WYSH AM 1380 Anderson County's Classic Hit Country!
Playing in front of a primetime television audience on Thursday night, the Clinton Dragons and Campbell County Cougars put on a show that will not soon be forgotten. In the end, though, the Cougars made one more big play then the Dragons did in a game that was full of them, and prevailed in overtime, 54-48, dealing a serious blow to Clinton’s playoff hopes.
For the third time in as many Region games, Clinton fell behind by two scores early, surrendering an 89-yard touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff and then a 73-yard scoring strike on a halfback pass, and found themselves behind 14-0 with 6:23 to play in the first quarter. Both times, the scorer was Peyton Ferguson, a speedy senior. Clinton answered with 2:06 to play in the period on a 1-yard touchdown run by Chauncey Felts. Jacob Prewitt’s extra point attempt went wide left, and Clinton trailed 14-6.
The Cougars extended their lead in the second quarter on a Will Lester 1-yard touchdown run and a 20-yard pass from Landon Hensley to Mason Shanks to go up 27-6, the largest deficit Clinton has faced this season. The Dragons, though, as they have done in their previous Region games, answered, as Felts scored his second rushing touchdown of the game from 3 yards out with 31.6 seconds left in the half and the Cougars took a 27-14 lead into the locker room.
Clinton received the opening kickoff and methodically drove down the field, taking over six minutes off the clock and wearing down Campbell County with a punishing ground game. The drive was capped by a Joshuah Keith 1-yard touchdown plunge, followed by Braylon Taylor’s third catch for a two-point conversion this season to close to within 5 points at 27-22. Clinton’s defense forced a turnover on downs near midfield and promptly turned that into Felts’s third touchdown of the game, this one from 20 yards out. The two-point conversion was no good, but the Dragons claimed their first lead of the night at 28-27 with 2:08 to play in the third.
The fourth quarter will go down in history as an absolute thriller, with each team striking for big play after big play. Ferguson caught his second touchdown pass of the night from 26 yards out to make the score 35-28 after a successful two-point try with 10:29 to play. Clinton responded again, this time getting a 54-yard touchdown romp from Jawan Goins and a two-point conversion to go up, 36-35 with 9:04 to play. 35 seconds later, the Cougars struck again on a 48-yard pass from Hensley to Devon Jones, reclaiming the lead at 41-36.
Late in the fourth quarter, Keith hooked up with Wesley Phillips for a 70-yard score that, following a missed two-point attempt, gave CHS a 42-41 lead with 2:53 to play in regulation. The Dragon defense gave up a big pass play that set the Cougars up at around the Clinton 20-yard line, and Campbell County took advantage as Lester scored his second touchdown of the night. The extra point attempt was good, and the score was 48-42 with 1:16 to play. Clinton drove the ball down the field and paid it off with a clutch 1-yard touchdown on a Keith quarterback sneak. However, confusion on the extra point attempt would doom the Dragons. After seemingly wavering as to whether or not to go for two or one, Clinton was whistled for a delay of game, forcing backup kicker Jeremiah Lee to have to kick it from five yards further away. As Clinton set up to go for the go-ahead extra point with 4.7 seconds remaining, more confusion on the kicking team led to a hurried snap and hold that resulted in a blocked extra point by Campbell County and sending this instant classic into overtime tied at 48-48.
Clinton had the ball first in OT but could not convert, with a dropped pass in the end zone on 4th down giving the Cougars the ball at the 10 with a chance to win, which they did on their first play from scrimmage, as Henley found Shanks in the end zone for the game-winning score and a walk-off 54-48 win.
Clinton fell to 4-3 overall and more importantly to 0-3 in Region play with the loss while Campbell County improved to 4-3, 2-1 in the Region.
DRAGON GAME NOTES
- There were seven lead changes in the second half.
- The two teams combined for over 1000 yards of total offense with Clinton racking up 550 yards and the Cougars tallying 472.
- Clinton outrushed Campbell County, 311-89, but the Cougars outgained the Dragons, 383-239 through the air.
