Saturday, October 17: The Varsity Rangers beat Marshall 17-14 and are now 6-1 overall, 5-1 in district play, and 2-1 in zone play.
Marshall took an early 8-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Rangers kept it close when Lawrenzo Minor scored on a 41-yard touchdown run, with an extra point kicked by Brett Dunn. Trailing 7-8 at the end of the first quarter and 7-14 late in the first half, the Rangers pulled closer with a field goal by Dunn, making it 10-14 at halftime. The third quarter was scoreless, and the Rangers took the lead for the first time half-way through the fourth quarter with a short touchdown pass into the endzone from Austin Decell to William Dille. The extra point kicked by Brett Dunn made the score 17-14, with a little over 8 minutes left to play. Marshall never gave up, and kept the game exciting right up through the final Marshall offensive play, with 2 seconds on the clock, but our defense stopped them at mid-field to seal the victory.
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Thursday, Oct 15: The JV Blue and White (combined) team ... Another Rangers victory 14-6 !
It wasn’t pretty but the Clements High School JV team escaped from Marshall High School with a victory to improve to 5-1 in district. The Rangers had to overcome over 100 yards lost to penalties but the Rangers were able to persevere and a dominant effort on defense and special teams helped to seal the win. The offense did a good job protecting the football and staying focused despite all of the penalties.
Eric Nguyen sneaked it in from a yard out to start the scoring and Dan Debord added the extra point to give the Rangers an early 7-0 lead. Marshall however answered back to make the score 7-6 at half. Jacob Khalil scored in the second half to give the Rangers a 14-6 lead which they managed to hold on to until the end. There was a bizarre play in the 4th quarter when Adam Blankenship was en route to what was shaping up to be a long touchdown reception. The play was suddenly blown dead however as Blankenship raced down the sideline because of a call that most football fans have never seen before. Apparently, in his excitement Adam’s mouthpiece somehow fell out of his mouth causing the official to blow the play dead.
The defense played great all night and forced 3 turnovers, highlighted by a big forced fumble when Marshall was threatening in Ranger territory where Umair Karowadia stripped the ball which was quickly scooped up by Reid Whittington who raced up the Ranger sideline for a nice run. The win was critical in keeping the Rangers’ district championship hopes alive as an Elkins tie with Hightower last week leaves the Rangers tied atop the district 23-5A JV standings with Travis with identical 5-1 district records. The Rangers face a huge test this week as head west to face the district’s fourth place team, the resurgent Bush Broncos.
Thursday, Oct 15: The Freshman White team ... Clements 20 - Hightower 21
Thursday, Oct 15: The Freshman Blue team ... Clements 34 - Marshall 6
Last Thursday the Rangers traveled
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Michael Henderson helped stamp out any momentum the Buffs hoped to gain with his interception on the first drive of the second half. The interception led to Trevor Moore’s third touchdown of the game. Early in the forth quarter Tyler Scott would tack on to the lead with his first touchdown of the year. The offensive line (Jack Grover, Matt Cook, Chris Day, Jacob Hathcoat, Cam Bayne, and Brandon Goldberg) helped pace the Ranger ground attack all game long. Other standouts on defense were Zane Gardner, Jack Grover, Michael Neely and Alec Burris. The Rangers (6-1) take on the Bush Broncos this Thursday.
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