The Devil Defense rose to the first round of the AA playoffs occasion by pitching a shutout, 56-0, against overmatched, 2-9 overall Pelion from Lexington County Friday at Wilder Stadium.
Clinton’s 42 first half points were more than enough to win, but KJ Vance led the reserves to two 2nd half scores – one on a short run on a drive after Clinton took the kickoff, and another, 76-yard run to post the 56th point.
Once again, time of possession meant next to nothing as Pelion occupied the ball for 31:15, just running between the 20s, and Clinton struck for Vance’s long run, a 73-yard Tushawan Richardson to Devin Swindler pass with 17 seconds to play in the 1st half, a 57-yard DJ Clark run, and a 41-yard Chris Boyd punt return. Clark scored the Red Devils’ 21st point on a short run after Richardson had sprinted 35 yards to set up scoring position.
Swindler’s long pass reception was set up by a Clinton defensive stand that turned the ball over on downs deep in Red Devil territory at the 36 seconds mark of the first half.
Clinton decided not to take a knee and head to the locker room, hitting for the long pass instead.
A more than 1,200 yards on the season runner, Javen Cook’s two short TD runs in the 1st quarter staked Clinton to a lead it would never surrender. The first score came after a Bryson Perrin interception and a Clinton conversion of a 4th and 8 situation to the Pelion 13 yard line.
“Our coaches did a good job preparing our kids,” Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said. “Our kids did a good job rising to the challenge of the first round. Our goal is to go 1-0 each week, and our guys did a good job of that.
“It’s always good to get a shutout, and we were able to sub in guys and keep that shutout. I think that was commendable for our guys, to get the job done. Offensively, it was important to get that last score before the half to get that 42-point lead and let the clock run in the second half.”
Fountain said Senior QB Richardson executed well and “did a great job of managing the whole entire game, whether it was the run, the passing game, extending plays. He took a shot early. I was excited that he was able to bounce back up from that.”
As champion of AA Region 1, Clinton maintains home field advantage throughout the playoffs as long as they keep winning; and Fountain said, “This 2nd round is a huge game for us. No matter who we play we’re going to need everyone out here to support our guys and give us a 12th man atmosphere.”
That “whoever” will be Chester, a 44-23 winner over Strom Thurmond.
With his 3 carries for 98 yards, Vance was the leading rusher for a Red Devil running game that registered 363 yards. Clinton was 4 of 8 passing for 110 yards.
The Devil Defense held a young Pelion team to 127 yards and just 4 of 13 on 3rd down – Pelion had come into the game averaging 12.9 points per game (Clinton’s average is over 40). The Devils had a great chance for a safety at the end of the first half, as Pelion tried to pick up a kickoff at its own 1-yard line. The ball was spotted at the ½-yard line and the Panthers were able to wedge it out with 8 seconds to play and avoid the 2-point loss. Pelion wound up running the ball 34 times to gain 91 yards and completed 8 of 18 passes for just 36 yards.
Interestingly, Clinton was a double football town Friday night – in the big schools’ division, Byrnes beat Lexington, 32-11, at Presbyterian College.
