East Clarendon rebounds from first loss with 26-12 win over Manning
Wolverines score game's final 20 points to pull out victory
Turbeville – The East Clarendon High School football team felt it had its back up against the wall going into its home game against Clarendon County School District rival Manning on Friday at Shad Hall Field. The Wolverines were coming off of a 20-14 loss to Lake City, not only their first loss of the season but also coming in their first Region 7-AA contest.
If EC wants to win the region championship, there is no margin for error over its final five contests. It got the first one behind it, scoring the game’s final 20 points to come away with a 26-12 triumph.
“For us it was big because we looked at it as a must win,” said East Clarendon head coach Larry Cornelius, whose squad improved to 5-1 on the season. “Having lo the first game in region play, we knew if we wanted to keep that goal alive we had to win. I don’t think no one is going undefeated in the region, so we have to win out.”
The loss to Lake City perhaps stung a bit more because the Panthers were winless coming into the contest.
“We had a hard week of practice,” said Cornelius, who led the Wolverines to their first win over the Monarchs since 1981. “We beat on each other for three days. We wanted to come out and show that we were better than that. We showed a lot more fire and teamwork.”
EC was dominant on defense, limiting MHS to just 153 yards of total offense. Manning ran for 105 yards while passing for 48.
Senior linebacker Thomas Fitts led the way for East Clarendon with 12 tackles and four tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Michael Woods had five TFLs and 1 ½ quarterback sacks among his nine tackles, sophomore defensive lineman Jesse Floyd had seven tackles and one TFL, junior linebacker Ke’shaun Porter had five tackles, two TFLs, forced a fumble and broke up a pass, junior defensive back Picasso Brown had an interception, junior linebacker Cade Mooneyham had three tackles and a sack, and senior linebacker Barnes McConnell had a sack.
Monarchs head coach Reggie Kennedy, who saw his team drop to 2-3 overall in its region opener, said his team could find no consistency on offense.
It got out of hand the last four minutes in the fourth quarter,” said Kennedy, a graduate of EC who was a standout linebacker on the 1985 Class A state championship team. “We were right there. We couldn’t get it going offensively tonight.
“We got behind the chains and they brough a lot of pressure off the edge. We struggled with that tonight. This is something we’re going to have to go back and look at some of the schemes they did. They did a good job. They had a good game plan for us on defense.”
The contest started 1 hour, 35 minutes after the scheduled kickoff because of a weather delay. Once it did start, the game was played in a light, but steady, rain. The Wolverines had tremendous field position from the start as Tyquan Wilson returned the opening kickoff 43 yards to the MHS 37-yard line.
While EC couldn’t cash in on its first possession, it was able to do so on the second. It started at the Manning 38 following a punt and needed seven plays to get in the end zone. Floyd, who’s listed as a lineman, scored from three yards out on fourth down and goal. East Clarendon couldn’t convert the 2-point conversion, leaving the score at 6-0 with 5:16 remaining in the first quarter.
The Monarchs answered quickly. Quarterback Lovell Stevenson scored from 66 yards out on a quarterback draw with 4:17 left in the opening quarter to tie the game at 6-6.
That was the score at halftime, but MHS broke it on the first drive of the second half. Manning started at its 46 and took nine plays to get in the end zone. One of those plays was a 15-yard completion from Stevenson to wide receiver CJ Robinson on fourth and 10 for a first down at the Wolverines 14.
Running back Isaiah Baxter scored from three yards out with 8:28 to go in the third quarter. The conversion attempt was again no good, leaving the score at 12-6.
It didn’t take long for EC to answer. On first down, quarterback Gavin White connected with freshman wide receiver Easton Donlon for a 62-yard gain to the Monarch 11. On fourth and four from the 5, White connected with junior H back Crosby Timmons for a TD. McConnell ran for the 2-point conversion to make it14-12 with 6:16 remaining.
MHS had just one first down the rest of the game, that coming late. After stopping Manning on its ensuing possession, East Clarendon took over at its 30. It put together a 9-play scoring drive with Wilson scoring on a 19-yard run on the first play of the fouth quarter to make it 20-12.
The Wolverines secured the victory after forcing the Monarchs to turn the ball over on downs at their 13. Freshman running back Skyler Cornelius, the coach’s son, scored from three yards out with 1:40 to go in the contest.
Cornelius rushed for 69 yards and the score on 17 carries. Wilson rushed for 25 yards on 13 carries, and Blease Hardy came in at quarterback to rush for 29 yards on seven carries. White was 4 for 9 for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Coach Cornelius said the rain affected what he wanted to do offensively.
“We wanted to be more balanced between the run and the pass,” he said. “We decided to keep it on the ground. We did just enough to move the chains. We want to possess the ball. That’s important to us, to ground it and pound it.”
Kennedy sounded much like Cornelius about the region race.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to go undefeated in winning the region this year,” said Kennedy, who led Manning to an undefeated run to the region crown last year. “I think it’s going to be a tossup this year. The good thing about it is out of our six games, four of them are at home. If we can protect home and win on the road in Mullins, I think we’ll be fine going down the stretch.”
Baxter rushed for 64 yards on 22 carries. He got a load of carries because fellow running back Daniel Robinson suffered an injury early in the game and had six ayrds on two carries. Stevenson finished with 39 yards rushing despite having the 66-yard TD run. He completed 4 of 14 passes for 48 yards. CJ Robinson had three catches for 33 yards.
Kennedy was happy with the play of his defense. Liinebacker Jontavious Canty, the team’s leading tackler last season, played in his first game due to injury and made his presence felt. He had 19 tackles and two TFLs.
Linebacker Lovon Stevenson had 11 tackles, 2 ½ TFLs and recovered a fumble.
“I’m proud of the way we played on defense tonight,” Kennedy said. “Jon had a great game; you could tell he was back. I think we showed a lot of improvement efensively.”
