Clinton Uses Relentless Rushing Attack to Overwhelm Woodruff 43-21
The slide continues for Woodruff football.
The Wolverines fell to Clinton 43-21 in the final game of the regular season last Friday, as the Red Devils used their patented ground assault to break open a close game in the second half.
Clinton got on the board first as quarterback Owen Glenn punched the ball in from a yard out with 6:10 to play in the first quarter. The two-point conversion made it 8-0 Red Devils.
Woodruff answered directly with a nice drive that was punctuated by an eight-yard pass from Connor Davis to Jaylen Lyles, but the failed conversion left the Wolverines trailing 8-6 late in the period.
Glenn and the Red Devils went back to work, with Clinton’s senior signal-caller calling his own number again on the ensuing drive. Glenn raced around the left side for 26 yards and the score, upping the Clinton lead to 14-6.
Woodruff answered on its next drive when Davis connected with MiCah McClintock from 28 yards out for a score, but it was the final time the Wolverines found paydirt in the first half. The Red Devils got a 27-yard touchdown run from Angelo Cromer, plus a two-point conversion, to take a 22-13 lead into halftime.
From there, it was all Clinton.
The Red Devils scored three unanswered touchdowns on a 39-yard Glenn-to-Graydon Watkins pass on fourth-and-long and runs of 23 and 43 yards by Cromer and Glenn to take a 43-14 lead late in the contest.
Woodruff notched its final score on a 36-yard strike from Davis to Jay Glenn, his first touchdown reception of the season.
The Wolverines certainly had their chances, too. Clinton fumbled two kickoffs back to Woodruff, but despite taking over inside the Red Devils’ 35-yard line both times, the Wolverines came away with zero points. Add in two interceptions, and the offense experienced an atypically quiet night while Clinton continued to rack up yards on the ground.
Cromer finished with 153 yards on 15 carries for Clinton, while Glenn and Rhett Gilliam poured in 95 and 78 yards, respectively. Glenn (3) and Cromer (2) combined to score five of Clinton’s six touchdowns.
Davis finished the game completing 19 of a season-high 42 pass attempts for 216 yards, while senior tailback Jaylen Lyles added 64 rushing yards on 14 carries to go with three receptions for 14 yards and a score.
With the loss, Woodruff fell to 4-6 and finished just 1-4 in conference play. However, thanks to the new RPI seeding format and a strong strength of schedule, the Wolverines qualified for the 2A playoffs as the No. 14 seed and will travel to No. 3 seed Crescent in the first round of the playoffs this week.
Should the Wolverines win, they would take on the winner between Chesnee and Pendleton in the second round.
Clinton (6-4, 3-2) will take on Liberty in round one.
