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Clovers happy to finally get in winning column
CLOVERDALE — Logan Abner and the other nine Cloverdale seniors knew two things going into Friday night’s football game with visiting Brown County.
They were tired of losing, as they had done in their first five games of the season, and they were not going to lose on their Senior Night.
The seniors, Clover fans, coach Tom Winders and everyone wearing green was happy afterwards, as the Clovers scored 20 fourth-quarter points to record a 26-8 comeback win.
“It felt great to win this game,” Abner said. “We didn’t start off too well, but I wanted to win on Senior Night so bad. We all did.
“My best friends are all seniors on this team, and it means everything to us,” he added.
The first quarter was scoreless, and no one dented the scoreboard until Brown County picked up a touchdown with 4:32 left in the first half on a one-yard pass from quarterback Noah Carter to Brandon Fleischman.
The Eagles added the two-point conversion and led 8-0.
Cloverdale quickly responded, though, on its ensuing drive.
Taking over at their own 22, the Clovers marched 78 yards in seven plays. Senior quarterback Parker Watts hit sophomore receiver James Johnson for a 34-yard TD pass to help the Clovers cut the deficit to 8-6 at the half.
The second half was all Clovers, however.
Coach Winders saw his defense turn up the intensity and shut out the guests for the final 24 minutes of play.
“I believe in this team,” Winders said. “We’ve been in some ballgames this year, and we have lost come close ones. Tonight we got down a little early, but the boys have a lot of fight in them.”
Abner has been the workhorse in the backfield for the Clovers this season, but the emergence of junior speedster Jake Smith — along with Jake Wilkes on occasion — makes it tougher for opposing defenses to key on Abner.
“Jake Smith is a fast kid, and all we have to do is get those seal blocks and he’s gone,” Winders said. “James Johnson, too, has added a lot to our offense. That first touchdown he had was outstanding.
“He has great hands, and we’ve been wanting to get him the ball more often,” he added. “Our offense is tougher to guard when we have a lot of weapons.”
Abner likes the additional help, also.
“At the beginning of the game they were all over me,” he said. “Jake Wilkes and Jake Smith both ran the ball, and that opened up things for me.
The third period was played to a scoreless draw, despite the Clover being in Eagle territory several times.
The Eagles clung to their 8-6 lead entering the fourth period, and the Clovers were able to stop them on downs at the 26 on the first drive of the period.
The combination of Smith and Abner drove the ball downfield quickly, but it was the sneaky Watts who provided what would be the game-winning score.
Taking off on a bootleg around the right end, Watts ran untouched for a 25-yard score with 8:53 to play in the game.
“Those were big plays on those keepers,” Winders said. “He was cramping up a little bit, but Parker Watts is developing into that leadership role very well and led us down the field.
“He’s very smart about running out of bounds and sliding before taking hits.”
The Clovers also scored on their final two drives. Taking over at the Eagle 45 after a short punt, Watts marched his team to a score in seven plays with Abner scoring from three yards out.
The Clovers stopped Brown County on downs at its own 39.
Smith ran for 28 yards on first down to start the final drive, and senior Wyatt Helterbrand closed out the scoring with a four-yard TD run.
The Clovers travel to Spencer next week to play winless Owen Valley, but the Clovers are not taking anything for granted.
“We don’t ever want to look past anybody,” Winders said. “The teams that have played us honestly knew they were in football game. We haven’t given up too many easy wins.”
Abner agreed.
“We can get on a little roll here, but we just can’t go in there and think we’re going to beat them,” he said. “We have to go in there and play hard, and get off to a better start.”
| Brown County | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 |
| Cloverdale | 0 | 6 | 0 | 20 | — | 26 |
Second quarter
BC — B.Fleischman 1 pass from Carter (B.Fleischman pass from Carter)
C — Johnson 34 pass from Watts (run failed)
Fourth quarter
C — Watts 25 run (Watts run)
C — Abner 3 run (run failed)
C — Helterbrand 4 run (run failed)
| BC | C | |
| First downs | 15 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 21-50 | 47-282 |
| Passing yards | 191 | 46 |
| Passing | 15-32-2 | 5-9-1 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-55 | 3-36 |
| Punts-avg. | 3-34 | 3-24 |
Individual statistics
Rushing — BC: Fleischman 1-(-6), Carter 9-9, Walsh 8-24, Popp 3-23. Cloverdale: Abner 19-69, Smith 13-133, Wilkes 9-52, Watts 4-24, Stevens 1-4, Helterbrand 1-4.
Passing — Brown County: Carter 15-32-2 191. Cloverdale: Watts 5-9-1 46.
Receiving — BC: Huls 3-24, Oswals 3-58, B.Fleischner 4-48, Smith-Harden 1-17, Walsh 3-14, Popp 1-30.