Clinton falls to Madison Central to end season
By Danny C. Davis
The Clinton Arrows still had a chance to make the MHSAA Class 7A playoffs for the first time in three years, but fell to Madison Central 28-16 on November 6 to end the season 4-6 overall and 1-4 Region 2-7A.
Clinton would have had to beat MC by 8 points to advance.
In the first half, it looked as though that might happen. The Arrows dominated the first quarter jumping to a 9-0 lead. Kicker Braylon Spann’s 24-yard field goal and running back Braylon Lowery’s 15-yard run put Clinton up 9-0 with 2 minutes left in the first period.
The Jaguars scored two TDs in the second period to go up 14-9. But Clinton came right back with Lowery’s 10-yard TD run to take a 16-14 lead at halftime.
The Arrows outgained Madison Central with 261 total yards to the Jaguars’ 189 in the first half. But that was as close as Clinton would get, as Madison Central outscored the Arrows 14-0 in the final two quarters to win 28-16 and earn the 4th playoff spot in Region 2-7A.
Clinton fought hard, and the game was really closer than the score indicated.
On the Arrow’s first possession of the third period, they had an 8-play drive to the Jaguar 39 yard line, but then a very controversial holding call pushed CHS back to their own 44, where the drive ended. A score would have put the Arrows back in front.
Maybe the toughest factor was that the Arrow defense lost two senior starters in the first half that really hurt. Senior linebacker Rob Neblett had a back injury on MCHS’s first series.
Neblett was the Arrow’s third leading tackler with 44 tackles on the season (32 solo stops and 12 assist). Then, things got a lot harder stopping MCHS when leading defensive player Cameron Cornelius went down in the second quarter. Cornelius, a defensive back, led the defense this season with 52 tackles (36 solo stops and 16 assist).
Sophomore QB Jaden Jones was a bright spot in the loss, throwing for a season high 235 yards.
“Our defense this year was mostly seniors, and we knew we had to play hard every game because our offense was so young this year,” said senior defensive end Davion Merchant. “We gave it our best and still had a chance to go to the playoffs at the end.”
“We came out, played hard tonight on offense and got an early lead, but things didn’t go well for us in the second half,” said sophomore running back Lowery, who led Clinton rushing on the season with 720 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns. “Just about all our offense, including our quarterback, Jayden Jones, will be back next year; and we are really going to be good next year.”
“I thought we played real hard the whole game, but just didn’t get any breaks in the second half,” said Arrow head coach Hamer Morgan. “It really affected us losing two senior defensive starters in the first half. Both Robsen and Cameron were playmakers for us. Madison Central took advantage of Cameron being out in the second half and threw two touchdowns passes. That was the difference. We played hard on both sides of the ball.”
“Our offense was young this year, and they are really going to be good next year. Jayden Jones got better every week at quarterback, and he is really going to be something special. All of our running backs and most of our receivers will be back, too. Our defense carried us a lot this year, and most of those guys are seniors and will be missed,” said Morgan.
