... - Sports - Preps - Fort Mill

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Clover 49, Fort Mill 21

CLOVER — Clover Blue Eagles coach Jet Turner has many horses in the stable, but one in particular shined Friday night.

Tyron Douglas rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns as Clover rolled past winless Fort Mill, 49-21, in the Region 3-AAAA football opener for both teams.

Douglas’s first three runs were masterful as he knocked off runs of 39, 68 and 45 yards. His fourth carry was a 15-yard scamper that answered the Jackets’ first score of the game and gave the Eagles a 28-7 lead early in the second period.

Clover has everyone healthy and looks more like the 2007 Class AAAA Division II champions than the team earlier this season that lost back-to-back games for the first time in three years. Opening region play with the big win makes the early season woes seem like eons ago.

“We are glad to be healthy,” Turner said. “We had a great offensive game tonight, and I cannot say enough about Tyron Douglas. He runs hard, he runs angry and is a great athlete.”

Clover’s offense was efficient. The Blue Eagles scored touchdowns on their first seven drives, and only failed to reach the end zone after Derrick Caruthers returned a kickoff 90 yards to set up a first-and-goal in the fourth quarter.

The only other drive that did not end in six points was the final drive of the game when the Blue Eagles ran out the waning minutes on the clock. The Yellow Jackets’ offense showed some signs of life after struggling through the non-conference portion of the season. Fort Mill piled up 400 yards of total offense, but a couple of mistakes in Clover territory kept the Jackets from putting any more points on the board.

While the execution was better, penalties and turnovers continued to plague Fort Mill. Clover’s Max Elliot picked off Danny Till’s pass and returned it 33 yards to the 1-yard line. Clover quarterback Aaron Miller snuck past the goal line for the score on the next play.

The Jackets came right back down the field and scored on a strike from Till to Dylan Thomas, ending the first half scoring with the Blue Eagles ahead, 35-14.

Thomas was also the recipient of the play of the game on either side. Till dropped back to pass to Trent Butler, but the ball bounced off both Butler and a Blue Eagles defender into Thomas’ hands for a 36-yard pass play.

“I feel like we got better tonight,” Fort Mill coach Ed Susi said. “We are getting into the meat of our schedule and have a lot to work to do, but all I ask of these kids is that they work hard and get better each game. I think they accomplished that tonight.”

CLOVER 49, FORT MILL 21

Fort Mill.....0.....14.....0.....7.....—.....21

Clover.....21.....14.....14.....0.....—.....49

SCORING SUMMARY

C — Ricky Moore 1 run (Joshua Varalli kick)

C — Richard Derderian pass from Aaron Miller (Varalli kick)

C — Tyron Douglas 68 run (Varalli kick)

FM — Max Simons 14 pass from Danny Till (Chris Larson kick)

C — Tyron Douglas 15 run (Varalli kick)

C — Miller 1 run (Varalli kick)

FM — Dylan Thomas 22 pass from Till (Larson kick)

C — Douglas 4 run (Varalli kick)

C — Byron Ratchford 10 run (Varalli kick)

FM — Asa Kryst 3 run (Larson kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

.....FMHS.....CHS

First downs.....21.....16

Rushes-yards.....46-231.....29-352

Comp-Att-Int .....9-20-1.....7-10-0

Passing yards.....169.....121

Fumbles-lost.....1-1.....0-1

Penalties-yards.....5-28.....3-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Fort Mill: Till 12-37, Simons 13-56, Dwayne Grainger 7-60, Asa Kryst 12-67, Ryan Dugas 2-11. Clover: Max Elliot 2-33, Douglas 7-197, Moore 7-48, Miller 2-10, Ratchford 4-38, Derrick Carothers 5-24, Phillip Whitener 2-2.

PASSING — Fort Mill: Till 9-20-1 169. Clover: Miller 7-10-0 121.

RECEIVING —  Fort Mill: Simons 2-27, Grainger 2-29, Butler 2-25, Thomas 2-58, Kryst 1-30. Clover: Derderian 1-7, Chris Lindsay 4-76, Moore 1-34, Kelvin Gibbs 1-4.

RECORDS — Clover 5-2 overall, 1-0 Region 3-AAAA; Fort Mill 0-7, 0-1.