By Jim McCarter
MICHIGANTOWN — Clinton Central’s football season came to an end Friday night, one game shy of a trip to Lucas Oil Stadium and a shot at a Class A state championship.
Clinton Central was in the game through three quarters, but No. 3-ranked Fountain Central scored twice in the final 9:00 to pull away for a 42-14 victory in the southern semistate game.
Fountain Central (14-0) advances to face No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic (13-0) in the Class A state championship Friday at Indianapolis.
The Bulldogs closed with a 9-5 record following a tournament run that netted their fourth sectional championship and first regional championship. The semistate game brought out perhaps the largest crowd to ever watch a Clinton Central football game. Estimates in the press box went as high as 3,000 as fans for both teams filled the stands and lined the fences all the way around the field.
Fountain Central came to Michigantown ready to play. The Mustangs received the opening kickoff and scored in just three plays, capped by a 19-yard run by Trent Spear. Clinton Central blocked the point-after attempt to trail 6-0 with 10:54 left in the first quarter.
Spear scored again on the first play of the second quarter, this time from two yards. A two-point run gave the Mustangs a 14-0 lead.
“Things didn’t start too well for us,” Clinton Central coach Mike Quick said. “But our kids fought back. I’m proud of our kids. This is my second year here and we’ve had two strong groups of seniors.”
Clinton Central got on the scoreboard on its next possession. Cody Cannaday did most of the damage on that drive. He streaked around right end for 60 yards to the Mustangs’ 8, and finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
Another big play by Fountain Central, a 36-yard touchdown pass from Scott Moore to Brandon Bowlus, put the Mustangs on top 21-7.
The Bulldogs then put together a 10-play, 57-yard drive to cut the Mustangs’ advantage to just one touchdown, 21-14, with only :49.8 to go in the half. Once again, it was Cannaday who found the end zone, this time from nine yards.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that was plenty of time for Fountain Central to score. Moore hit Zach Robertson with a 48-yard TD bomb on second down to give the Mustangs a 28-14 halftime lead.
“That was a big play,” Quick said. “We thought we would go into halftime with some momentum, then their best player beat us with a double move to go back ahead by 14. It didn’t kill us, but we went from only down seven and getting the ball to start the second half, to down 14.”
After a high-scoring first half, neither team could find the end zone in the third quarter. Clinton Central was still in the game, but couldn’t put up any more points.
“We moved the ball up and down the field in the second half,” Quick said. “We just couldn’t score when we needed to.”
The Mustangs pulled away in the final quarter.
Cannaday finished with 86 yards on 11 carries to lead the Bulldogs, who gave their fans a tourney run to remember.
“These kids earned some respect and set a mark for future teams at Clinton Central to strive for. We had a huge crowd with high expectations, and we want them to expect a lot,” Quick said.
