Clinton County traveled to McCreary Central on Saturday for a rare weekend game. At the final buzzer it was the Dawgs coming up short as McCreary Central won by a final of 36-22.
“The Dawgs showed the most fight seen all season this past Saturday night at McCreary Central,” Head Coach Rocky Tallent said. “The game was back and fourth most of the night. We lead twice in the first half and went into the half tied at 14. Both sides of the ball played well in the first half and we were pleased with the amount of fight in our team in the first half.”
Tallent said the second half is where Clinton County started to fall somewhat.
“The second half was up and down for our team as we got down 22-14 about midway through the third quarter but the offense put together a great drive to tie the game up late in the third quarter at 22,” Tallent said. “On the next kickoff the momentum of the game shifted as McCreary returned the kick for a touchdown and got the two point conversion to take the lead back 30-22. The dawgs continued to fight and had a chance to tie late into the game but in the end McCreary added another score and defeated the dawgs 36-22.”
Tallent said every game is a learning experience for his team and these first few games are preparing them for district play.
“We have got better each game and this was our best overall game of the season as I have said in weeks past, we have a extremely tough schedule and are looking to build from week to week and we have been doing just that,” Tallent said. “The offense played as good as it has all season and the defense played well, but gave up a critical fourth down conversion in the third quarter. That is exactly the type of play we have to finish and we didn’t get it done which lead to a score later in the drive that really hurt our chances for victory. We will be back at it this week at practice and hope to build off of the improvements of the past few weeks and will try to get our first victory of the season this Friday against a extremely talented Adair county team.”
The dawgs were lead on offense by quarterback Bently Boils who was 15-29 for 176 yards passing and two touchdowns through the air. Boils also added a rushing touchdown. On the ground the Dawgs were lead by Malachi Upchurch who had 68 yards rushing and Bryson Cross added 30 yards rushing. Cross had a big night catching 11 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Adam Herald also added 3 catches for 71 yards and a touch down. Steele Burchett added one catch for 17 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball the Dawgs were lead by Allen Pierce who had nine tackles, Cross with eight, Upchurch with eight, and Evan little with eight tackles. Junior Dylan Anderson added seven tackles and freshman Kade Beaty had six. Cole Nuetzman had four tackles, three for a loss and a fumble recovery and Upchurch also had a fumble recovery.
“Right now we are trying to build week to week and look to be playing our best football toward the end of the season as everyone knows when playoff time is here, it doesn’t matter about your regular season record. It’s who’s playing the best football at that time of the year and who gets hot at the right time.”
Clinton County will take its 0-3 record on the road this week as the Dawgs travel to Adair County for a 7 p.m. kick off.