Dragons hang on to defeat Highlanders
The Clinton Dragons used last-minute heroics to end an eight-game losing streak last Friday as they held on to defeat the Scott Highlanders 16-8 in opening night football action at Huntsville.
With the ball sitting on the Clinton one-yard line and the Dragons up by eight, Scott tried to carry the ball across the goal line before fumbling. The Dragons’ Cody Parker pounced on the ball. Clinton only had to run one more play from it 20 before time expired.
“With the way this game was going, we didn’t want to go into overtime,” Clinton Coach Randy McKamey said. “Cody got hit in the eye, but he’s okay. That was a great play by our defense.”
Indeed, the Clinton defense made a number of key plays throughout the game to stop Scott drives even though the Highlanders outgained the Dragons in total yards 220-209. Eli Deshomme and Ty Herrell stopped Highlander drives with interceptions. Scott accounted for 151 yards of offense through the air with 69 on the ground.
Clinton ended the game credited with four turnovers, including three during the first half as the Dragons led 8-0 at halftime.
Clinton scored on its second possession with a 62-yard drive culminating in Blake Cooper’s two-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Luke Harrison then ran the ball in for two points.
The start of the second half was delayed 15 minutes beyond halftime as crews replaced a transformer which failed late in the first quarter even though there was plenty of light at that point to continue.
The Highlanders started the second half marching on a drive 75 yards before ending on a two-yard TD run. Scott was successful on a two-point conversion run to even the score at 8-8.
Clinton went 76 yards on the next possession before scoring what would be the winning points. The Dragons amassed nine plays before Andrew Shoopman ran the ball in from the four-yard line. Harrison then connected with Parker on a pass for the conversion to put the Dragons up 16-8.
Scott got one more possession late after a sack forced the Dragons to punt with a little more than a minute to play. The Highlanders got the ball to the 1 with time running out before the Dragons’ valiant defensive effort concluded by Parker’s fumble recovery in the end zone closed the door on the host team.
McKamey said he was glad to win, but was disappointed with a number of mistakes the Dragons committed.
“Our job this week is to fix these mistakes,” McKamey said. “We moved the ball well, but we could have gotten the best of them more — especially in the first half. We should have been up 21-0 at halftime instead of just 8-0.”
McKamey praised the defensive effort, especially on the goal-line play, which saved the game.
“Our defense applied a lot of pressure, which is what our strategy was coming in,” McKamey said. “Our kids bought into that strategy.”
Of the 209 yards total offense for the Dragons, 143 yards were on the ground while Harrison completed four of nine passes for 66 yards and interception.
Josh Breeden topped the Dragon rushers with 53 yards on 12 carries. Shoopman ran 47 yards on nine rushes, including his TD. Cooper carried five times for 33 yards, including his score.
The Dragons visit Seymour in a special Saturday game with the kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.
Game Stats
CHS Scott
First Downs 14 11
Rush yds. 143 69
Pass yds. 66 151
Total yds. 209 220
Comp/att/int 4-9-1 14-23-2
Turnovers 2 4
Penalties 4-37 3-24
Time of poss. 30:01 17:59
