Clinton’s punishing ground game churned out 327 yards, as the Red Devils handed their head coach, Corey Fountain, his 100th career win, 35-8, over visiting Laurens Friday night.
The Raiders had to sub in sophomore Jace Campbell for the injured senior Will Thompson at quarterback. Clinton made that sub too, sophomore Owen Glenn for senior Tushawan Richardson but for a different reason – Clinton had a comfortable 4th quarter lead and pretty much everybody saw game action.
The Red Devils 327 yards came on 58 carries, and an additional 82 yards came on 4 of 8 passing. Laurens ran for 163 yards and completed 1 of 4 passes for 8 yards. Javen Cook was the workhorse for Clinton with 15 carries for 89 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Angelo Cromer got the Red Devils going with a 28-yard gain to the Laurens 16, before Cook took it into the end zone.
Nehemiah Fernandez, junior running back, gave the visitors something to cheer with a touchdown run, and the Raiders added the 2-point conversion. Clinton pushed the ball to the Laurens 26 – aided by a late hit of the quarterback out of bounds and a personal foul – before turning it over on a fumble.
The Raiders were driving before losing a fumble at the Clinton 22. The Red Devils regained the lead with a Rhett Gilliam touchdown. Clinton had another chance to score but a Richardson pass on 4th and 3 was batted down by the Raiders’ secondary.
Clinton’s KJ Vance stopped another Laurens scoring threat with a fumble recovery, and that led to another Javen Cook touchdown. The Red Devils took a 21-8 lead into halftime, and Laurens was to get the ball back to start the second half.
The Raiders put together a drive that was stymied by a good open field tackle by Clinton’s Jaydon Glenn, forcing a punt. The Clinton drive ended with a Devin Swindler touchdown catch. Another Clinton score was called back by a hold, before Angelo Cromer went for 22 yards to the Laurens 12, and Cook scored on the first play of the 4th quarter.
Laurens got new life on a roughing the punter penalty; but, after a first down, the Raiders lost a fumble. That’s when Clinton emptied its bench and coasted to the 35-8 win. Now 1-1 on the season, Clinton travels to Newberry, as 0-2 Laurens continues non-region play at Belton-Honea Path – the pre-season #1 team in the state in AAA and now 2-0 with wins over Broome and Greer.
Clinton was pre-season #2 in the state in AAA, dropping to #4 with its season-opening loss to Woodruff.
Laurens next has a two-game away schedule, in addition to at BHP playing at AC Flora. Clinton (in AA) starts a three-game away slate, in addition to at Newberry playing at Chapman (pre-season #5 in AAA) and at Daniel (pre-season #3 in AAAA).
