Clinton Football’s second consecutive home game was an all-time thriller – Zy Butler scored the Red Devils’ TD on the first possession of overtime, and Chapman ran the ball twice and failed on 2 passes, as the home standing Red Devils took a 40-34 non-region win Friday night.
Clinton improves to 2-2. Chapman falls to 0-4.
“A lot of credit goes to Chapman,” Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said. “They are a good football team, though their record doesn’t show it. They’ve played teams like Daniel and so forth and Boiling Springs. Our guys were resilient all night long. I told them at halftime everybody’s waiting to see what this team is made of. Are you going to pull together; are you going to separate, tuck your tails, and give in and give up. But our guys didn’t give in and give up. We just have to keep moving forward. We pulled together as a team, and I’m really proud of our coaches and our players right now.”
Javen Cook led the Clinton offense with 20 carries for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns. Owen Glenn was 3 for 12 passing for 98 yards and ran a 70-yard touchdown. Clinton’s 50 plays went for 477 yards, but Red Devils possessed the ball for just over 18 minutes in the game. Clinton surrendered 245 yards on 46 rushing plays and 13 of 19 through the air for 162 yards.
Clinton bounced back from a 41-12 loss last week to visiting Newberry. Daniel invades Wilder Stadium this coming Friday as the Devils will wrap up a 3-game home stand.
Chapman forced overtime by intercepting a Glenn pass at their own 24-yard line with 11 seconds to play. That came after Clinton’s PJ McGowan’s catch got the Red Devils in a position to win in regulation. However, Clinton punted with 1:41 to play and Chapman took the ball on their own 36 before a penalty and a pass completion to the Clinton 7 led to the tying touchdown with 53 seconds to play.
Chapman had narrowed the Clinton lead to 34-27 by scoring a touchdown at the 7:30 mark.
A McGowan 69-yard pass completion for a score made it 34-21 Clinton, after Chapman scored with 11 minutes left to play (making the score 28-21 Clinton).
For Clinton, Cook scored a touchdown with 1:42 left to play in the 3rd quarter. Cook scored Clinton’s first touchdown on a 50-yard run and added his second of three touchdowns in the 2nd quarter. But Chapman would not go away, scoring with 32 seconds left before halftime.
Clinton’s signal-caller, Owen Glenn, scored his 70-yard touchdown run to break a tie in the 2nd quarter, then booted a 51-yard punt that had pinned Chapman at their own 1-yard line mid-way through the 2nd quarter.
Fountain said, “I told them you’re going to find out what you’re made of as this game kept going to the wire. At first, they wanted to be a little down because we were going to overtime, but I told them this is a great moment for us. This is a teachable moment. It’s a chance to play more football and win this game, and that’s what they did, they won this game tonight.”
For the game, Cook registered 237 all-purpose yards for Clinton, Chapman’s Jasiah Copeland ran the ball 24 times for 161 yards and 3 touchdowns. Panthers’ QB Bryson Cothran hit on 13 of 19 passes for 162 yards and 1 touchdown.
Clinton’s PJ McGowan’s 2 catches went for 85 yards and a 69-yard touchdown.
Clinton outran Chapman, 379 yards to 245; but the Panthers topped the passing column, 162 to 98.
This Friday’s Daniel game will be the Red Devils third home contest in a row, and after that Clinton travels to Union County. “It doesn’t get any easier,” Fountain said. “Daniel’s a really good football team, they beat this team a lot to a little, and we’ve got to get better in certain areas, We’re going to continue to work, watch film, and make improvements.”
