Tucker County outlasts No. 15 Clay-Battelle in OT, 22-14
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BLACKSVILLE - Tucker County survived a huge night from Cody Clovis. Clay-Battelle couldn't survive itself.
Cade Rapp's 1-yard run on fourth down in overtime provided the winning punch on Friday night, as the Mountain Lions pulled past the 15th-ranked Cee-Bees, 22-14.
"There was no doubt he was going to get it and we have all the faith in the world in him," said Tucker County head coach A.J. Rapp, who is also Cade's father. "He plays so hard and he battles. He's our go-to guy."
Rapp powered his way into the end zone in overtime and then held off the Cee-Bees (1-2), who added to their game-long list of mistakes on their possession in the extra period.
On Clay-Battelle's overtime possession, the Cee-Bees had a touchdown pass wiped out by penalty. There was also a high snap and a snap infraction penalty. C-B quarterback Gavin McLaughlin was sacked by Tucker County's Gunnar Carroll on fourth down to end the game.
In regulation, C-B also turned the ball over three times - two interceptions and a fumble - and also came up short on two fourth-down conversion attempts.
"We have a bunch of young kids and young kids are going to make mistakes," Clay-Battelle head coach Aaron LaPoe said. "At one point, I really thought we should have been up 21-0, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. That was kind of the difference in the game."
Tucker County (2-2) may have been tempted to shoot Clovis in the foot, but even that may not have slowed down the Clay-Battelle senior wideout.
He scored on a perfectly placed deep ball for a 65-yard touchdown on the game's first play and then just kept coming up with one big play after the other.
"We eventually doubled him, and even that didn't do a whole lot," A.J. Rapp said.
"Cody is just such a special athlete that they can put two on him and it's not going to matter," LaPoe said. "That was a fabulous game by him."
How fabulous? Get this, Clovis finished with nine catches for 243 yards and two touchdowns. His second TD grab - a 30-yarder - came with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter to cut Tucker County's lead to 14-12. C-B sent the game into overtime when Corey Coen blocked a punt midway through the fourth quarter and the ball rolled out of the end zone.
The Cee-Bees had an opportunity to win the game in regulation. After taking the free kick, Clay-Battelle reached the Tucker County 22 with 2:38 remaining. A bad snap lost 14 yards and C-B ended up having to throw a Hail Mary on the final play of regulation. Clovis caught that one, too, but he was stopped well short of the end zone.
"That was probably our best play against him all night," Rapp said. "I do have to give our defense some credit, though. They kept us in the game after they scored on the first play."
Don't let the overtime drama fool you, this was not the prettiest of games. Tucker County turned the ball over two times on fumbles and also came up short on three fourth-down conversion attempts.
"There were so many turnovers in this game by both teams," Rapp said. "Those turnovers just make you sick."
Tucker County's running game got going in the second half. Cade Rapp had two scoring runs and quarterback Branson Hyre added another, but the Mountain Lions mustered just 126 rushing yards on 43 attempts, an average of 2.9 per carry.
C-B was worse, running for 30 yards as a team on 22 carries. Both teams did better through the air. Hyre passed for 183 yards on 15 of 23 passing, while McLaughlin passed for 275 yards on 13 of 29 passing.
"I thought last week against Valley (Wetzel) that we had jelled together, and we could run the ball," LaPoe said. "It became pretty apparent tonight that we can't run the ball. You're not going to win if you can't get more yards than that on the ground."
Box score
TC 0 8 6 0 8-22
C-B 6 0 6 2 0-14
SCORING SUMMARY
C-B-Cody Clovis 65 pass from Gavin McLaughlin (run failed)
TC- Branson Hyre 1 run (Cade Rapp pass from Hyre)
TC-Rapp 1 run (run failed)
C-B-Clovis 30 pass from McLaughlin (pass failed)
C-B-safety, punt blocked out of end zone
TC-Rapp 1 run (Brayden Bennett pass from Hyre)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Tucker County-Rapp 23-69 2 TD, Hyre 20-57 TD. Clay-Battelle-Caleb Hall 14-48, Dominick Sakacsi 4-22, McLaughlin 2-(-23), Team 2-(-17).
PASSING: Tucker County-Hyre 15-23 183. Clay-Battelle-McLaughlin 13-29-2 275 2TD.
RECEIVING: Tucker County-Bennett 6-82, Evan Hexom 4-47, Rapp 2-17, Evan Witt 2-15, Legend Harper 1-22. Clay-Battelle-Clovis 9-243 2 TD, Hall 3-24, Eli Cottrell 1-8.