Clay wins season-opener with a shutout

Rivalry Renewed

Clay 17, West Nassau 0

The Clay High Blue Devil football team renewed its

rivalry with the West Nassau Warriors in Callahan

Friday night, and took home a 17-0 victory.

Road trips were quite regular between the two schools

in the 70s and 80s, but the two teams haven’t met for

over a decade, until Friday night.

The West Nassau Warriors (0-2) started rumbling down

the field on the first sustained drive of the night

with about eight minutes left in the first quarter.

Five first downs later the Warriors were on the

doorstep of the Blue Devils end zone. The running

game, anchored by new fullback Steven Kern, moved the

chains, but the Warriors decided to switch things up

and pass into the end zone. Warrior  A.J.

Higginbotham’s pass was tipped and it fluttered into

the hands of Blue Devil Alex Walker, who downed it in

the end zone.

“I’ll lose sleep over that one,” said Chris Hicken,

West Nassau Head Coach. “We shouldn’t have thrown it,

but that’s hindsight now. We didn’t play bad, we’re

just a young team and some times we play like it.”

The game was scoreless until about eight minutes left

in the second quarter. The Blue Devils (1-0) started

on their own 20-yard line after the Warriors missed a

field goal. The able legs of Blue Devil running back

Quinton Battle helped move the team to the Warrior’s

20 –yard line and an 80 yard drive finished on a

20-yard touchdown pass from Stevon Hearons to Rodney

Perry.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Blue Devils added

some insurance with a 25-yard field goal from Luke

Rizzo and a 6-yard touchdown pass from Hearons to Gabe

Burden.

“We didn’t take advantage of some of our

opportunities, but we got our feet and made some

plays,” said Jim Reape, Clay Head Coach. “(Quinton)

Battle ran effectively for us. We knew they were a

bigger team, and we are what we are. We had to rely on

our team speed and finesse.”

Battle led the Blue Devils in rushing with 135 yards

on 24 carries, and he also caught three passes for 33

yards. Perry ran for 51 yards on eight carries and

caught one pass for 20 yards. 

The Warriors’ Horace Wilson led the team in rushing

with 32 yards on 13 carries. Kern finished with 40

yards on six carries. Garrett Hammett led the Warrior

in receiving with 43 yards on three catches.

Both defenses recovered two fumbles each and the Blue

Devil free safety Ben Carter grabbed Clay’s second

interception of the night.

Clay plays at Andrew Jackson on Friday and West Nassau

travels to Union County.

Scoring Summary

Clay       0  7  0  10 -- 17

West Nassau    0  0  0  0  -- 0

Second Quarter 

C – Hearons 20-yard pass to Perry; Rizzo kick

Fourth Quarter

C –  Izzo 25-yard field goal

C –  Hearons 6-yard pass to Burden, Rizzo kick