Mavericks roll to 49-10 win over Clinton
“Stanton Martin, Stanton Martin, Stanton Martin.”
Those were the words offered by Clinton Head Football Coach Randy McKamey following his Dragons 49-10 loss at the hands of visiting Anderson County on Friday night.
While the junior signal caller was far from the only star of the evening for the Mavericks, he shined brightly in the win.
After Clinton opened with a quick three and out, Anderson County took over on its own 39-yard line. A holding penalty on a short run and then a sack by the Dragons’ Trevon Hill pushed the Mavericks back to their own 28-yard line. Martin then completed a shovel pass to Marquise Gallahar that went for 18 yards. The big junior running back then powered up the middle for nine more and Anderson County picked up 15 more on a personal foul penalty.
Three plays later, Martin found Dalton Wilson on a seven-yard touchdown strike.
Clayton Utley added the extra point and the Mavericks led 7-0 with 7:54 to go in the first quarter.
Clinton opened the ensuing drive from its own 15-yard line. Anderson County’s Russell Lindsay recorded a sack on second down to bring up third and 17 for the Dragons from its own three-yard line. The Dragons went with the rare quick kick but it was shanked and the Mavericks took possession on the Clinton 29-yard line.
After several penalties pushed Anderson County back, Martin completed a 21-yard pass to Michael Carroll. Two plays later the Mavericks faced fourth down and five from the Clinton 13-yard line. Martin completed a pass to junior Ryan Moog who looked to be tackled for a loss or no gain but he broke at least five tackles and picked up 10 yards.
On the next play, Mason Phillips plowed into the end zone from two yards out.
Utley added the PAT and the Anderson County lead grew to 14-0 with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter.
On the next drive, Clinton started from its own 20-yard line. A steady diet of power running from Ro Hardin, Isaiah Washington, and Reagan McKamey moved the ball to the Anderson County 37-yard line, On fourth and two, Phillips closed in and stuffed the Dragons’ running play, giving the Mavericks the ball on their own 38-yard line.
On the first play of the second quarter, Clinton’s Jackson Leinart recovered a fumble to give the Dragons a first down at the 50-yard line.
Seven plays later, quarterback Luke Harrison completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Washington.
Garrett Zody kicked the extra point and the Dragons trailed 14-7 with 8:30 remaining in the half.
On the ensuing kick-off, the Dragons recovered an Anderson County fumble and took possession at the Mavericks’ 12-yard line.
The shift in momentum brought the Clinton faithful back to life. It also brought the standing room only crowd on both sides of the field to their feet.
The Anderson County defense yielded only a couple of yards and the Dragons settled for a 31-yard field goal by Zody.
The kick cut the Mavericks’ lead to 14-10 with 6:19 remaining in the half.
The momentum shift did not last long as the Mavericks answered quickly. They went 80 yards in three plays as Martin ran for 17, completed a 33-yard pass to Chris Powell, and then completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Austin Elliott.
Utley added the PAT and the Mavericks pushed their lead to 21-10 with 5:41 left in the half.
The Dragons returned to the ground game as Isaiah and Cameron Washington chewed up chunks of yards against a very physical Mavericks’ defense. The drive stalled at the Anderson County 45-yard line and the Dragons punted.
Once again, the Mavericks had a quick response as they went 80 yards in three plays again as Wilson capped the drive by hauling in a 41-yard touchdown pass by Martin.
Utley added the extra point and the Mavericks took a 28-10 lead into halftime.
Anderson County opened the second half from its own 12-yard line after a penalty negated a kick return deep into Clinton territory by Austin Dunsmore.
Two plays later, Martin fired an 83-yard bomb to Carroll for a touchdown.
Utley booted the extra point and the Mavericks led 35-10 with 10:55 left in the third quarter.
On their first drive of the half, Clinton drove to the Anderson County 31-yard before the drive stalled and they turned it over on downs.
Three plays later, Martin scored on a 57-yard run and if the knockout punch had not already been delivered, it certainly was at that point.
Utley kicked the PAT and the Anderson County lead swelled to 42-10.
For the remainder of the quarter, both teams traded possessions and field position.
With 6:41 left in the game, Gallahar scored on a 14-yard run and the Utley extra point made it 49-10.
Clinton did not threaten the rest of the way.
“It wasn’t a clean football game. There were penalties all over the place and uncharacteristically, we put the ball on the ground. That kept them [Clinton] in the game a lot longer than they should have been there but the domination was taking place,” said Davey Gillum, head coach of the Mavericks.
“Things weren’t clean. Things were ugly. Some of our great players in those times still found a way to make it happen. That’s the kind of kids we got. They’re great football players. They really paid a price to get ready for this season and they’ve paid a price for three years now. They’ve started since they were freshmen,” he added.
“I can’t say enough about them — just great players making great plays,” Gillum said.
“Stanton Martin is everything as advertised. Our defense is set up not to give up the deep ball and that’s what we did tonight. We can’t get it thrown over our heads. We make people throw underneath us. That killed us tonight. Could we have won? I don’t know but that score should not have been where it’s at,” said McKamey following the game.
Once again, Martin put up video game-like numbers. He was 14-18 for 340 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on eight carries to lead the Mavericks in that category.
Through four games, Martin has 1,246 yards passing for 18 touchdowns. He is also second on the team in rushing with 368 yards on 30 carries.
Gallahar rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown on seven carries while Phillips ran for 56 yards and a score on eight carries.
Carroll led the Mavericks with five receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown. Wilson had two receptions for 48 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Gallahar was nearly unstoppable. He had 12 total tackles — five for a loss — one sack and a forced fumble.
Andrew Hatmaker recorded 11 total tackles including one for a loss while Phillips and Thomas Roberts each had eight total tackles. In addition to his six total tackles — including a sack — Lindsay recovered a fumble.
For the season, the Mavericks are averaging 55 points per games while allowing an average of 15 points per game.
Cameron Washington led Clinton with 78 yards on 13 carries. Isaiah Washington had 76 yards rushing and a touchdown on 13 carries while Hardin finished with 44 hard-fought yards on 11 carries.
Cody Parker had 103 all-purpose yards — mostly on returns. He also had seven total tackles, an interception, and a fumble recovery for the Dragons.
Hill led Clinton with 10 total tackles, including two sacks.
Jackson Leinart recovered two fumbles while Mazon Jinkins recovered one fumble.
The “Battle of the Bridge” trophy will remain at ACHS for another year. Anderson County has won the regular season game 17 of the last 18 years but did get a postseason win over the Dragons in 2009, the last year Clinton won in the rivalry.
The Mavericks move to 4-0 on the season and travel to Chattanooga Howard (1-3) on Friday for a Region game.
The Dragons fall to 2-1 and travel to Powell on Friday for a Region 3-5A showdown with Powell (3-1) and head coach Rodney Ellison, a former Clinton offensive coordinator.
Kick-off for each game is set for 7:30 p.m.
Game Stats
AC CHS
First Downs 18 13
Rushing yds. 224 200
Passing yds. 340 40
Total yds. 564 229
Comp/att/int 14-18-1 5-13-0
Turnovers 5 1
Penalties 15-160 11-120
Time of poss. 12:53 35:07