ready to go; and you could see from the beginning of the game, we actually started faster than them.”
Scoring 35 points in the first half “was huge for us,” Fountain said. “Coach A (Louie Alexander) did a good job calling plays in the first half. We did a good job blocking it up. Our defense shut them down - we gave up that touchdown right before the half, that kind of got in our craw a little bit; but at the end of the game, we’re trying to sub out, get guys in and it was tough because they were calling time-out, they were kicking onside kicks and, to be honest with you, you can get guys hurt. (Eventually) they didn’t have any time-outs, there wasn’t any time for them to come back, so we’re trying to show good sportsmanship and they’re trying to save face, really.”
The Red Devils’ early game performance wasn’t surprising, really, but it was uncommon for early in this season.
However, the surprises really started at the pre-game coin toss.
In honor of the late Kevin Long, a legendary Clinton High – USC Gamecocks – New York Jets standout football player -- Laurens County Athletics Hall of Fame inductee – who passed this week after an illness, Red Devil junior Javen Cook wore Long’s #35 on the field.
He changed into his standard #3 – and took the first play from scrimmage right to the house.
KJ Vance started the game for Clinton with a 55-yard kickoff return. That set up Cook for a 30-yard touchdown run the first time Clinton’s offense touched the ball.
Then, on the first play of the second quarter, Kason Copeland took it in from 14 yards out, after a good Angelo Cromer run. Boyd scored his offensive touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Tushawan Richardson. Copeland scored again from 22 yards out after a Chapman punt.
Boyd scored his defensive touchdown on a scoop and score of a backward pass. Chapman took advantage of Clinton kicking off from its own 12-yard line after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were assessed after Boyd’s touchdown, with a scoring pass with 31 seconds until halftime.
Another Javen Cook touchdown pushed Clinton’s lead to 42-7, but the Red Devils gave Chapman a chance with a mishandled punt attempt. The game was 42-14 with 2:04 left in the third quarter, and Cromer rounded out Clinton’s scoring with 10 minutes left on the game clock. Against the Clinton reserves, Chapman managed scores with about 5 minutes left to play – one on a screen pass and another on a long pass play. After two on-side kicks, Clinton covered another short kick to run out the clock and improve to 3-1 on the season. Daniel is next, followed by Union County for Homecoming.
