By Clay County High School Football Coach Jason Nichols
The Lincoln County High School Panthers invaded Bradley Field this past Friday to take on our CCHS Panthers. Lincoln County is the largest AA school in the state, and this was the first ever meeting between the two schools. WVSSAC reclassification and conferences realigning has hindered each schools schedule. So, the two schools have decided to try to spark a new rivalry.
Lincoln County got on the scoreboard first with a 31-yard field goal. CCHS would march down the field in the second quarter and take the lead when Reece Nichols scored on a 5-yard TD run. After the failed 2-point try, Clay took a 6-3 lead into halftime.
The third quarter continued the defensive battle for the two teams. After a CCHS turnover, Lincoln County scored on a 26-yard TD pass despite the good defense on the play by Isaac Workman. With Lincoln up 10-6, the CCHS Panthers were left scratching their heads.
Clay had pretty much dominated the game and found ourselves on the short end of the scoreboard. With fiveminutes remaining, the defense forced Lincoln into a punting situation and CCHS was down to likely our last possession of the game. That’s when Clay brought out the old Box Formation series and pounded the ball down the field. Reece Nichols scored his second TD of the night and Zack Ferrebee tacked on the extra point to make the final score 13-10, good guys.
The Panther defense was all over Lincoln this past Friday. LB’s Joel Cruickshanks, Zack Ferrebee and Luke Burnette are starting to gain the needed experience as they wrapped up some good RB’s from LCHS. Seniors Ian Smith, Tristan Kent and Ryan Stewart put pressure on the Lincoln QB all night long leading the CCHS defense with a seven-sack night.
Clay picked up our second win of the season and look to get another next Friday as we take on another new team to this year’s schedule. We will travel to Shady Spring High School on Friday, October 21. These teams have met in the past, but Shady has played in the AAA division for some time now.
Please come out and support these boys as they are playing hard and they need your attention and energy. Clay will have Calhoun at home on the 28th and Webster away on November 4 the following weeks.
