Clovers top Edgewood to also get first victory

Saturday, September 2, 2017

ELLETTSVILLE — Rallying from a 10-point deficit Friday night, the Cloverdale Clovers posted their first win of the football season and their initial victory of the coach Tom Winders era.

The Clovers traveled to Edgewood for the Western Indiana Conference football game that started at 7:30, but Cloverdale didn’t really start until 7:50. The Clovers spotted the Mustangs an early 10-0 lead, but roared back to win, 19-10.

Cloverdale improved to 1-2 on the season and is now 1-0 in the WIC Eastern Division.

“I’ll be honest with you, it feels good. It’s been a long time coming,” Winders, the first-year Cloverdale coach, said of the Clovers’ first win of the season.

Edgewood took the opening kickoff and scored on a 64-yard pass play from Andrew Graef to Cole Hall before the game was even three minutes old. Austin Heckman kicked the PAT and the Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Clovers fumbled a short kick and the Mustangs made them pay right away. Heckman kicked a 29-yard field goal just over five minutes into the game giving Edgewood a 10-0 lead.

“We came out really ugly. We didn’t play very well. We had a lot of miscues early,” Winders said.

Cloverdale’s defense began to take over. After giving up those 10 quick points, the Clovers forced the Mustangs into four straight punts.

Cloverdale’s offense was still struggling until Nick Winders broke a 50-yard run to set up Tyce Jackson’s four-yard touchdown run with 4:01 left in the half. The PAT kick was no good.After forcing a three-and-out, Jake Wilkes showed just how speed kills, taking a Mustang punt back 51 yards to the seven-yard line. Logan Abner took it across the goal line on the next play to give the Clovers their first lead at 12-10.

“We have speed. We really wanted to establish that and we did that tonight,” Winders said. “We wanted to get the ball in our playmakers’ hands and we did that well.”

The Clovers almost put another score on the board before the half. Cloverdale moved the ball from their own 33-yard line to the Mustang 23 in just 30 seconds. Trey Henry’s 40-yard field goal attempt fell just inches short, but the Clovers had the lead going into the break.

The Clover defense dominated the third quarter. The Clovers didn’t allow a first down on the first three possessions and pinned the Mustangs back at their own two-yard line. That field position set up a short field that led to a second Jackson rushing touchdown. Henry converted the PAT kick to give the Clovers a 19-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.

“The second half has hurt us in the first two games. We would fizzle out and get tired. Tonight, we rotated a little and played tough,” Winders said.

Edgewood tried to rally one last time, but Henry intercepted a pass near the goal line with a little over two minutes to play.

“What I loved about our team is we played with heart and grit. We did not give up. We just kept fighting,” Winders said.

Cloverdale 0 12 0 7 — 19

Edgewood 10 0 0 0 — 10

EHS — Cole Hall 64 pass from Andrew Graef (Austin Heckman kick), 7-0, Q1 9:07.

EHS — Heckman 29 FG, 10-0, Q1 6:49.

CHS — Tyce Jackson 4 run (kick failed) 10-6, Q2 4:01.

CHS – Abner 7 run (pass failed) 12-10, Q2 2:32.

CHS – Jackson 6 run (Trey Henry kick) 19-10, Q4 11:14.

CHS EHS

First downs 12 7

Rushes-yards 38-197 34-58

Passing yards 84 110

Comp-Att-Int 3-15-2 4-15-1

Total offense 53-281 49-168

Punts-Avg. 4-25.5 7-29.7

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-0

Penalties-yards 9-65 7-82

Individual statistics

Rushing — Cloverdale: Nick Winders 11-73, Tyce Jackson 10-46, Drew Boyette 1-24, Logan Abner 8-22, Tyler Kaeff 2-19, Parker Watts 6-13. Edgewood: Andrew Graef 9-38, Jacob Merriman 8-14, Eithan Jacobs 5-6, John McGlothlin 10-1, Schuyler Curtis 2-(-4).

Passing — Cloverdale: Boyette 2-10-1 55, Watts 0-4-1 0, Henry 1-1-0 29. Edgewood: Graef 4-14-1 110, McGlothlin 0-1-0 0.

Receiving — Cloverdale: Winders 1-35, Boyette 1-29, Kaeff 1-20. Edgewood: Cole Hall 2-76, Parker Hall 1-29, McGlothlin 1-5

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