GLENVILLE – The triple C’s of Clay-Battelle were straight A’s on Friday night.
Caleb Hall, Caleb Snodgrass and Corey Coen – maybe that’s the four C’s – combined for 331 yards rushing and averaged 13.8 yards per carry, as the 10th-ranked Cee-Bees rolled over No. 15 Gilmer County, 58-6, inside I.L. & Sue Morris Stadium.
“I call them the Bash Brothers,” Coen said of Snodgrass and Hall. “The first couple of games this season, I wasn’t really running the ball. We kind of figured it out as the journey went on that I can break loose, too.”
There was a good reason Coen – the Cee-Bees quarterback – wasn’t called upon to be a runner at the start of the season.
“We really didn’t know he was able to do it,” C-B head coach Aaron Lapoe said.
Coen, who said he grew up playing fullback in youth football, looked every bit the part of a runner against the Titans (2-3), rushing for three touchdowns, while also throwing a 39-yard score to Cody Clovis.
“Since high school, I’ve always been a thrower,” Coen continued. “I think (LaPoe) knows I’m pretty tough. We started mixing in some QB runs into our packages and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
On the other side, Clay-Battelle (3-1) completely shut down the Titans running game to the tune of negative (-29) yards, setting the Cee-Bees up for their big showdown against No. 4 Meadow Bridge next week. Meadow Bridge remained undefeated on the season following a 55-12 victory against Valley Wetzel on Friday.
C-B also blocked a punt, recovered a fumble, intercepted two passes and picked up three quarterback sacks on defense.
The eye-catching stat of the night belonged to Hall, who finished with 196 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries. He also added a pick-six 30-yard interception return in the fourth quarter for the final score.
Snodgrass added 70 yards on six attempts and scored touchdowns from 18- and 28-yards out.
Coen put some major points on the board. His touchdown runs covered 1, 5 and 14 yards. He also ran for two 2-point conversions and threw a two-point conversion to Trey Huggins and finished with 22 points in the game.
“He runs like a fullback,” LaPoe said of Coen. “He wants contact. He can slither his way in the hole. He’s a natural runner. That helps a lot on offense, because now you can have an extra blocker or you can do some things with angles and get the defense going the wrong way. Having a mobile quarterback is great.”
Having a mobile quarterback also expands LaPoe’s options on offense.
“You can spread the carries around and not have to worry about giving one dude 39 carries each night,” he said. “It’s more fun for the team, but also it’s harder to defend.”
That’s how Coen sees it, too.
“I still consider myself a pass-first guy, but depending how the runs start going, I definitely see how that works out,” Coen said. “We’re definitely a run-heavy team. I like watching Caleb and Caleb be successful. They’re great guys.”
Box score
C-B 16 26 8 8 – 58
Gilmer 6 0 0 0 – 6
SCORING SUMMARY
C-B–Corey Coen 1 run (Coen run)
C-B–Caleb Snodgrass 18 run (Snodgrass run)
Gil–Cody Smith 15 pass from Remington Huffman (run failed)
C-B–Coen 5 run (Coen run)
C-B–Snodgrass 28 run (pass failed)
C-B–Coen 14 run (run failed)
C-B–Cody Clovis 39 pass from Coen (pass failed)
C-B–Caleb Hall 24 run (Trey Huggins pass from Coen)
C-B–Hall 30 interception return (Gavin McLaughlin run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Clay-Battelle–Hall 12-196 TD, Snodgrass 6-70 2 TD, Corey Coen 6-65 3TD, Damon Coen 2-13, McLaughlin 3-3, Team 3-(-6). Gilmer County–Ashton Hamric 10-2, Tyler Ratliff 7-(-10), Huffman 5-(-18), Team 1-(-3).
PASSING: Clay-Battelle–Corey Coen 3-9-1 49 TD. Gilmer County–Huffman 11-31-1 129 TD, Roddick Page 1-2-1 6.
RECEIVING: Clay-Battelle–Clovis 2-42 TD, Braden Ponceroff 1-7. Gilmer County–Ratliff 6-69, Smith 1-15 TD, Drayden Shackleford 2-38, Lexington Grogg 3-13.
