Dragons blow past Hurricanes in pre-season event
The Clinton Dragons football team continued its strong offensive momentum in the preseason with a 13-7 win over Morristown East on Thursday in the annual 5Star Preps Jamboree at Carson-Newman University.
Clinton racked up 318 yards in a three-quarter scrimmage the previous Thursday at Christian Academy of Knoxville, with quarterback Jaylon Benjamin throwing for 213 yards and a touchdown.
Receiver Bryson Maddox hauled in seven catches for 208 yards, including an 87-yard TD, against CAK.
Benjamin and Maddox connected again at Carson-Newman, this time for a 70-yard touchdown. Will’Quis Young caught a 55-yard touchdown toss from Benjamin earlier in the contest.
The Dragons’ starting QB finished the jamboree with 134 yards and two scores on 3-for-4 passing.
The jamboree games were two-quarter affairs, with varsity players taking the field in the first period, which was played with the standard 12 minutes on the clock and normal stoppages.
Junior-varsity players competed in the second period of each game, with a 15-minute clock that ran nonstop.
Clinton’s battle with the Hurricanes capped off the four-game jamboree.
At halftime, the period between games two and three, a number of skills contests were held.
The Dragons’ Blane Collins won the punting contest with a 52-yard boot. Lucas Butz of Clinton took first place in a 50-yard dash for linemen.
The Dragons got the ball first against Morristown East, with jamboree possessions starting on the 30-yard line.
They wasted little time as Aalijah Davidson ran twice for six yards, with Young catching a pass in between for nine yards and a first down. On the fourth play, a second-and-nine snap from his own 45, Benjamin found a wide-open Young running free at the Hurricane 25 and connected with him.
Young completed the 55-yard touchdown play.
Emanuel Ortiz kicked the extra point, and the Dragons had a quick 7-0 lead with 10:13 still on the clock.
Morristown East recorded two first downs in its opening possession, with a hit by Dragon defensive back Tre Hall breaking up one pass. After reaching the Clinton 36, a personal foul backed up the Hurricanes past the midfield stripe and led to a punt.
Davidson made four runs for 12 total yards and one first down on the Dragons’ next series, but Clinton turned the ball over on downs.
Morristown East took over and ran the ball for eight and 11 yards before quarterback Caleb Billings hit Austin Brannan on a 36-yard touchdown pass. Alfrado Hernandez’s extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 2 minutes on the clock.
The Dragons immediately took the lead on their next play as Benjamin found a wide-open Maddox over the middle at the Hurricane 35 for a 70-yard TD pass. The extra point was wide right, but Clinton led 13-7 with 1:45 remaining.
Morristown East managed one first down on its final drive of the varsity quarter, but stalled out on its own 48. Ryker Armes hurried Billings into an incompletion, with Maddox breaking up the pass against Brannan in the front-right corner of the end zone. Braylen Hayden broke up a Billings pass on fourth down to turn the ball over to the Dragons with 22.2 seconds left.
Neither team scored in the second period as backup players took over. Dragon quarterback Easton Gilliam went 1-for-4 with a 23-yard completion to Konner Baylis.
Camryn McCaffrey tackled Hurricane receiver Joseph Gamble for a seven-yard loss on a series that the Dragons ended with a turnover on downs.
Raymond Gray ran for eight yards before Gilliam and Baylis hooked up for a first down on the next possession, but Clinton would also turn the ball over on downs with 2:02 remaining.
The defensive highlight of the second quarter for the Dragons occurred on the final play as Baylis stripped receiver Breaden Johnson of the ball, and teammate Brendan Hayden recovered the ball for Clinton as time ran out.
The jamboree opened with Concord Christian blanking Jellico 14-0. Knoxville Catholic followed with a 20-0 win over CAK. Greeneville outscored Campbell County 20-7 in the third contest.
The Dragons open regular-season play with a non-region game this Friday at Cleveland.