The Clinton Red Devils did not need time of possession.
In a Friday road win that clinched the championship of Region 1, AA, 42-22 over the Liberty Red Devils, Clinton put its quick-strike offense and special teams on full display.
After a Javen Cook score, Clinton senior quarterback Tushawan Richardson ran 58 yards and set up Cook for an 18-yard scoring run.
In the 2nd quarter, Cook zoomed 57 yards for a TD, and PAT holder Mayson Tinsley converted a bad snap into a 2-point score.
Then, right after halftime, KJ Vance rumbled 59 yards for a Clinton score.
After a Liberty score, Cook answered with a 70-yard kickoff return. Richardson broke free and ran over a would-be tackler at the goal line to find paydirt again.
Liberty scored with 1:05 left in the 3rd quarter to keep the margin at two scores (16 points). But Devin Swindler took a pass reception 65 yards to the house to put up the Clinton Red Devils’ 42nd point.
Clinton wins the region at 4-0.
Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said the championship is “awesome for our guys, awesome for our coaches.”
He commended the coaches for “preparing these guys to come out and execute a game plan. Happy for our fans, though we’ve got a lot more goals for us in the playoffs.”
He said, “Liberty is a really disciplined team. They come off the ball up front on the offensive and defensive lines. They really did a good job of slowing the game down in the first half … they were eating up clock, they were controlling the ball, and they put scores on the board. A really good job.”
For his team, Fountain said it was a “great job by our offense all night long, executing, continuing to execute. They moved the ball down the field whether it was a run or a pass. I thought Tushawan operated really well, even though we had a bye week last week. … I can’t say enough about the offensive line. They did a great job blocking. We’ve just got to build on that.”
Clinton had two runners with more than 100 yards – Cook, 7 rushes for 114 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Richardson, 4 runs for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns. The winning Red Devils ran the ball 26 times to gain 325 yards.
With a huge margin in time of possession with its ball-control mentality, Liberty ran it for 190 yards and threw it for 120 yards.
Clinton will want to clean up its penalties – 17 for 131 yards.
This Clinton-Liberty matchup was supposed to be the first region game Oct. 4, but that was upended by Hurricane Helene’s arrival on Sept. 27.
Now, in this hurricane-extended season, Clinton comes home.
In a previously made decision by the SC High School League, the Region 1 champion gets home field advantage through the playoffs, as long as they are winning. Clinton’s #1 seed from its region should match it against the #5 seed from Region 2, Pelion. That is expected to be the matchup Nov. 15 at Wilder Stadium, as the playoffs begin.
