Dragons dominate Karns to end season with winning record

November 3, 2021 by Dan McWilliams Special to The Courier News

The Clinton Dragons played their best game of the year Friday as they routed Karns 50-7 in the Region 3-5A and regular-season finale.

At 6-4, Clinton clinched its first winning regular season since 2014. It’s 43-point margin of victory was its biggest since a 49-0 win at Campbell County in 1998. The Dragons have scored more than 50 points twice this year, something they have not done since doing so three times in the state-runner-up year of 1992.

Clinton held Karns running back Desean Bishop, one of the nation’s leading rushers, to only 86 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. Bishop did amass 192 all-purpose yards, counting kickoff returns, and had two touchdowns called back because of penalties. He entered the game with 2,607 rushing yards and 26 TDs, averaging 289.7 yards per game.

Dragon senior Connor Moody rushed for 59 yards on six carries with two TDs. Chauncey Felts carried for two TDs and Erreese King for another score for the Dragons. Quarterback Joshuah Keith went 10-for-16 through the air for 234 yards and a touchdown to senior Trace Thackerson. Senior Jeremiah Blauvelt caught five passes for 91 yards for Clinton, and senior teammate Rodayvien Truss added two receptions for 69 yards. Senior Jackson West returned a fumble 40 yards for the Dragons’ final touchdown.

On defense, the Dragons forced six Karns fumbles. Moody led Clinton with nine total tackles, seven solo, including one tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Thackerson added seven total hits, five solo, with a pass breakup. Hunter Ford made five solo tackles and a tackle for loss. Brandon Hollifield, Caleb Cook, and William Taylor made one sack each for the Dragons.

At 2-3 in the region, the Dragons finished tied for fourth place with Campbell County in 3-5A, but did not make the playoffs because of their earlier loss to the Cougars. The Dragons did close the season on a three-game winning streak.

“We peaked too late,” said Dragon head coach Darell Keith. “We brought a lot of coaches in from a lot of different places, a lot of players from a lot of different places, and it took a while for us to jell. We jelled too late.

“I kind of saw it coming together in Lenoir [City], and then I thought maybe that was because Lenoir wasn’t a good opponent, and then we came back and I saw them with Gibbs, and that was a good ball team. Then tonight, it all clicked. We were balanced [against Karns] We played all phases of the game.”

Oak Ridge finished 3-2 in the region but only 3-7 overall, with one of those wins a 22-7 victory at Clinton.

“Man, I wish I could have that Oak Ridge game back again,” Keith said. “You know what? God knows what He’s doing. He made all this possible. It’s not our time yet. Look for bigger and better things next year, I promise you.”

Keith complimented his defensive coordinator, Xavier Mitchell.

“Coach Mitchell did a wonderful job all year long,” Keith said. “He’s a hard worker. I’m so blessed to have him, with his pedigree coming from UT and playing for the Browns. It really paid off tonight. Trusting him was one of the best things I could ever do.”

The last regular-season game for Clinton also signified the last game for Dragon seniors.

“It means the world,” Keith said of his seniors. “Those kids came in and turned things back the way it used to be. They pointed us in the right direction. We couldn’t have done it without Moody. We couldn’t have done it without Thackerson.”

Keith then expounded on Thackerson, a career quarterback who changed positions to benefit the team.

“Let me talk about Thackerson,” Keith said. “Thackerson is a quarterback. He grew up here. He put his personal feelings aside for this team and became what we call ‘slash.’ He was slash quarterback, slash receiver, slash safety, slash punt returner, slash kickoff. I just can’t tell you how much I appreciate him and his family.”

The Dragons began the Karns game by forcing the Beavers to punt. Erreese King tackled Bishop for a 6-yard loss that led to the kick.

Clinton took over at the Karns 47-yard line and needed only two plays to score. Quarterback Keith hit Truss over the middle for 40 yards to the 7-yard line, and a Karns horse-collar penalty on the tackle moved the ball to the 3. Felts ran the ball in for the touchdown, and Ryan Bradley’s extra point gave Clinton a 7-0 lead with 10:20 still remaining in the first quarter.

Bishop had a 54-yard TD on a screen pass called back because of a holding penalty on Karns’ next possession, but the Beaver running back made runs of 20 and 14 yards to move his team closer to the goal line. A 5-yard Bishop run set up first-and-goal at the 3, and Bishop ran the ball into the end zone on the next play. Jace Harvey’s extra point tied the game 7-7 with 6:21 left in the opening period.

Clinton recorded first downs on a run of 10 yards by Keith and on a 29-yard pass to Truss, but the Dragons would turn the ball over on downs on their next series.

