Driving Dragons stopped in final seconds
Clinton’s Erreese King (5) and Brandon Hollifield (10) wrap up a Lenoir City runner during Friday’s game at Clinton City Field. (photo:Ken Leinart )
The Panthers’ single-wing offense stymied the Dragons as Lenoir City possessed the ball twice as long as Clinton, spending 32 minutes, 31 seconds, on offense to Clinton’s 15:29.
Dragon head Coach Darell Keith was understandably dejected after the game.
“I just want to apologize to the Clinton people,” he said. “This year, everything that has gone wrong, I take full responsibility for. Evidently, we haven’t prepared enough, haven’t worked hard enough to seal the deal. We haven’t played two quarters of football, four quarters of football yet.
“As far as the game, it was an old-school football game. It was a good strategy by them, a lot of kids playing both ways.”
Clinton came agonizingly close to winning as quarterback Joshuah Keith was stopped on a running play at the 1-yard line with 13.4 seconds left. Dragon fans thought Keith scored, but referees ruled him short of the goal line.
“Through it all, we still had a way we could have won,” Coach Keith said. “I thought we did win. I guess the referee saw something different.”
Lenoir City improved to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the region with the win. Clinton fell to 4-4, 0-4.
“If anybody’s thinking of Lenoir City as a pushover team, they’re not,” Keith said.
“They’ve lost a few games they probably should have won. They’ve got some big ol’ boys on that team.”
The Dragon head coach cited injuries to his team. Lineman Barrett Maddox and running back Chauncey Felts were among the Clinton players missing the game.
Quarterback Keith went 15-for-25 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns for the Dragons.
Lucas Kendall caught four passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns for Clinton.
Jawan Goins led the Dragon rushing game with 15 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. Keith added seven carries for 62 yards.
Lenoir City back Trey Wilhite rushed 24 times for 136 yards, and teammate Chris McCord added 80 yards on 20 carries and a TD.
The Panthers used a fake-punt pass for 35 yards to extend the opening drive of the game. Lineman Leo Gonzalez serves as the Lenoir City kicker, and he booted a 47-yard field goal to give the Panthers an early 3-0 lead after a drive that chewed up 6:14 off the first-quarter clock.
Clinton was forced to punt, and Lenoir went on a seven-play, 66-yard scoring drive that ended with a 6-yard McCord run for a TD. Gonzalez’s point-after kick made it a 10-0 game.
The teams traded punts before Clinton went on a 71-yard, six-play drive helped by two Lenoir City personal-foul penalties.
Elijah Batiste caught a 37-yard Keith toss for one first down, and Kendall capped the drive with a 9-yard TD reception. Jacob Prewitt’s extra point cut the Panther lead to three, at 10-7, with 3:53 left in the first half.
D’mon Marable recovered a Lenoir City fumble on the next drive, but Clinton turned the ball over on downs at the Panther 8-yard line as the half soon ended.
Goins caught a 20-yard pass on the first drive of the second half, but the teams traded punts again. A holding penalty wiped out a 59-yard run by Lenoir City on its first drive of the second half.
A Panther sack on Keith set up a 10-play, 52-yard scoring drive by the visitors. Wilhite caught a 4-yard TD pass from McCord, and Gonzalez’s extra point gave Lenoir City a 17-7 lead with 40.4 seconds left in the third quarter.
Clinton answered with a 71-yard, four-play drive for a score, getting all the yardage on Goins’ runs of 14, 22, 16, and 4 yards for the TD. Prewitt’s kick cut the deficit to 17-14 with 11:39 remaining in the game.
A big turning point came with 8:03 left as the Panthers blocked a Dragon punt and recovered it for a touchdown and a 24-14 lead.
Clinton responded with a four-play, 80-yard TD drive as Keith scrambled for 22 yards, Goins ran for 13, and Kendall caught a 45-yard Keith bomb in the end zone for the score. The extra point failed, making it a 24-20 game with 7:16 left.
Lenoir City turned the ball over on downs at the Dragon 20 before Clinton went on its final drive.
Keith ran for 10 yards, Kendall caught a pass for 11, and Keith ran again for 19. A crackback-block penalty on Clinton hurt the Dragons, but Kendall reeled in a 46-yard Keith pass to the 13-yard line in the final minute of the game.
Clinton spiked the ball to kill the clock before Keith’s final run that came oh-so-close to the end zone.
The play ended in a fumble that Lenoir City recovered, and the Panthers ran out the clock on the next play.
The Dragons have a week off before hosting Gibbs in a non-region game Oct. 21.