At least 10 fumbles; seven turnovers (three on downs) told the story of a sloppy game between the Dixie Hollins Rebels (2-4) and the Clearwater Tornadoes (0-4). What that doesn’t tell is the exciting exchange these two teams delivered in the fourth quarter. This CHS Homecoming game came down to the final whistle and the scoreboard read: Dixie Hollins 13, Clearwater 10.
A 10 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter [Dana Harrington to Alex Valentin] gave Dixie Hollins an early lead. The drive was set up by the first turnover of the game; a mishandled snap that gave the Rebels the ball at the 7-yard line. The PAT was missed.
The Tornadoes would answer though. A 22-yard-field goal from Justus Mullin cut the deficit in half early in the second quarter. There the score would stay, until Rob Yarbrough hooked up with Brandon Leston for a 46-yard-score. Mullins drilled the PAT so Clearwater had a 10-6 advantage with 10 minutes to play.
It would take Harrington only two plays before he connected with Valentin again, a short pass, that Valentin turned into an 84-yard score. This would turn out to be the eventual game-winning score, but with eight minutes to play, the drama was far from over.
Just over seven minutes to go the Tornadoes were looking for an answer. A problem CHS struggled with all night was the shotgun snap, and it hurt them again. A mishandled snap was recovered by Dalton Samon. Now the game looked to be over. A few first down conversions [Clearwater only had one timeout] and Dixie would have its second win of the season.
A stout defensive stand by Clearwater, however, forced a three-and-out. The punt was downed perfectly at the 10-yard line, but CHS still had four minutes AND had shown big play potential (see the 46 yard pass to Leston).
One, two, three, four first downs were quickly strung together through a masterful performance by Yarbrough. He was 6-for-6 passing before he finally misfired. Now with less than one minute to go, no timeouts, facing a third and long, and out of the kicker’s range the Tornadoes had to look for the big play. Yarbrough dropped back, he felt the pressure from Dixie Hollins and tried to make a play. He made three defenders miss, but was tackled just shy of the first down marker.
Now fourth and one, with no timeouts, Clearwater was in a real bind. Time was ticking down. The kicking team ran onto the field. Then off the field, all in a span of about 10 seconds while Leston and his fellow WR tried to make it back to the line of scrimmage. In a last second flurry Yarbrough took the snap and spiked the ball with three seconds left. There was only one problem. He spiked the ball on fourth down and the Rebels took over at their own 30.
A relatively non-eventful three plus quarters turned into one of the most exciting, unthinkable finishers in a game where the teams combined record was 1-7.
Clearwater remains winless [0-4] … Dixie Hollins gets second win of the year [2-4]
Clearwater HC TOM BOSTIC on what adjustments were made at half: “We thought we had them real tired down and we wanted to come out and run the ball better. We wanted to take advantage of the back coming out of the backfield which worked good. We just shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers.”
HC TOM BOSTIC on Yarabruogh’s performance: “He was on the run quite a bit, but this wasn’t one of his better games. I know he had a lot of yards, but it’s when you put it in the endzone that counts.”
HC TOM BOSTIC on how to win next week: “We just got to get ready mentality to go play on Thursday. We got to get better and stop making stupid penalties.”
HC TOM BOSTIC on who are the team leaders: “Kaine Johnson, Michael Jerrido, Rob Yarabrough, they are the main ones, but we are looking for other guys to step up too”
HC TOM BOSTIC on who is seeing action from colleges: [2012 6-2 210 OL] Kaine Johnson; [2012 5-8 160 RB/DB] Michael Jerrido; [2012 6-0 170 QB/DB] Rob Yarabrough; [2012 6-3 205 WR/LB] Brandon Leston.
“We’ve had some [interest], not a lot of big ones, but we’re still waiting on them. Citadel has been through looking at a few of the kids.”
HC TOM BOSTIC on Brandon Leston’s 46 yard TD catch: “He made a great adjustment on the ball right there and he just needs to focus on being more consistent.”
Clearwater QB ROB YARBROUGH on the game: “We came out and we were down, but it was our homecoming and we were all pumped up and ready to go. We came out scored quick, and then they came back. We were able to get our two minute offense going at the end of the game, but our mistakes just killed us.”
QB ROB YARBROUGH on how they changed the tone during halftime: “Coach stood up, threw a chair, got us all fired up and we were ready to go. We wanted to fight. We wanted to win. It’s really disappointing to come out here and not get a win.”
QB ROB YARBROUGH on how HE can improve: “Catching the snap. I don’t know. I’ve been playing football for a long time and I just really take the blame on that kind of stuff. It really doesn’t mean anything unless we win. I guess I did fine, but I’d rather win.”
QB ROB YARBROUGH on his college aspirations.” I’ll hopefully be playing strong safety in college. I’m talking to Citadel and Charleston Southern”
QB ROB YARBROUGH on how to win next week: “We got to come together. Our offense has to come together and put some points on the board. Our defense played great.”