Stars come forward The 2009 Dragons
Beyond Clinton High School: Sept. 30, 2002, the Univer- sity of the Cumberlands inducted Weston Hazelhurst into the Hall of Fame. Some of his accomplishments include two-time All-American, four-time MSC All-Conference, 397 career tackles, 21 sacks, and 63.5 tackles for loss, 2013 Mid-South Conference defensive player of the year and 2010 defensive freshman of the year.
But the last 25 years have also watched as the Clinton High School Dragons fell into the ashes (74-0 loss to Oak Ridge in 2005) to prominence (2008 and 2009 and beyond).
The Dragons are more like a Phoenix.
Matt Hagan, a 2008 Clinton High School graduate, a visual storyteller with WBIR TV in Knoxville, has witnessed the lows and the highs of the last 25 years.
Since 1997 there have been only two Clinton High School squads to post back-to-back winning regular seasons.
Not that the Dragons have had bad teams, players, coaches, whatever … The game changed.
Classifications changed. Competition became harder because Clinton often found itself in the smaller size range of schools in its classifications.
In 1997 the Dragons went 8-2 in the regular season — including a 28-7 win over Oak Ridge and a 14-7 overtime win over Anderson County. After a playoff win against William Blount, the Dragons lost in the second round to Sevier County, 49-7.
In 1998 the Dragons again went 8-2 in the regular season, but lost to Science Hill in two overtimes, 35-28, in the first round of the playoffs.
It wasn’t until 2007, after 4-6, 2-8, 0-9 records, that something started to change.
Andy Shattuck was named head coach. After a couple of slow starts (1-9, 2-8) the Dragons showed what they could become in 2007.
Down 28-0 at halftime on the road at South-Doyle, that Dragon team made a statement.
“I don’t know if it was a coaching thing, if it was a player thing, but Clinton came back out and won 42-37,” Hagan said. “You could see something flip after halftime.
After that they just started running things the way they were supposed to. There was no turmoil on the team.”
The Dragons would end the year at 4-6, but went 3-4 in region play — not enough for a playoff birth that year, but the last game of the season, a 35-34 win at Powell, set the stage for 2008.
Those years (2007-2009) saw the emergence of Darian Stone and Weston Hazelhurst as the leaders of the Dragons.
There had been all-stars at Clinton High School before those seasons. There have been all-stars after.
But those players lit up East Tennessee football in 2008 and 2009.
In 2009, Hazelurst ran for 1,031 yards and 26 touchdowns. Hazelhurst also led the Dragons in tackles in 2009 with 53.
Stone threw for 1,206 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Both would go on to play college football. Stone went to Tennessee Tech and played very well.
Hazelhusrt attended the University of the Cumberlands, where he achieved All-American status and was named to the UC Hall of Fame this year.
Of course the Dragons had a great offensive line in 2009. Elijah Boles, James Stearns, Spencer McClean, Landon Mann, Brian Sissom, Dylan Mitchell (who was also a really good linebacker).
The 2009 Dragons had 15 seniors.
Hagan said the 2009 Dragons — more specifically the 2008 Dragons — remind him a lot of the 2022 Dragons.
“The junior class was the biggest class in 2008. That’s the same for this year’s team,” Hagan said. “There are only 12 seniors on this year’s team.”
The 2008 team was 5-5 in the regular season and went into the playoffs as a lower seed. The Dragons traveled to Rhea County and lost 41-21. But the Dragons beat Oak Ridge, 21-6, and played Anderson County closer than they had in a number of years before falling 34-32.
The 2008 team set the stage for 2009.
With a team full of “hosses,” the Clinton Dragons upped the ante and took on tougher competition. Kingsport Dobyns-Bennet (a 28-20 win), Hardin Valley (a 55-21 win), and a new name for the Dragons in what was considered one of the best high school football teams in North Carolina, T.C. Roberson High School our of Asheville. The Dragons won that game 29-13.
The fall of 2009 was also, perhaps, the wettest fall since such things began being recorded. Every game was wet and rainy — or so it seemed.
Going into week eight of the season, a much talked about and hype filled game at Oak Ridge, there was speculation Hazelhurst was injured and how effective would he be against the Wildcats.
It was a hard fought game. It was a good game to watch. The Dragons won 16-14. Hazelhurst was very effective.
And that set up the 2009 classic between Anderson County High School and Clinton.
There was a lot at stake for Anderson County High as well. Going into the game the Mavs were 7-2. Led by all-star Tanner Williams, the Mavs were a scoring machine that happened to play really good defense.
The teams matched up well.
But on the final regular season game of the 2009 season, Clinton came out with a 35-21 win.
The Dragons coasted past Shelbyville, 35-6, in the first round of the playoffs, to have a second test against Anderson County, 41-14 winners in its first round playoff game against White County.
The second game was — if possible — better than the first game of that season. Anderson County won 31-28.
“That was a great team,” Hagan said. “That team gelled. They played well together. They played as a team.”