The Clinton Dark Horses traveled to Jacksonville where they faced off against Northside on Labor Day, it was war in the trenches as the Monarchs inched out the the win 25-21 and gave the Horses their third straight loss to start the season.
The Horses had to play on Labor Day due to the rescheduling of Friday night’s game compliments of terrible weather conditions. Thanks to that the battle between these two teams was able to add extra excitement to the holiday.
The first quarter was all Northside, they got on the board first as they scored on a rushing touchdown a little over midway through the first quarter putting them ahead 7-0. They would score immediately after that on the Horses next drive as Clinton quarterback Kris Williams was hit on a play as he tried to throw. This led to an interception that the Monarchs returned for a touchdown giving them a defensive score and a 13-0 lead after a missed point after attempt.
The Dark Horses started showing signs of life in the second quarter as they scored within the first few minutes bringing the game to 13-7 after a successful point after kick. Williams scored that touchdown on an 8-yard rushing attempt.
After some back-and-forth stalled drives the Horses defense would make a big play getting an interception with about eight minutes left in the half. They weren’t able to make anything happen on the offense as they were forced to punt on that series.
The excitement died down after that as neither team found the end zone until the tail end of the quarter. The Horses defense wasn’t able to hold Northside off in the last minute of the second quarter. The Monarchs drove downfield and scored another rushing touchdown just under a minute to go.
The two-point conversion attempt was no good as they failed on pass play but would still end the half with a 19-7 lead over Clinton and all the momentum going into the locker room.
Most of the third quarter was more stalled drives as both teams defenses were holding strong. The Horses didn’t give up fighting as they finally found a scoring drive with around five minutes left in the in third. AJ Williamson would get that TD for Clinton on a rushing play and brought them once step closer to Northside 19-14.
Not much else happened until under a minute left when the Clinton defense came up with its second interception of the game. The momentum swung in Clinton’s favor going into the fourth quarter as their offense prepared to take the field again.
This time the Horses made something happen after the turnover as Jaheim Faison found some room and broke off a 40-yard run that led to a touchdown. The point after kick was good as Clinton took the lead 21-19 with a little over nine minutes left in the game.
Though the offense couldn’t get it going after that, neither could Northside’s as the defense held strong for Clinton. The Horses looked to be maintaining control of the gamr until about the five-minute mark. Punting deep out of their own territory, the Dark Horses special teams lapsed, allowing the Monarchs to nearly return the punt back for a score.
The defense did all it could, but with good field position after the punt return, Northside was able to score the TD on a subsequent pass play. The point after kick failed again, but the Monarchs took the lead at 25-21. Special teams had another mistake on the kickoff after that score, as no one caught the ball out of the air as it took a few bad bounces before someone picked it up.
No return was made as Clinton’s offense prepared to take the field for the last time, running its two-minute offense deep out of their own territory.
They were driving the ball downfield effectively and Williams had a huge run that put them past midfield as the offense was moving the ball well and threatening to take the lead again. It wasn’t meant to be for the Horses as the Northside defense would come up with an interception to kill the drive.
With only seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining for Clinton the Monarchs took a knee and clinched the win in the nailbiter, 25-21.
Leaders for the Horses were Williams, who had 58 rushing yards, 17 passing yards and a touchdown. Williamson led the defense with 12.5 tackles along with Donovan Sloan with 0.5 sacks.
With the loss, the Dark Horses fall to 0-3. They will have two weeks to prepare for their next game on the road against Southern Lee on Sept. 15.
