NEW LEXINGTON - Bradley Clapper completed one pass in the first half.
Clapper got right in the second half, and that was a good thing for the Panthers.
After completing 1 of 11 passes in the first half, New Lexington’s
senior quarterback accounted for a pair of secondhalf touchdowns and
saw his defense pitch a second-half shutout in a 19-10 win at Jim
Rockwell Stadium.
Clapper ran for 156 yards in the second half as the Panthers (1-3, 1-2 MVL) dominated field position.
After trailing 10-6 at halftime and missing a scoring opportunity when
Caden Miller intercepted a pass in the end zone — his second of the
game — the Panthers caught a break when the Ceramics fumbled away
possession on the next play.
Two plays later, Clapper was in the end zone after a 6-yard touchdown
run. The two-point conversion failed, as the Panthers led only 12-0 with
5:24 left in the third, but it proved the deciding score.
Clapper finished with 159 yards on 23 carries, offsetting four interceptions.
“We went in and told him he’s got to settle down in the second half,
because he was trying to do too much,” New Lexington coach David Rupe
said. “Just be patient, don’t dance and just hammer it. When he started
running north and south, he was something.”
Clapper knew he had to make up for lost time.
“I threw way too many picks,
honestly,” Clapper said. “My line started blocking really well and
that’s what won us the game. We really wanted to beat these guys and get
that win.”
The
Panthers held the Ceramics (0-4, 0-3) to minus-8 yards in the second
half, as a front seven led by linebacker Antonio Villaloboz and lineman
Seth Russell harassed quarterback Landon Hinkle and shut down the
Ceramics’ running game.
The key was widening the defensive ends and fulling plays inside in the
second half, essentially taking away the Ceramics’ outside running
game. The pass rush, led by Russell, was equally lethal.
“A lot of it was just getting off blocks,” Russell said. “We saw on
film they ran a lot of boots and pitches, so we adjusted to that.”
Clinging to a 12-10 lead late in the fourth quarter, Villaloboz broke
free on a blitz and sacked Hinkle on third-and long, essentially putting
the game away. No play was bigger in the second half.
The Ceramics punted to midfield, and Clapper added the finishing
touches with a 15-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-5 play with 55
seconds left.
“I think
it came down to in the locker room, not only adjustments, but just the
kids getting the confidence of knowing they could go out there and win
in the second half,” Rupe said. “All of the adversity of the turnovers
and the short fields we gave up, just all of that going on, I’m really proud of our kids and the coaches did a great job. We had some great defensive stands.”
New Lexington got on the board a few minutes later when Clapper found
Kamron Bowen for an 81-yard catch-and-run down the sideline that saw
him outsprint the Ceramics’ secondary.
Crooksville went three-and-out on all but its final possession in the
second half, and that one ended in a turnover on downs deep in its own
territory. It finished with just 101 total yards.