Kadon Crawford’s 3 touchdowns rushing and 1 touchdown receiving paced a business-like approach by Clinton in dispatching Emerald, 51-13, Friday night on the road.
Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said the back-to-back Region Champion team’s mindset going into the playoffs’ first round is “win your last game.”
Clinton will play host to Palmetto in the first round.
In Emerald, Clinton met a team that last week got its first win of the season, over Union County, and that is enough for the Vikings to secure the 4th and final playoff spot in Region 4. Union County is the odd man out, as Clinton, Chester, Woodruff, and Emerald qualify to be playing on Nov. 3.
Last week, Clinton held Chester to 6 points; this week the Devil D held Emerald to 7 points for most of the game before the home team managed a late score.
By then, Crawford had done the damage – 5 carries for 51 yards and 3 scores, and 2 catches for 96 yards and 1 score. Trey Cook added 8 carries for 33 yards and Zane McLendon contributed 9 carries for 28 yards and 1 score.
Junior Quarterback Tyshawan Richardson continued his steady play, tossing 6 completions in 8 attempts for 157 yards with a long pass of 50 yards.
Clinton’s 45 plays gained 336 yards, while Emerald had 47 plays for 154 yards.
Crawford ran in the first Clinton score, and Zay Johnson came back toward Richardson in the end zone on a scramble for a scoring catch, after a Crawford catch got the Red Devils into striking position.
Emerald hit a scoring pass on the first play of the second quarter.
Clinton answered with a Crawford touchdown and added a safety on a botched Emerald punt that almost was recovered by the Red Devils in the end zone.
DJ Clark hauled in a touchdown pass to push the Clinton lead to 30-7. Then, the Red Devils recovered a fumble and converted it into a Crawford scoring run out of the heavy package (linebackers and linemen as running backs/blockers) close to the goal line with 8 seconds remaining in the first half.
Cruising 37-7, Clinton got Emerald’s best punch starting the second half. A fake punt by Emerald deep in its own territory converted to a first down and a long run started a drive for the homestanding Vikings. But Clinton’s Carson Glenn stuffed that hope with recovery of an Emerald fumble.
On the next play, Richardson hit Crawford on a 46-yard scoring bomb. Zane McLendon’s 1-yard scoring run pushed the Clinton lead to 51-7 as time was running down.
As the AAA playoffs start with Region 4 cross-bracketing with Region 2, Clinton as Region Champion and a #1 seed plays host to Palmetto, a 33-7 loser to Powdersville and falling to a #4 seed in Region 4. Powdersville – which last season ended Clinton’s hopes in the Upper State Championship – earns a trip to Region 4 #2 seed Chester, the #9 ranked team in state AAA.
With its win over Chester, Clinton jumped back into the AAA Top 10 at #8 (SC Prep Football Media Poll). Also in the Upstate, Daniel is #1, Belton-Honea Path is #2, Chapman is #5 and Broome is #7 (Chapman defeated Broome, 38-35, Friday night).
