A defense that “played lights out” is responsible for Clinton High Football’s first back-to-back Region Championship since 2006 – 2007, winning 14-6 Friday night over visiting Chester.
The 7th ranked team in the state in AAA, Chester used 61 plays to gain 334 yards, but most of that was between the 20s. The Cyclones broke off one 80-yard touchdown catch and run-after-catch, but Clinton turned in 3 interceptions and 2 blocked punts that really hurt Chester’s effort.
“I’m really proud of our coaches. I’m really proud of these players and the resolve they had. They just kept pushing forward,” Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said. “It wasn’t our best offensive game but, man, did our defense step up and they played lights out tonight. The best things in life are sometimes the hardest to get to, and we had to work for it tonight.”
Ahead just 7-0 at halftime, Fountain said of the Red Devils, “A lot of things on offense we shot ourselves in the foot, but we just kept playing because the defense was playing lights out. We’ll watch the film, they came out in a front we weren’t used to, all popcorning around; we’ll be ready for that the next time we see them. We got to build on it, watch film, and get better.”
Clinton held a team that averages 34 points a game to just 6 on a perfect fall evening for high school football at Wilder Stadium.
The Red Devils celebrated Senior Night, and Bill Rhodes who has served School District 56 for more than 63 years was awarded The Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor. At age 86, Rhodes serves Clinton High School in the food service and attendance; his service to the SC National Guard began in 1955.
Clinton scored first on a Tyshawan Richardson to Zay Johnson 42-yard pass and run-after-catch. In the second half, Kadon Crawford banged across Clinton’s second touchdown. Trey Cook led the rushing attack with 49 yards on 8 carries, but he also blocked a punt and had a goal line interception. Chris Boyd also registered an interception, and Zay Johnson ended Chester’s final threat with an interception at 21.8 seconds left to play.
Clinton ran the ball for 95 yards and threw for 103 yards. Chester’s 334 yards came on 95 rushing and 239 passing.
There was a lot of yellow linen – Clinton was penalized 16 times for 102 yards and Chester drew 13 penalties for 111 yards.
Clinton, 7-2, has one game left in the regular season, this Friday at Emerald in Greenwood – Emerald defeated Union County, 49-35, on Friday for its first win of the season. Chester’s regular season is done at 8-2 because this coming Friday is their bye week. After Oct. 27, both teams await the Class AAA Upper State Championship brackets.
