Clinton Christian enjoying successful football season
By Danny C. Davis
After a couple of tough losses to open the season, the Clinton Christian Academy (CCA) Warriors have been on a five-game winning streak.
CCA improved to 5-2 overall after a road victory on September 29 at Columbia Academy in Columbia, Mississippi. CCA will make the short trip up U.S. Highway 49 north to meet Tri County Academy at Flora on October 6.
At Columbia, the Warriors got a hard-fought road win. Columbia Academy (CA) took a 7-0 first-quarter lead. CCA then responded with three touchdowns to take a 20-7 lead, with 4:43 left in the third period. CA scored with four and a half minutes remaining, to cut to 20-13. But the Warrior defense held the last few minutes to seal the win.
“Columbia Academy really got after us, but our kids responded,” said CCA first-year coach Teddy Dyess. “We came out flat, but found a way to win. That is what good teams do.”
Leading the Warrior offense were Carter Wilson, Nico Bowens and Cooper Lofton.
Wilson had twenty-eight carries for 148 yards rushing and the third period score.
Bowens scored first for the Warriors, with a three-yard run with 4:52 left in the half. QB Cooper Lofton’s two-yard conversion run for two points put CCA ahead for good, 8-7.
Lofton passed for 110 yards, including CCA’s second touchdown. It was a thing of beauty, a 96-yard pass-scoring play to Brian Boone just before halftime, putting CCA up 14-7 at the half.
The Warriors had forty-six offensive plays for 302 yards of offense, including 192 yards on the ground.
“We have three more games and are in good shape as that relates to the playoffs,” said Dyess. “We are 3-0 in district, but the power points for the MAIS playoffs are equal for every game.”
A week earlier, the Warriors defeated Winston Academy from Louisville 28-25. Carter Wilson led the Warriors with three touchdown runs. He put CCA ahead in the first quarter on TD runs of eighty and twelve yards. After a missed extra point on the first TD, Bowens scored on a two-point conversion to make it 14-0.
But Winston Academy (WA) scored twice in the second period to make it 14-13 Warriors at halftime, after a missed Winston PAT.
CCA went ahead 22-13 in the third period on Wilson’s eleven-yard run and QB Cooper Lofton’s two-point conversion pass to Say Stamps.
Winston closed the score to 22-19 on a nineteen-yard run by Omar Scott early in the fourth and a failed PAT.
The Warriors’ Bowens two-yard run made it 28-19 in the fourth.
WA‘s Scott scored again late to make it 28-25 after a failed point to end the scoring.
On September 15, CCA shut out St. Aloysius 44-0 at Vicksburg. CCA led 31-0 at the half.
For the Warriors, Wilson tallied on runs on ten and twenty-eight yards. Jaquarious Clark scored on runs of thirteen and twenty-two yards. Bowens had a 58-yard scoring run. Caiden Boyd scored on a one-yard plunge, and Desmond Wilson nailed a twenty-eight-yard field goal and three extra points. Bowens scored on a two-point conversion run.
