Thursday, October 8: Clements 17 - Elkins 26
The Varsity Rangers suffered their first defeat of the season Thursday night, falling to Elkins 26-17. The Rangers are now 5-1 for the season, and 1-1 in Zone play.
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Wednesday, Oct 7: The JV White team ... Clements 6 - Elkins 22
After another hard fought game at Elkins High School, the Ranger JV White team was defeated 6=22. With 28 seconds left in the game, the Rangers had a third and goal from the Elkins’ 6 yard line, trailing 14-6. The potential game-winning touchdown pass was intercepted and returned 98 yards to seal the Elkins win. The Rangers battled throughout, playing solid defense and moving the ball, and in the third quarter, Danny Perez connected with Justin Allsop on an 8 yard scoring strike for the Rangers’ lone score. The future of the White team is uncertain due to a loss in the numbers; players will most likely be moved to form one JV team.
Wednesday, Oct 7: The JV Blue team ... Clements 20 - Elkins 8
The
Clements JV blue team played their best team game of the season in a big
20-8 win over previously undefeated Elkins. The Rangers had success in
all 3 phases of the game as the offense was again able to dominate the time
of possession, the defense largely shut down the high-powered Elkins
offensive attack, including forcing 2 turnovers, and the special teams
forced one turnover that led to a score and blocked a punt that was picked
up for a touchdown.
After
forcing Elkins to a 3 and out on the first drive of the game the Rangers
promptly marched down the field, however the drive unfortunately stalled out
inside the 10 yard line leaving the Rangers empty-handed. The game
then turned into a defensive struggle until the 2nd quarter when
Adam Blankenship, who did a great job filling in for an ill Dan Debord,
boomed a punt that was muffed by the Elkins returner leaving the Rangers
with great field position. The Clements offense did not let the
opportunity and Jacob Khalil scampered into the endzone to give the Rangers
a 6-0 lead that they would ultimately carry into halftime.
The
Rangers received the ball to start the half however a fumble on their first
offensive play gave the Knights the ball at the Clements 10 yard line and it
took them only one play to get in the endzone and make the score 8-6.
With adversity staring the Rangers squarely in the face quarterback Eric
Nguyen and the Ranger offense rose to the occasion and came back with a big
answer. On a drive that ultimately would take 9 minutes and cover 85
yards Nguyen led the Rangers down the field including completing two big
passes under heavy pressure for 1st down to Adam Blankenship and
newfound receiving threat Mike Seitz. Jacob Khalil again got into the
endzone for his 2nd touchdown on the night as the Rangers were
able to convert and big 4th and inches at the goalline.
Khalil then scored on the 2 point conversion to put the Rangers up 14-8.
The
Rangers defense continued to play great football and after forcing a 3 and
out deep in Elkins territory Taylor Ashford blocked a punt which was scooped
up by Terry Gallagher who raced into the endzone to give the Rangers a 20-8
lead. Elkins final scoring threat ended when Kurtis Beck made his 2nd
interception on the night on a nice interception where he had to do a great
job of getting his feet down in bounds to preserve the interception. The
Rangers defense played great all night. Andrew Akunna, who was playing
inspired football after being allowed to play tight end in goalline packages
and to wear a tight end number due to the illness of Dan Debord, and Scotty
Clark both recorded sacks on the night. The linebacker corps played a
great game highlighted by Daniel Jeffrey making several tackles for loss.
The entire secondary of Kurtis Beck, Taylor Rogers, Dajuan Arrington, Kevin
Moran, and Corey Lawson all did an excellent job slowing down Elkins
high-powered passing attack and didn’t allow any big plays through the air.
The
win improves the Rangers to 4-1 in district. Clements is now in a
3-way tie for 1st
place along with Elkins and Travis. The Rangers hope to continue to
build on this victory down the stretch in district play.
Wednesday, Oct 7: The Freshman White team ... Clements 0 - Elkins 0
In the battle of the unbeaten teams, both Clements White and Elkins played to a scoreless draw for all four quarters. Though the Rangers were a little bit more stingy than the Knights (not allowing the Knights to get into scoring position), the Rangers failed on multiple attempts to score though so close. This included a field goal opportunity with 50 seconds left in the game.
Clements marched down the field with less than 3 minutes to go in the game. Piece by piece and yard by yard the rangers finally reached scoring position with 50 seconds left in the game. 4th down and 6 yards for the score, the Rangers brought out the Field Goal unit. After a brief time out, we lined it up and kicked it away. As it went up it was falling short quickly and an Elkins player quickly ran it down and caught it. The rules state that the ball is live, so the player took off running down the field. Disaster almost struck as he crossed the 50 yard line in a mad dash to his own endzone. A Clements Ranger finally pushed him out of bounds around the 40 yard line with only 30 plus seconds to go.
The score still being zero to zero, the Elkins Knights had a few futile attempts in the final seconds to try and score. After a defensive stand both Clements and Elkins shook hands at midfield and let the rivalry stay on the field. Next year, we await another great game, just with the Rangers coming out on top.
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Wednesday, Oct 7: The Freshman Blue team ... Clements 21 - Elkins 14
On Wednesday night the Freshman Blue team battled the rival Elkins Knights at Kempner Stadium. As usual, the ground game got the Rangers off to a fast start. Trevor Moore scored from 60 yards out on the second drive of the game. Elkins kept their next drive going with a fake punt conversion which would lead to a touchdown. Two point conversions would fail, after one quarter the Rangers led 7-6. Demarcus Cobb helped the Rangers strike back with a 50 yard touchdown run. On the very next possession Moore would strike for the second time from 40 yards out. At halftime the Rangers led 21-6. In the 3rd quarter the Knights would cut the Ranger lead to 7 with a 40 yard touchdown run. The 4th quarter was filled with big stands by the Ranger defense, including a goal line stand with less than two minutes remaining. Cam Bayne led the charge with a marvelous interception. Jaime Richards and Connor Murphy pitched in with big plays also. Final score: Rangers 21- Knights 14.
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