The Clear Creek Bobcats are back in the win column.
CCMS hosted Union County last Tuesday to continue its Mountain Athletic Conference football slate. UCMS does not have a seventh-grade team, so only one game was played. The Bobcats overcame a pair of turnovers to begin each half, and their defense held strong for a 14-0 victory.
Head coach Willie Dodaro was happy to see the Bobcats bounce back after their loss to White County a week prior.
“Defense really had a big opportunity, and they did a great job,” Dodaro said. “We had another play like Peyton (Chancey) had against White County where he chased a player down after we fumbled. This time, (Douglas) Callihan stopped a touchdown from going all the way back on a punt return. The offense got one more touchdown that gave us a little breathing room.
“It’s all about resilience. After playing kind of an embarrassing game against White with all the turnovers and getting beat 28-20, this was a great growing experience for our group of boys. We were able to get some seventh graders some good experience. So overall, it was a pretty good day for us.”
Union received the opening kick and punted to get the game going. CCMS promptly fumbled on an errant pitch on its first play, and the Panthers took over at the Cats’ 13.
After a short gain, a Bobcat penalty advanced Union to Clear Creek’s 5. From there, CCMS linemen made plays to keep the Panthers out of the end zone. First it was John Cronic making a tackle on third down before Mac Burnette brought the drive to an end with a stop on fourth down.
CCMS took over at its 3 yard line, and Mason West picked up 2 yards on first down. Fullback Peyton Chancey handled the rest. He took the second down dive play 95 yards to pay dirt. While the conversion failed, CCMS led 6-0 toward the end of the opening quarter.
Clear Creek’s next two drives of the half ended with punts. Union punted and turned the ball over on downs and still trailed by six at the half.
CCMS ran a sweep on its first play of the third quarter, and the ball found the ground and Union recovered.
Bobcat lineman Landon Ledford had the next big play for the defense when he ruined the Panthers’ possession with a sack for a 12-yard loss.
CCMS then turned the ball over on downs before Union punted. Clear Creek took over at its 29 and embarked on a 10-play scoring drive. Chancey, halfbacks Douglas Callihan, McCoy Sutton and A.J. Callihan helped move the Bobcats into Panther territory.
On first down from Union’s 29, Callihan took the counter hand off through the left side of the line and issued two stiff arms on his way to the end zone. Chancey added the conversion for a 14-0 CCMS lead in the fourth quarter.
UCMS received two more possessions. Its first fizzled at midfield, and its final drive concluded with Burnette’s second sack of the game.
The win improved the eighth-grade Bobcats’ record to 2-1. CCMS will make its way to Dawson County Wednesday for a 5 p.m. game.