Clinton falls to Madison Central to end season

By editor3 | November 22, 2024 |

By Danny C. Davis

Special to the Clinton Courier

Any hopes of extending the 2024 football season for Clinton High School ended with the Arrows’ 49-39 loss to rival Madison Central on November 7 in the Arrows’ final regular season game. A win against the Jaguars would have given the Arrows the second seed position in Region 2-7A playoffs, and the Arrows would have hosted an opening round playoff game. But, despite missing the playoffs, the Arrows made big strides and improvements from the 2023 season, when CHS finished 1-9 overall and 0-4 in Region 2-7A.

The lack of injuries in 2024 proved to be a big factor. In 2023, the Arrows lost nine starters to injury during the season, including the starting quarterbacks.

The Arrows finished 4-6 overall and 1-3 in Region 2-7A.

Clinton’s schedule this year was very brutal, once again. This season, all ten of the Arrows’ opponents are in the playoffs.

Clinton defeated #1 Brandon, #3 Starkville, #12 Warren Central and an undefeated-at-the-time very good Terry team.

Clinton played very hard against Madison Central (MCHS) but played catch up the entire game. The Arrows only trailed 14-12 at the end of the first half and trailed 28-26 at the start of the final period, but MCHS outscored Clinton 21-13 in the fourth period.

Clinton had a tough time all night stopping Jaguar running back Glen Singleton, who scored five touchdowns and had 24 carries for 225 yards.

Singleton scored twice in the first period to give MCHS a 14-0 lead. But Clinton came right back with QB Josef Walker’s 33-yard pass to Jaydann Hollins with 57 seconds left in the first, to make it 14-7. A defensive safety for two points and kicker Braylon Singleton’s 33-yard field goal cut MCHS’s lead to 14-12 at the half.

Clinton stayed with the Jaguars, scoring with two touchdowns in the third period. Walker threw a 35-yard pass to Hollins and a 6-yard TD pass to senior tight end Phillip Burchfield to make it 28-26 with 1:12 left in the third.

Then, the flood gates opened in the fourth period, with Singleton scoring twice to put Madison Central up 49-26 with 7:37 left.

But Clinton came right back, with Hollins grabbing two touchdown passes. Backup QB Aaric Beasley hit Hollins with a 25-yard TD pass with six and a half minutes left. Walker found Hollins open with a 72-yard pass-scoring play with four minutes remaining.

An on-side kick attempt failed, and MCHS ran the clock out.

Hollins, a junior, had a career high eight receptions for 207 yards and four touchdowns.

Walker, also a junior, completed 22 of 39 yards for four touchdowns.

Junior linebacker Jaiden Jefferson led the defense with nine solo tackles. Junior Tevis Coley had three solo stops, and seniors James Farr and Lazivan Tinner had three stops each.

It was a tough ending for the Arrows, who fought hard all year and were so close to securing a playoff appearance under first-year head coach John Carr.

“We are proud of the legacy [we] seniors left,” said senior running back Jakobe Williams, who led the Arrows in rushing with 744 yards and 17 touchdowns. “We were excited from the first day with Coach Carr, and we knew our offense would click. We’ve got some very good guys coming back, and I am excited for the future of Clinton Arrow football.”

“We just came up a little short tonight,” said senior tight end Phillip Burchfield, who had 263 yards receiving and two touchdowns on the season. “I thought we had a shot at the end. We came back from a 1-9 season last year and beat three good highly-ranked teams. Clinton will go deep in the playoffs next year. Coach Carr has this team headed in the right direction.”

“I was extremely proud of the guys’ effort tonight,” said Arrow head coach John Carr, “and proud of the effort every week and their attention to details.”

“We had some really big wins this year trying to get this thing going. Our seniors were a big part of that this year. We had twenty-nine seniors that hung around and embraced me. I am so proud of our seniors and very excited about the future of what we have coming back. And we had a really good coaching staff that came to work every day and worked so hard.”

“This one hurts, because the coaches sacrifice a lot; and they saw what the guys go through every day to put all their effort into our program. But, all in all, this was a fun year, and we are ready to get back to work on next season.”