Historic win at Midway

There’s nothing quite like a boiling rivalry game to get your motor revving and for Clinton, they were hopeful this would be the spark they were looking for, as they took on the Raiders of Midway. On the flip side of that coin, though, head coach Barrett Sloan wasn’t willing to let his team sleep on the Dark Horses, stressing to the Raiders that this Clinton team didn’t want to be the first ones to suffer a loss to the Raiders. That’s right, since the two joined one another in conference play back in 2013, Midway has never beaten the Dark Horses in football. A packed house filled Tommy Sloan Stadium on Friday night, anxious to see if this was the year. When the final whistle blew, it was indeed as Midway picked up the historic win, 45-28.

After the opening toss, it was decided that Clinton would get the ball first. The kickoff sailed through the end zone and the Dark Horses lined up at their own 20 yard line. This was a three-and-out for the offense and they were forced to punt it away. After the punt, Midway lined up on their own 30 yard line.

A big run by Ke’Mari McNeill moved the Raiders across midfield but a fumble and a penalty shoved them back into their own territory. This drive ended up being riddled with penalties, but Midway overcame and pushed the ball into the red zone. Then with 5:31 on the clock, Gehemiah Blue took the ball up the middle and cut back to his right for a 15-yard touchdown run. The Raiders then attempted and converted a trick two-point play to put them up 8-0.

Luke McCray’s second kickoff of the game again sailed into the end zone, putting Clinton right back at the 20 yard line. The Dark Horses avoided a three-and-out on this drive, after they picked up a long third down for a fresh set of downs but after an injury timeout, the next three plays did go unrewarded and Clinton had to line up to kick it away. The snap sailed over punter Brandt Sumner’s head and was scooped up and scored by Blue, quickly boosting Midway’s lead. After the PAT, the Raiders led 15-0 with 2:54 left in the first quarter.

Another kick in the end zone put Clinton at the 20 yard line again, looking to make something happen. Just like previous drives, though, the Dark Horses gained minimal yards and were forced to punt the ball away.

At the end of the first quarter, Midway was back on offense at midfield, leading 15-0.

Clinton came as close to a stop as they had all game when they had the Raiders fourth-and-short, but a QB sneak up the middle picked up the yards to gain to extend the drive. One play later, McNeill busted through for a 41-yard touchdown run put Midway further ahead. Another sneak play on the PAT resulted in another successful two points, putting the score at 23-0 with 9:28 left in the first half.

“Foot on the gas,” Sloan hollered at his defense as the Dark Horses strung together a nice little drive. Suddenly, Clinton was picking up five or six yards at a time, and made it out to midfield after again starting at the 20 yard line. Jayden Williams started putting in work for the Dark Horses, biting big chunks of yards out of the field on consecutive carries. With 4:00 to go in the half, Clinton had gotten inside the 20 yard line looking for points. With 3:06 left in the half, Williams finished off the drive that he essentially carried, running it in from nine yards out for the score. Clinton’s PAT was blocked by Rudy Perez, but the Dark Horses had some magic going, now trailing 23-6 with 3:06 left in the half.

Midway lined up at their own 41 yard line after the kickoff, looking to see if they could get that score back. They got the ball deep, down to the 5 yard line, but ran out of time there.

As it was, the Raiders led 23-6 at halftime.

When play resumed, Midway received the ball and sent their offense onto the field at their own 22 yard line. On a long third down, Tanner Williams threw an interception and Clinton’s offense lined up at the Raiders 35 yard line, itching to make another big play to fire up the Dark Horse faithful. They gradually worked their way further into the Midway zone, but they were shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. Their drive was ended on a fourth down pass breakup in the end zone and the Raiders had the ball going the other way.

They methodically worked the clock and took chunks of yards out of the field with each play. Then, with 3:32 left in the third quarter, McNeill reeled off a big 41-yard touchdown run. He also converted the 2-point try and the score was now 31-6.

Clinton’s next drive wasn’t very bountiful and they were forced to punt it away. With 42 seconds left in the third, Midway was lined up on their own 29 yard line.

The game rolled over into the fourth quarter, after which the Raiders went three and out and punted the ball back to Clinton. With 10:16 left in the game, the Dark Horses were back on offense. After converting a fourth down, Williams finished the drive with a 25 yard touchdown run with 7:29 left in the game as Clinton was still showing some fight. Their two-point try again failed and the score was 31-12.

After the Dark Horses botched an onside kick attempt, the Raiders were lined up on the Clinton 48 yard line. All it took was one play for Nathue Myles to bust open down the right sideline for all 48 yards for the touchdown. The PAT was converted and the score was now 38-12 with 7:20 left in the game.

Clinton, though, was still not done fighting. They weren’t just rolling over in defeat as they continued to get big plays to set themselves up for another score. With 5:05 left in the game, Ryan McNeill ran the ball in from two yards out. This time, the Dark Horses converted the two-point try and the score was 38-20.

To further make things interesting, Clinton recovered the onside kick attempt at the Midway 48 yard line, doing everything they could to reel the Raiders back in late in the game. Indeed, a 30-yard touchdown pass to McNeil and a converted two-point try made things extremely interesting at 38-28 with still 4:06 left in the game.

On the next onside kick attempt, though, the ball didn’t roll 10 yards and Midway got the ball on the Dark Horse 45 yard line. Clock management was now Midway’s number one priority. They did just that and ended up getting a score out of it when Blue broke free up the middle on a 30-yard touchdown run. The PAT was good and with 1:15 left, the Raiders were back ahead 45-28.

Starting at the 20 yard line had become pretty routine for the Dark Horses as that’s where they started this next drive. Time was not on their side, as they were out of timeouts and down to just 1:00 to go.

Indeed time ran out and for the first time in school history, Midway took down Clinton in varsity football with the 45-28 victory.

“That team right there (Clinton) is sneaky,” said Sloan after the game. “They can get back in the game real quick. Hats off to those guys, they play hard every week no matter what.”

He continued saying, “We gotta to do a better job of finishing games but hats off to our guys for coming out and working hard and doing their job and knowing what they’re supposed to do.”

And in the end it was a joyous “Go Raiders!”

With the win, Midway is now 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. They hit the road to Fairmont next week for their next game.

Clinton is now 0-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They will be at home taking on West Bladen next Friday.