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| TURN OUT THE LIGHTS- The clock expired as Maycon Stork (61) sacked Clifton quarterback Dylan Goforth to preserve a 19-14 Bulldog victory over the Cubs in Clifton last Friday night. Also in the picture for Hamilton is Zach Anglin (62). Staff Photo |
In a game between long-time rivals played in front of a large and rowdy crowd on both sides of the field, the Dogs relied on a clock-eating rushing offense and a bend-but-don’t break defense to emerge vic-torious.
This was an old-fashioned neighborhood brawl with plenty of hard hits, big plays and enough excitement to keep fans on the edge of their seats, if not standing up cheering all night.
The win keeps the Bulldogs in the playoff hunt in District 21-AA with a 2-2 league record and a 6-3 mark for the season. Hamilton faces Moody at Kooken Field next Friday night in a must-win contest for the Dogs. With the loss, Clifton falls to 3-1 in league action and 4-5 for the season. And the Cubs must face dangerous McGregor next week in the regular season finale. If the Cubs win, they will at least share the district title with Crawford, but a loss would relegate them to a two-way tie with Hamilton and a seat on the sidelines for the playoffs if the Dogs beat Moody.
Bulldog head coach and athletic director Chris Wilde said after the game, “I was extremely proud of our kids and staff. We had a tremendous amount of adversity last week due to many of the players being hurt or sick at some point during the week. For them to respond and compete the way they did makes this one of the most special wins we have had in my tenure in Hamilton.”
The Bulldogs opened the game against Clifton in dom-inating fashion as the Hamilton defense shut the Cubs down and forced a three and out on Clifton’s first possession, thanks in large part to a crushing tackle on first down by linebacker Ethan Brown and a six-yard sack of Cub quarterback Dylan Goforth on third down by Asa Hamilton.
The Bulldogs then turned in their most impressive drive of the night, moving 72 yards in 12 plays, all on the ground. In fact, Hamilton stayed with the running game all evening as the Dogs never attempted a pass.
Brown, Garet Box, Seth LeBlanc and Jorden Lowe shared the ball-carrying duties on the march with Lowe picking up the final six yards for the touchdown on a sweep around right end. Abby Lozano’s extra point kick bounced off the left upright to leave the score 6-0 with five minutes to go in the opening stanza.
Clifton countered with a drive of its own, starting on its own 36-yard line and reaching all the way to the Hamilton 11 before fizzling. Cub running back Lathan Andrews was stopped for no gain on third down at the 11 by LeBlanc, Cole Wells and Acy May. And on fourth down, May, a 270-pound freshman two-way starter for Hamilton, handled the honors himself, crushing Andrews for a one yard loss.
The Cubs made good on their next threat, however, putting together a 44-yard, 12- play drive that culminated in a touchdown when Goforth powered over from the one-yard line on a quarterback sneak with two and a half minutes left in the first half. Miguel Hernandez tacked on the extra point that gave Clifton a 7-6 lead at halftime.
The Bulldogs pulled ahead for good when action resumed in the third period. On their first drive of the second half the Bulldogs moved from their own 35 to the Clifton 29 before the Cubs momentarily halted their march on a fourth down stop of LeBlanc inches short of a first down. But one play later LeBlanc stripped Andrews of the ball on a sweep around left end and Keaton Muxworthy claimed it for Hamilton at the Clifton 28-yard line.
This time Hamilton took care of business, moving the distance in four plays capped by Muxworthy’s 21-yard keeper around left end for the score. A try for two points fell short, but Hamilton owned a 12-7 lead mid-way through the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter the Bulldog defense rose to the occasion once again as Clifton gambled on a fourth and one from its 39-yard line. Ryan Lee and Wells teamed up on the tackle to stop Andrews inches short of the needed one yard and Hamilton took over in great shape at the Cubs’ 39-yard line.
Box got 14 of that on a run off of right guard and Mux-worthy tacked on the final 12 yards on a replay of his earlier touchdown around left end. Abby Lozano kicked the extra point to give Hamilton a 19-7 lead with less than seven minutes to play.
And that’s when things really got interesting as the Cubs went to a hurry-up spread offense to try and make up the two-score differential.
Their first drive following the touchdown came close as the Cubs moved from their own 43 to a first down at the Hamilton 13. But at that point, the Bulldogs defended two passes which went incomplete, stopped Andrews for a two yard loss on a tackle by Brown, and then on fourth down ended the threat on an interception by James Ratliff at the nine-yard line on an attempted halfback pass from Taylor Tims to Goforth.
Taking over with a little more than four minutes remaining, the Bulldogs needed to run some clock, but Clifton had other ideas. The Dogs picked up one first down on a run by LeBlanc, but on the next play Clifton’s Ben Gardner stripped the ball from Hamilton fullback Jackson Beshears and returned it to the Hamilton five. Two plays later Andrews dove into the end zone for the Cubs’ second touchdown of the night. Hernandez cut the margin to 19-14 with his extra point kick.
James Ratliff alertly jumped on an attempted onside kick at the Hamilton 46-yard line, but the Bulldogs were unable to move the ball and Keith Gardner’s punt set Clifton up at their own 26-yard line with no timeouts and only 1:57 on the clock.
Things quickly got scary for the Bulldogs and their fans, however, as Goforth launched a long pass which bounced off one Cub receiver and two Hamilton defensive backs before coming to rest in the arms of Clifton’s Colton Albrecht at the Bulldog 24-yard line.
Goforth got the Cubs even closer on a 10-yard scramble to the 14, but with the seconds ticking off two passes overshot their marks. On the last play of the game, Goforth dropped back to pass, found nobody open and then was mauled by Maycon Stork for a six-yard sack and loss as time expired.
This win qualifies as a true team effort for the Bulldogs as time and again somebody different stepped up when necessary to contribute a key play. On offense, seven different ball carriers handled the ball, led by LeBlanc with 73 yards on 13 carries. Muxworthy, a sophomore in only his second start at quarterback, added 44 yards on 14 rushes and two touchdowns. Box contributed 35 yards on eight runs, followed closely by Lowe with 32 yards in nine carries and Beshears with 27 yards on eight tries.
On defense, LeBlanc was a terror from his linebacker spot with 13 tackles to lead the team. Ethan Brown, returning to a school he attended before transferring to Hamilton, had his best defensive game of the year with nine stops, a number matched by senior defensive lineman Stork. Lowe got in on eight tackles, followed by May with seven and Hamilton with six.