Dragons have a penchant for scoring big
Team 100 of the Clinton High School Football Dragons has a penchant for putting up big numbers.
The Dragons have put up “half-a-hundred” twice this season. Cherokee High gave up 54 points Sept. 9, and Gibbs High School gave up 53 points to Dragons Oct. 21.
But the Dragons have a history of high-scoring games.
Just last year, the Dragons beat Karns in a shocking manor, 50-7. It wasn’t shocking the Dragons won, but it was the score that stunned the East Tennessee high school football world.
In 2015, the Dragons traveled to Heritage High School and brought home a 75-43 win.
As far back as 1946, the Dragons have been breaking the half-century mark. In that year, the Dragons hosted Jacksboro and shut out the visitors 60-0.
In 1959, the Mark Caldwell-led Dragons hosted Jellico High School and won — surprisingly, some said at the time — against a Blue Devil squad that had beaten a LaFollete Owl squad two weeks prior.
That was the same LaFollette Owl team that took a one-score win over the Dragons earlier in the year.
Caldwell scored two touchdowns and kicked five extra points in that win.
The Dragons weren’t perfect, but they were pretty impressive.
The Orange and Black fumbled four times in that game, though only lost one.
Coach Jody Fisher’s team also owned the ground game. Clinton rushed for 163 yards in the first three quarters, and the “Baby Dragons” rushed for another 139 yards in the fourth quarter.
Jellico rushed for seven yards before the JV squads took over.
Along with Caldwell, Roger Ridenour (three touchdowns), David Price (two touchdowns), and Warren Stephenson (two touchdowns) were the studs for the Dragons.
It is worth noting that the lone Jellico touchdown was scored by a young Don Lockard.
In 1970, the Dragons played Erwin High School in the season finale, and the Blue Devils did not have a good outing.
The Dragons recovered eight fumbles, recorded three interceptions, and won 69-0. The most-exciting aspect of the game may have been University of Tennessee football Coach Bill Battle sitting in the stands, scouting.
“Coach Honea” apologized for the score. “I didn’t mean to run up the score … It just happened,” he said at the time.
Well, with all those turnovers …
Ken Daniels and Jimmy Young recovered two of those fumbles and were noted for their defensive play that night.
Junior David C. Fritts had a 60-yard punt return for a score and also hauled in a 29-yard pass for a TD.
“It was, without a doubt, Billy Bolling’s best game in his career as a quarterback. Bolling completed 10 out of 14 passes for 202 yards. Three of his passes were good for touchdowns,” The Courier News noted in its story about the game.
It was also announced that same week that Fritts had been named third team in the Knoxville News Sentinel All East Tennessee Football Team.
Another Dragon, lineman Gary Watson, missed first team status by two votes.
Two times Campbell County High School has been on the wrong side of a 50-plus-point Dragon outburst.
In 1986, Coach Ron Brown’s Dragons beat the Cougars 61-20.
With Cecil Scarbrough behind center, the Dragons saw eight rushers score. Brian Wilson, Toby Willis, John Wilcox, Jim Longest, Ray Duncan, Luke Shattuck, Scott Evans, and George Clark all recorded rushing touchdowns.
In what was an odd turn of events, it was reported that an Oak Ridge victory over Karns the previous week put the Dragons in the TSSAA playoffs.
The Dragons beat Carter in the first round of the playoffs that year, but lost to Jefferson County, 35-0, in the second round.
In 1991. the Dragons again put up 60 points on their neighbors from the north.
Coach Jim Gaylor’s team simply dominated with 593 yards in total offense — 385 of those on the ground.
Campbell County, meanwhile, struggled. The Cougars ran 25 plays in the first half and had 77 yards to show for it.
Darin Scarbrough was brilliant in the win with 208 yards passing, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Scotty Whitt — who would power the Dragons to the state finals in 1992— had two touchdown runs of 50-plus yards.
But it was fullback Cliff Daniels who started the scoring with a 39 yard run.
The longest score was a 74-yard pass from Scarbrough to Jason Watson. One of the more interesting scores (if only because of the nickname in a game played in October), was a four-yard pass from Scarbrough to Craig “Spider” Webb.
With that win, the Dragons remained perfect at home.
“We like to play at home in front of the hometown folks,” Dragon Head Coach Jimmy Gaylor said.
“It’s very important for us to be 4-0 at home this season.”
