Opening the year at home versus TVL foe Blue Valley, the Clifton-Clyde football team moved to 1-0 on the year after an offensive showcase, beating the Rams 84-50.
Clifton-Clyde got the ball first, quickly marching downfield with a couple of splash plays, but stalled late with a turnover on downs (TOD). The Rams scored first on a 30-yard run to take an early 6-0 lead. The Eagles quickly responded with a touchdown of their own, courtesy of a 34-yard run by Kyzler Damman to tie the game at 6-all. After forcing a Rams TOD, the Eagles scored in just four plays, with Damman scoring on a 33-yard run to make it 14-6 Eagles.
Not to be outdone, the Rams took the ensuing kickoff to the house to make it 14-14. On the first play of the following drive, Damman hit Colt Germann, who took the ball 53 yards to the house, to put the Eagles up 20-14 to end the first quarter.
After forcing a TOD to start the second quarter, the Eagles scored once again on a 17-yard Damman run to go up 28-14 over the Rams. With the pressure on them starting to build, the Rams heaved a 50-50 ball that went for a touchdown, to make it 28-22 Eagles. After a touchdown-saving tackle by the Rams, Damman hit Kiernan Fahey for a 26-yard touchdown, to put the Eagles up 34-22.
After a Ram punt put the Eagles deep in their own territory, the Eagles scored in just two plays, with Damman running for a 55-yard touchdown, to put Clifton-Clyde up 40-22. With the pressure back on them, Blue Valley found a receiver deep for a touchdown, to make it 40-30 late in the first half. Trying to beat the end of the half, Clifton-Clyde got downfield in a hurry, and Jacob Newton broke off a 28-yard run to put the Eagles up 46-30 to enter halftime.
The Rams opened the second half with a touchdown drive to make it 46-36 Eagles, to which the Eagles responded with a quick drive capped by a one-yard run by Damman, to go up 52-36. Refusing to let the game get away, the Rams converted a fourth down that went for a touchdown, to make it 52-42 Eagles halfway through the third quarter. After an Eagle fumble deep into Rams territory, Newton stripped the ball in the end zone and recovered it for the defensive touchdown, making it 58-42 to end the third quarter.
With the game in hand, Clifton-Clyde scored three more touchdowns: two Damman passes to Newton and Fahey, and a 25-yard Cooper Pruser pass to Clay Joy; in comparison to only one touchdown by the Rams. Clifton-Clyde came out on top 84-50.
Damman went 15-20 passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns; Pruser was 1-1 for 25 yards and a touchdown. Damman had 272 yards rushing with five touchdowns; Newton had 82 yards and a touchdown. Benne led in receiving yards with 80 yards on seven receptions; Newton had 40 yards and three touchdowns; Fahey had 36 yards and two touchdowns; Germann had 53 yards and one touchdown; Aekley Goeckel had one reception for 32 yards; Joy had 25 yards and a touchdown.
Striker Affolter led in tackles with 10; Cooper Pruser had eight; Brody Knox and Germann had seven; Benne and Newton had four; Goeckel, Kaiden Rudolph, and Ryan LeClair had two each.
