Lions roar past Red Devils with offensive 3rd quarter

By John Clayton | September 21, 2024 |

Clinton starting QB Tyshuwan Richardson (1) suffered a leg injury Friday at Daniel and did not return to the game.

Daniel won a battle of No. 2-ranked teams Friday night, pulling away in the third quarter for a 37-12 victory over visiting Clinton Friday night.

The Lions, ranked No. 2 in Class 4A behind Westside, scored three unanswered third-quarter touchdowns to turn a 14-6 halftime advantage into a lopsided 34-6 lead over the Red Devils, who were ranked No. 2 in Class 2A behind Hampton County.

“(In the second half), I just didn’t think we played cohesive as a team,” said Clinton head coach Corey Fountain. “I just didn’t feel like our guys pulled together when things got tough, and we’ve got to correct that. We put the defense in some bad spots in the second half.”

Daniel quarterback Grayson Clary completed 15 of 19 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns, including two scoring strikes in the pivotal third quarter.

Clinton quarterback Tushawan Richardson was attempting to match Clary early on, completing 11 of 19 passes for 120 yards before leaving the game with a leg injury in the third quarter. He did not return as Daniel pulled away.

Jayden Glenn, who saw his first action at quarterback during last week’s blowout win at Chapman, replaced Richardson and completed 2 of 6 passes for 24 yards and an interception.

The Lions (3-1) used big plays from Clary in the passing game with touchdown passes of 54, 35 and 42 yards. Spencer Conn also added a 70-yard touchdown run with 10:51 left in the third quarter.

Daniel finished with 409 yards of total offense, while the Red Devils had 289 yards.

Clinton’s Javen Cook led all rushers with 83 yards, but did not find the end zone for the first time this season.

Kason Copeland capped a 13-play, 50-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 5:01 remaining in the second quarter to cut Daniel’s lead to 7-6 after the extra-point try failed.

The Red Devils (3-2) didn’t score again until Rhett Gilliam scored on a 4-yard run that capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive with two seconds to play in the game.

“In the first half, there was a lot of positives,” Fountain said. “We came out and played hard. We moved the ball up and down the field. We were one play away a lot of times for going on scoring drive, so we left points out there on the field. We missed an extra point and we missed a field goal. There were times when we drove the ball – we didn’t punt in the first half.”

Clinton ran 48 offensive plays in the first half, but came away with 6 points to show for it.

Game Notes: Trailing 20-6, the Clinton defense pinned Daniel deep in its own territory in the third quarter, hoping for a short field following a Lee Turnipseed punt from the shadow of his own end zone, but Turnipseed boomed the punt 60 yards for the Lions, and Clinton took over inside its own 20. . . . The Clinton JV football program’s 48-game winning streak came to an end Thursday with a 14-6 home loss to Daniel.