Friday, the Clinton Dragons hosted top-ranked and unbetaen West on Senior Night.
The winless Dragons started out strong, forcing a three-and-out on the Rebels’ first possession, and turned that into a 22-yard Nik Cronin field goal that gave CHS a 3-0 lead with 5:27 to play in the first quarter. From there on, though, it was all West as they looked every bit the #1 team in Class 5A on their way to scoring 42 unanswered points.
West QB Baker Dance threw five touchdowns to five different receivers, while Darrion Woodruff turned a few heads for Clinton when he got a chance to run the football late in the game, picking up 81 yards on 12 carries.
West outgained CHS, 370-237, on the night, as they improved to 7-0 heading into a showdown on Thursday against #2 Powell, a game that will likely determine who the regular season champs will be in Region 3-5A.
Box score provided by Dan McWilliams
West 7-21-7-7—42
Clinton 3- 0-0-0— 3
Scoring
Clinton—FG Nikoli Cronin 22, 5:27, 1st
West—Altin Perry 47 pass from Baker Dance (Tyson Siebe kick), 4:07, 1st
West—Elijah Rogers 24 pass from Dance (Siebe kick), 11:51, 2nd
West—John Stokes 34 pass from Dance (Siebe kick), 10:25, 2nd
West—Jack Eggleston 26 pass from Dance (Siebe kick), 0:31.8, 2nd
West—Armoni Hicks 48 pass from Dance (Siebe kick), 8:00, 3rd
West—Brayden Latham 5 run (Siebe kick), 9:58, 4th
Team stats
First downs: Clinton 11, West 14
Rushes-yards: Clinton 34-113, West 25-166
Passing yards: Clinton 124, West 204
Comp.-Att.-Int: Clinton 9-26-1, West 10-18-0
Total plays-yards: Clinton 60-237, West 43-370
Punts-avg: Clinton 5-20.4, West 2-36.5
Return yardage: Clinton 115, West 3
Sacked-yards lost: Clinton 3-18, West 1-12
Penalties-yards: Clinton 7-49, West 9-90
Fumbles-lost: Clinton 0-0, West 1-0
Time of possession: Clinton 32:51, West 15:09
Time of game: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Individual stats
Rushes – yards...Clinton: Darrion Woodruff 12-81, Reese King 6-11, Connor Moody 5-10, Joshuah Keith 10-10, Brandon Holifield 1-1; West: Jai Hundley 8-66, Latham 6-51 (TD), Tre’von Barfield 6-46, Dance 3-3, Anderson Smith 1-1, Perry 1-minus 1
Passing (Completions-Attempts-Interceptions – yards)…Clinton: Keith 9-26-1 124; West: Dance 10-18-0 204 (5 TDs)
Receptions – yards...Clinton: Andy King 3-26, Jeremiah Blauvelt 2-58, Nate Murphy 2-32, Kendall Lucus 1-9, Keith 1-minus 1; West: Rogers 4-35 (TD), Stokes 2-40 (TD), Hicks 1-48 (TD), Perry 1-47 (TD), Eggleston 1-26 (TD), Drew Whitehorn 1-8
Punting – total yards – average…Clinton: Cameron Evans 4-86-21.5, Cronin 1-16-16.0; West: Whitehorn 2-73-36.5
Kickoff returns – yards…Clinton: A. King 4-81, Elie Deshomme 1-16, Lucus 1-14; West: Hundley 1-3
Punt returns – yards…Clinton: A. King 1-4; West: none
Interceptions – yards returned…Clinton: none; West: Cooper Shymlock 1-0
Fumble recoveries…(none for either team)
Sacks – yards…Clinton: Trent Herrell 1-12; West: Franklin Smith 2-15, R.J. Collins 1-3
WEEK 7 SCORES
West 42 Clinton 3…
Anderson County 47 East Ridge 6…
Oliver Springs 37 Harriman 18…
Oak Ridge 56 Karns 14…
Powell 48 Campbell County 13…
Jellico 30 Hancock County 6…
Coalfield 44 Midway 28…
Maryville 35 Fulton 0…
Cumberland Gap 22 Wartburg 20…
Rockwood 21 Oneida 14…
Sunbright 32 Oakdale 30.
WEEK 8 SCHEDULE
(Thursday) Powell at West…
Maryville at Bradley Central…
(Friday) Clinton at Fulton (WYSH & WQLA)…
Sunbright at Oliver Springs…
Cumberland County at Rockwood…
Kingston at Scott…
Jellico at Wartburg…
Midway at Harriman…
Coalfield at Greenback.