- Jawan Goins carried the ball 26 times for 256 yards and a touchdown
- Chauncey Felts scored 3 TDs on six carries (43 yards)
Box score by Dan McWilliams
Clinton 6- 8-14-20-0—48
Campbell County 14-13- 0-21-6—54
Scoring
Campbell County—Peyton Ferguson 89 kickoff return (Eli Austin kick), 11:46, 1st 0-7
Campbell County—Ferguson 73 pass from Devon Jones (Austin kick), 6:23, 1st 0-14
Clinton—Chauncey Felts 1 run (kick failed), 2:06, 1st 6-14
Campbell County—Will Lester 1 run (Austin kick), 10:23, 2nd 6-21
Campbell County—Mason Shanks 20 pass from Landen Hensley (kick failed), 2:47, 2nd 6-27
Clinton—Felts 3 run (Felts run), 0:31.6, 2nd 14-27
Clinton—Joshuah Keith 1 run (Braylon Taylor pass from Keith), 5:55, 3rd 22-27
Clinton—Felts 20 run (pass failed), 2:08, 3rd 28-27
Campbell County—Ferguson 26 pass from Hensley (Shanks pass from Hensley), 10:29, 4th 28-35
Clinton—Jawan Goins 54 run (Keith run), 9:04 4th 36-35
Campbell County—Jones 48 pass from Hensley (kick failed), 8:29, 4th 36-41
Clinton—Wesley Phillips 40 pass from Keith (pass failed), 2:53, 4th 42-41
Campbell County—Lester 7 run (Austin kick), 1:16, 4th 42-48
Clinton—Keith 2 run (kick blocked), 0:04.7, 4th 48-48
Campbell County—Shanks 10 pass from Hensley (no PAT), OT 48-54
Team stats
First downs: Clinton 26, Campbell County 19
Rushes-yards: Clinton 41-311, Campbell County 26-89
Passing yards: Clinton 239, Campbell County 383
Comp.-Att.-Int: Clinton 21-36-0, Campbell County 19-24-0
Total plays-yards: Clinton 77-550, Campbell County 50-472
Punts-avg: Clinton 1-38.0, Campbell County 1-35.0
Return yardage: Clinton 70, Campbell County 151
Sacked-yards lost: Clinton 1-3, Campbell County 0-0
Penalties-yards: Clinton 12-109, Campbell County 7-48
Fumbles-lost: Clinton 5-1, Campbell County 1-0
Time of possession: Clinton 26:37, Campbell County 21:23
Time of game: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Individual stats
Rushes – yards…Clinton: Goins 26-256 (TD), Felts 6-43 (3 TDs), Brandon Hollifield 2-8, Keith 6-7 (2 TDs), Erreese King 1-minus 3; Campbell County: Hensley 15-59, Lester 8-31 (2 TDs), Ferguson 1-3, Gavin Owens 1-1, Team 1-minus 5
Passing (Completions-Attempts-Interceptions – yards)…Clinton: Keith 21-35-0 239 (TD) Team 0-1-0 0; Campbell County: Hensley 18-23-0 310 (4 TDs), Jones 1-1-0 73 (TD)
Receptions – yards…Clinton: D’mon Marable 5-55, B. Taylor 4-41, Phillips 3-70 (TD), Goins 3-20, Lucas Kendall 3-19, Teegan Bolinger 2-26, Felts 1-8; Campbell County: Ferguson 7-175 (2 TDs), Shanks 6-84 (2 TDs), Jones 5-111 (TD), Caleb Muncy 1-13
Punting – total yards – average…Clinton: Blane Collins 1-38-38.0; Campbell County: Shanks 1-35-35.0
Kickoff returns – yards…Clinton: Goins 1-28, Jeremiah Lee 2-24; Campbell County: Ferguson 1-89 (TD), Owens 4-37, Muncy 1-20, Keagon Cowan 1-5
Punt returns – yards…Clinton: Lee 1-18; Campbell County: none
Interceptions – yards returned…(none for either team)
Fumble recoveries…Clinton: none; Campbell County: KJ Chadwell
Sacks – yards…Clinton: none; Campbell County: Mikey Albright 1-3
Blocked extra point...Clinton: none; Campbell County: Muncy
