Clay runs over Ridgeview

Friday's final:

Clay 20, Ridgeview 7

Both teams had suffered lopsided losses the last two

weeks at the hands of powerhouse programs, but

somebody had to win Friday night.

The only guarantee was a team from Clay County was

going to win when the Clay Blue Devils (3-3, 1-1

District 4-3A) collided with the host Ridgeview

Panthers (3-4, 0-1 District 5-4A).

It was homecoming for the Panthers, but the Blue

Devils forgot to bring the welcome mat. Clay ran for

325 yards, kept its offense on the field for over 30

of the 48 minutes in the game and didn’t allow the

Panther passing attack to find a rhythm in a 20-7 win.

“We were really impressed with (Tyler Bass) and (Riley

Hill) because they are good athletes and Tom schemes

well to get the ball to his best athletes,” said Jim

Reape, Blue Devils head coach. “We wanted to control

the clock and keep their offense off the field.”

The Blue Devils kept the clock in their hip pocket by

running the ball over and around the Panthers. Senior

Quinton Battle was Clay’s prominent steam roller,

running for 192 yards on 26 carries. Battle carried

the ball on two fourth downs and kept both drives

alive by pounding through the pile. It looked like he

was stopped short on the team’s second fourth down

conversion attempt, but he bounced off of a couple

defenders and his second effort helped him to eight

yards on the run.

“Quinton is a credit to his family for pushing to get

it together at school,” Reape said. “He’s got his

grades going in the right direction and he could play

Division II football. Somebody would like to have that

hammer on their team.” 

Sophomore Rodney Perry complimented his Blue Devil

teammate by darting to the outside, and rushed for 93

yards on 16 carries, including a 17-yard touchdown

run.  Blue Devils quarterback, senior Steven Hearons,

scored on a two-yard sneak, and freshman Teddy Monroe

gained most of his 45 yards on a 36 scamper to the end

zone.

“We have a problem stopping the run right now,” said

Tom MacPherson, Panthers head coach. “We don’t have a

lot of size on defense and I expect teams we play will

start putting a lot of people in the running game

until we can stop it. We are going to see a steady

dose of it until we can stop it.”

Even when the Panther defense managed to get a stop,

their offense was hounded by Clay defenders and had

little time to find a rhythm.

Panther junior quarterback Derek Hatcher was looking

for his favorite target, Tyler Bass, most of the

night. The problem with that connection was Blue Devil

senior Stacey Burney was between the two of them most

of the night. 

Burney blocked two passes and closed on Hatcher when

he decided to pull the ball down and run a few times

during the game.

Bass provided one of the few Panther highlights when

he found a seam in the coverage and returned a kickoff

72 yards to the Blue Devil four-yard line. Five plays

later Hatcher tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to

junior J.J. Adams.

Both teams continue district play next week. Clay

hosts Matanzas and Ridgeview travels down Blanding

Boulevard for a showdown with Middleburg.

Scoring Summary

Clay 7 0 0 13- 20

Ridgeview 0 0 0 7- 7

First Quarter

C- Perry 17-yard run (Rizzo kick) 7-0

Fourth Quarter 

C- Monroe 36-yard run (kick failed) 13-0

C- Hearons 2-yard run (Rizzo kick) 20-0

R- Adams 2-yard pass from Hatcher (Hon kick) 20-7