COTTONWOOD FALLS — Traveling for the furthest opponent of the regular season in a battle of 3-1 teams, the Clifton-Clyde high school football team faced off with Chase County, with the Eagles victorious 44-12.
The Eagles got the ground game working early, quickly getting into Bulldog territory, but a fumble would bring an abrupt end to the opening drive. Clifton-Clyde would respond immediately, stuffing a pair of runs and getting an interception to get the ball back. The Eagles would strike shortly after with a nine-yard carry by Jacob Newton to go up 8-0 about halfway through the first quarter. Chase County couldn’t stop the Eagles’ running game, with Clifton-Clyde scoring with a three-yard run by Kyzler Damman to go up 16-0, and the Eagles forcing an interception on the following drive to end the first quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Damman scored a 10-yard touchdown to go up 22-0. After the Eagles forced a punt, the ground game got back to work, with Newton punching a one-yard run to make it 30-0 Eagles. A failed Chase County drive would give the Eagles the ball deep in their own territory, but they would quickly move down the field; another fumble would cut the Eagles’ drive short. Chase County bled the remaining clock as it was 30-0 Eagles entering halftime.
Chase County finally got on the board in the second half, scoring in two plays to make it 30-6. After failed Eagles and Bulldogs drives each, Clifton-Clyde got back on the board with a four-yard Damman run to make it 38-6 Eagles, as Chase County bled the remaining time to end the third quarter.
A clutch fourth-down stop by the Eagles kept Chase County out of the endzone and gave the ball back to Clifton-Clyde. Mixing time management with some big runs, the Eagles scored once again on a four-yard Trenton Benne run to expand the lead to 44-6. The Bulldogs scored on the first play of the following drive to make it 44-12, and after both teams had one more chance to score the clock hit triple zeros, and the Eagles were victorious 44-12.
Damman went 4 of 6 passing for 58 yards. Benne had two catches for 25 yards; Emitt Tiemeyer had one catch for 18 yards; Newton had one catch for 15 yards. Damman had 233 yards on 35 carries and three touchdowns; Newton had 12 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns; Colt Germann had four carries for 27 yards; Benne had two carries for nine yards and a touchdown; Aekley Goeckel had one carry for four yards; Cooper Pruser had three carries for two yards.
Goeckel led in tackles with 12; Benne had 11 tackles and an interception; Damman had 10 tackles; Stroker Affolter and Brody Knox had six tackles; Ryan LeClair had five tackles; Tiemeyer had four tackles; Germann had four tackles and an interception; Newton had two tackles.
