C-B overpowers bigger Gilmer County, 28-11
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BLACKSVILLE - Despite facing a huge size advantage along the offensive and defensive lines, Clay-Battelle found a way to limit Gilmer County and come away with a 28-11 Homecoming victory on Friday night.
The Cee-Bees (2-2) found a way to shut down the Gilmer County ground game, control the time of possession - especially in the second half - and grinded their way to the win.
After the two teams traded four-and-out turnovers on downs, Clay-Battelle took advantage of great field position to take a 6-0 lead when Caleb Hall capped a six-play, 24-yard drive with a 1-yard TD plunge.
Gilmer County (1-3) responded with an 11-play drive that stalled deep in C-B territory, then the Cee-Bees countered with their own long, 15-play drive.
The critical difference? Clay-Battelle scored on a fourth-and five end around to dynamic senior wide receiver Cody Clovis, and sophomore quarterback Gavin McLaughlin connected with Dominick Sakacsi for the try to boost the C-B lead to 14-0.
An excellent two-minute drive from the Titans resulted in a booming 35-yard field goal from Cody Smith that cut the deficit to 14-3 at the break.
After the Titans impressive late drive, Clay-Battelle wanted nothing more than to begin the second half with an extended scoring drive - and the C-B offense produced just that twice in a row.
A clutch 8-yard TD pass from McLaughlin to Sakacsi on fourth down capped a 50-yard, 8-play drive, then following a quick Titans three-and-out, the Cee-Bees scored again after a 9-play, 74-yard backbreaker when Daman Coen, subbing for a temporarily injured McLaughlin, found Eli Cottrell alone in the end zone from 23 yards out.
Even though Gilmer County's Evan Amos took the subsequent kickoff to the house from 65 yards to cut into the lead, the C-B offense responded with a 15-play drive that netted no points, but burned all but five minutes of the second half clock to ice the win.
"You know, on paper, based on the size of the guys on their roster, we were outmanned tonight," Cee-Bees head coach Aaron LaPoe admitted, "and we knew they wanted to basically run right through or over us. But our guys really have a strong identity on defense - we do some pretty unique things schematically and we practice defense first every day - and we fly to the ball, we tackle well, and they really did the job tonight.
"Offensively, we are still figuring out what our identity is going to be. We have a sophomore quarterback who is growing into the position with every snap he takes, and there are some very young players like our freshman center Kayleb Knight who went up against some very big guys tonight and didn't back off an inch. We have a bunch of tough, competitive kids who love to play the game, and it's our job as coaches to put them in the best position to succeed. Tonight, everybody did their job, and I think we can use this game as a springboard to build some momentum in our push to make the playoffs."
The Cee-Bees travel to No. 4 Meadow Bridge next Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Box score
Gilmer 0 3 8 0 - 11
Clay-Battelle 6 8 14 0 - 28
SCORING SUMMARY
CB-Caleb Hall 1 run (try failed)
C-B-Cody Clovis 5 run (Dominick Sakacsi pass from Gavin McLaughlin)
GC-Cody Smith 35 FG
C-B-Sakacsi 8 pass from McLaughlin (Daman Coen kick)
C-B-Eli Cottrell 23 pass from D. Coen (D. Coen kick)
GC-Evan Amos 65 kickoff return (Roddick Page run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING: Gilmer-Remington Huffman 4-10 45, Tyler Ratliff 0-1 0, Page 3-8-1 17. Clay-Battelle-McLaughlin 8-18 93 TD, D. Coen 2-2 61 TD.
RUSHING: Gilmer-Huffman 4-0, Ratliff 6-24, Drayden Shackleford 1-2, Ashton Hamric 4-6, Triston Ratliff 3-11, Page 1-(-9). Clay-Battelle-Hall 26-92 TD, Cody Clovis 1-5 TD, Corey Coen 5-41, Sakacsi 3-7, McLaughlin 5-(-7).
RECEIVING: Gilmer-Hamric 2-25, Tyler Ratliff 1-15, Shackleford 3-15, Huffman 1-7. Clay-Battelle-Clovis 5-102, Daman Coen 3-21, Cottrell 1-23 TD, Sakacsi 1-8 TD.