Clovers have rough night against Edgewood

CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale Clover football team couldn’t stop the big plays on Friday night as it hosted the Edgewood Mustangs. Edgewood scored seven touchdowns on the night, with six of them coming from 20 yards or more out. Three of those scores were from more 70 yards.

“At times our defense played OK, but at times we gave up some big plays,” Cloverdale head coach Tom Winders said as the Clovers fell to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in the Western Indiana Conference East Division.

Edgewood dominated the stat sheet on the night. The visitors racked up 628 total yards of offense, including 487 on the ground. Mustang quarterback Schuyler Curtis led the way with 184 yards on just nine carries and two touchdowns, while running back Levon Bellemy had 172 yards on 16 carries as well as three receptions for 49 yards, while scoring two touchdowns himself. The Mustangs improved to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in WIC play.

“That number 7 (Bellemy) is the real deal! He is shifty and fast and we tried to concentrate on him and their other guys hurt us, too,” Winders said.

Edgewood jumped out to a lead on its first drive with a Curtis to David Brown 20-yard touchdown pass and Bellemy scored from 45 yards out on the next possession and Edgewood led 14-0 at the end of the first period.

Cloverdale’s offense sputtered in the first quarter as the hosts were only able to muster one yard of total offense in the stanza.

Edgewood kept up the pressure in the second period. Bellemy took off on a 79-yard touchdown jaunt on the first play of the second quarter. Curtis matched him with a 75-yard scoring run just 2:04 later.

Cloverdale finally got a big play of its own later in the second period. Jake Wilkes intercepted a Mustang screen pass and went 41 yards for the only score of the night for the Clovers.

Curtis added another 72-yard touchdown in third period, while the Mustang reserves added a couple of late touchdowns.

The Clover offense struggled all night. They managed only 103 yards of total offense on the night as they struggled to find openings against the fast Mustang defense.

“Our offense will not get better until we learn to trust each other. We have to start trusting our teammates to do their job. We have to trust that the other guy will run the right route or make their block,” Winders said.

The Clovers will host another Eastern Division WIC team next week. Cascade visits Cloverdale for homecoming.

“We will bounce back. We will be ready next week for Cascade,” Winders added.

1st Qtr

EHS – David Brown 20 pass from Schuyler Curtis (Bryson Smith kick), 7-0 8:05.

EHS – Levon Bellemy 45 run (Smith kick), 14-0, 2:47.

2nd Qtr

EHS – Bellemy 79 run (kick failed), 20-0, 11:41.

EHS – Curtis 75 run (kick failed), 26-0, 9:27.

CHS – Jake Wilkes 41 interception (pass failed), 26-6, 5:07.

3rd Qtr

EHS – Curtis 72 run (Smith kick), 33-6, 3:55.

4th Qtr

EHS – Shane Wickens 14 pass from Andrew Blessinger (kick failed), 39-6, 2:09.

EHS – Daniel Wilson 41 run (kick failed), 45-6, 1:40.

Individual statistics

Rushing – Edgewood: Schuyler Curtis 9-184, Levon Bellemy 16-172, Andrew Blessinger 2-56, Daniel Wilson 4-47, Logan Burkhart 2-14, John McGlothlin 2-11, Ethen Jacobs 1-3. Cloverdale: Logan Abner 13-40, Jake Smith 3-11, Parker Watts 12-6, Jake Wilkes 2-5, Xavier Evans 2-2, Brayden Blevins 2-1, Hunter Fox 1-(-5).

Passing – Edgewood: Curtis 9-14-1 127, Blessinger 1-1-0 14. Cloverdale: 5-17-0 43.

Receiving – Edgewood: Bellemy 3-49, David Brown 2-29, McGlothlin 2-17, Tyler Martin 1-21, Shane Wickens 1-14, Parker Hall 1-11. Cloverdale: James Johnson 2-24, Wilkes 1-10, Smith 1-6, Abner 1-3.

Next game: Cloverdale (0-3) hosts Cascade next Friday night for homecoming.