For Karns, a 7-yard sack by Cook and a fourth-down fumble by Bishop led to the Dragons taking over at the Karns 47 as the first quarter ended.

A 40-yard Keith pass to Blauvelt set up Clinton with first-and-goal at the 5-yard line, but the Dragons couldn’t score. Karns stopped Keith on fourth-and-goal at the 3 by limiting him to a run of 2 yards.

Clinton forced a Karns punt and had more success on its ensuing drive. Taking over at the Beaver 37, Keith began matters with a 23-yard pass to Braylon Taylor. A Felts run of 7 yard set up first-and-goal at the 4. Moody ran once for 3 yards and again for 1 yard and a touchdown. The extra-point kick was blocked, but Clinton led 13-7 with 4:01 to go in the first half.

Bradley’s line-drive kickoff was fumbled by Karns, and Felts recovered the loose ball on the Beaver 46 for Clinton. Blauvelt caught a 29-yard pass, and Erreese King ran for 12 yards to the Karns 5. Two plays later, King scored on a 6-yard run to give Clinton a 19-7 lead, after a two-point-conversion pass failed.

Bishop returned the Dragons’ kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown, but a block-in-the-back penalty nullified the score and gave Karns the ball at the Dragon 29. Bishop, who frequently took direct snaps on his running plays, was called for intentional grounding on one such play and lost 12 yards.

The Beavers ended the half with a fourth-down incompletion in the end zone as Blauvelt broke up the pass.

Cole Todora recovered the Beavers’ onside-kick attempt to open the second half. Moody then reeled off a 53-yard run to the Karns 2-yard line. Two plays later, Felts ran in a 1-yard touchdown. Moody’s two-point-conversion run gave Clinton a 27-7 lead with 10:18 showing on the third-quarter clock.

Karns went three-and-out and punted on its first drive of the second half, and the Dragons set up shop at their own 39. A 26-yard Keith pass to Felts and a 14-yard toss to Blauvelt gave Clinton a first down at the Karns 25. On the next play, Keith found Thackerson open in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Felts’ two-point run put Clinton up 35-7 with 7:14 left in the third quarter.

Riley Silk tackled a Karns player for a 3-yard loss to help force a punt on the next Beaver drive. Clinton would also punt. On the ensuing Karns possession, Truss tackled Bishop for a 14-yard loss, and on fourth-and-16 at the Dragon 30, Derek Bean broke up a Karns pass to turn the ball over on downs.

Clinton punted again after three plays, with Barrett Maddox hitting a game-best 44-yard boot early in the fourth quarter.

Karns went nowhere on its next possession as Jackson West tripped up Bishop for a 2-yard loss, Hollifield made a 9-yard sack, William Taylor forced a fumble and made a sack for a 2-yard loss, and LeStat Williams tackled punter Harvey for a 7-yard loss on fourth down.

That gave Clinton the ball on the Karns 7, and after a 6-yard King run, Moody ran in his second touchdown from the 1-yard line. Keith’s two-point run gave Clinton a 43-7 lead and started the mercy-rule timing as the margin had reached at least 35 points.

The Dragons showed no mercy as Moody made a tackle on Darius Huckleby, who fumbled at the 40. West came up with the loose ball and returned it for a touchdown for the Dragons. Bradley’s extra point put Clinton at the half-century mark and provided the final margin with 6:31 to go.

With Bishop out of the game, Huckleby’s runs on Karns’ last possession gave the Beavers second-and-goal at the Dragon 5, but Felts stopped Huckleby for no gain as time ran out.

Keith said he was proud of the way his team closed the Karns game.

“I think they’ve matured and learned how to win and learned how to choke people out,” he said. “They put their foot on Karns.

“We had a problem with that early on, and it cost us the Oak Ridge game. I think Gibbs did more to help our program. We had everything in there — we had to come back, we had to fight through adversity, we had to play another tough-nosed football team.

“They played like a football team tonight. They played four complete quarters of football.”

Keith spoke about next year’s preparations for the season.

“You’re going to see us step up in competition in some of our scrimmages,” he said. “We’re going to move up a little bit and test ourselves. he said.

“We’re going to bulk up in the offseason. The offseason is going to be really pivotal and big for us. We need a little bit more depth. I’d love to have two platoons for the offensive and defensive line. That’s one of my goals next year is to only play my bigs one way.”

Keith said he was “incredibly happy and pleased with what happened here tonight and with what happened this year, 6-4. We easily could be 15 points away from being 7-3, 8-2.

“We can’t worry about that,” he said. “We’ve got to drive forward, move forward. You know what I’ve got to say when all else fails? Go Dragons.”