A ball control offense early and two big plays late carried Clay County to a 42-6 win Thursday over the visiting Harlan Green Dragons.
The Tigers’ strong ground game spoiled the first game in Brian Williams’ tenure as coach of the Green Dragons. Harlan won its opening game last Friday over Hancock County, Tenn., via forfeit.
Clay County drove 49 yards in a 49-yard drive to start the game, hurting the Dragons time and time again over the left side of the offensive line. Carre went in from the 3 with 6:43 left in opening quarter. Jay Stevens hit the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
After a three-and-out, Clay went 60 yards in another nine-play drive. Carr picked up two yards on a fourth-and-two play, then tight end Aiden Wagers caught a 16-yard pass to set up Jayden Woods for a 5-yard TD run. An errant snap on the extra point attempt kept the score at 13-0 with 10:18 left in the second period.
Hunter Clem picked up the Dragons initial first down on a 19-yard run on fourth down. Baylor Varner teamed with Darius Akal for an apparent 31-yard touchdown wiped out by a personal foul penalty. Varner completed an 11-yard pass to Clem later in the drive to get back over half of the yardage lost on the penalty, but the drive stalled after two incomplete passes.
Aiden Carr’s 13-yard one-handed touchdown catch pushed the lead to 19-0 with 2:26 left in the half. Trenton Reid followed with a two-point conversion.
Akal picked up a first down as the clock ticked down in the first half, but Trenton Reid ended the threat when he picked off a Varner pass as time expired.
Aiden Wagers capped a 10-play drive on the Tigers’ first possession of the second half when he went in from the 2 with 49.2 seconds left in the third quarter. Stevens’ extra point pushed the lead to 28-0.
Harlan picked up two first downs on its first drive of the second half, one on a pass from Varner to Clem and another on a recovered fumble by Sedrick Washington.
The Dragons broke through for their first score after a 40-yard run by Jonah Sharp set up Varner’s 2-yard touchdown run. Sharp was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt.
Carr answered a few seconds later with a 49-yard TD run. Stevens’ extra point made the score 35-6 with 9:20 left in the game.
The Tigers closed the scoring and started a running clock with a 50-yard TD run by Carr with three minutes to play. Stevens hit the extra point.
Harlan (1-1) returns to action Sept. 6 at home against Pike Central. Clay County (2-0) travels to Williamsburg on Sept. 6.