Football | 10/21/2023 1:11:00 PM
After holding a 7 point lead well into the 2nd half, the Arrows dropped a heartbreaker to the Tupelo Golden Wave by a score of 42-28 on Friday night. The loss drops the Arrows to 0-2 in Region 2-7A and 1-7 overall. The win moves Tupelo to 3-0 in Region 2-7A and 7-2 overall. Tupelo also clinched a playoff spot with last night's win. Clinton now needs a win against Germantown at home next Friday or a win at Madison Central in the season finale and some help to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Tupelo got the scoring started with an 11 yard pass from QB Jeremiah Harrell to WR Braylon Matthews. After multiple procedure penalties, the PAT was No Good and the Golden Wave held a 6-0 lead. The Arrows responded with a 26 yard pass from Senior QB
Sam Semi to Senior RB
Brady Torrence. Senior K
Hayden Wolfe's PAT was good, giving the Arrows a 7-6 lead. In the waning seconds of the 1st quarter, following a 71 yard punt by Wolfe that pinned Tupelo at the 5 yard line, Tupelo went 95 yards in 2 plays and scored on a 61 yard pass from Harrell to JQ Witherspoon. The Golden Wave successfully coverted a 2-point attempt to take a 14-7 lead into the 2nd Quarter.
The Arrows tied the ballgame halfway through the 2nd quarter when Semi connected with Torrence again from 27 yards out to make the score 14-14. Tupelo responded quickly on a 48 yard pass from Harrell to Tyreke Darden to push the score to 21-14. The Arrows tied the game on a 3 yard Touchdown rush by Junior RB
Jakobe Williams. The Arrow defense then stopped the Tupelo offense just before halftime, sending the teams to the break tied at 21.
In the 2nd half, the Arrows began the 3rd quarter with an 82 yard touchdown drive capped by a 54 yard pass from Semi to Sophomore WR
Jaydann Hollins to take a 28-21 lead. Midway through the 3rd quarter, Tupelo moved the ball inside the 10 yard line before an interception by Senior CB
Veshone Malone. Tupelo then drove their next possession inside the red zone again before failing on a 4th down attempt, turning the ball over on downs. 2 plays later, however, the Arrows fumbled the ball and Tupelo recovered it at the 2 yard line. The Golden Wave then scored on the final play of the 3rd quarter to tie the score at 28.
On the first play of the 4th quarter, history repeated itself when the Arrows fumbled on their first play of the drive and the ball was recoverd by Tupelo at the Clinton 17 yard line. Tupelo scored 3 plays later to take a 35-28 lead. The Arrows would punt and then Freshman DL
Dallas Johnson would recover a fumble around midfield two plays later. Tupelo's defense came up with a huge sack on the ensuing drive, forcing a punt, and then the Golden Wave offense put together a 5 minute Touchdown drive to seal the game at its final score of 42-28.
Statistically for the Arrows, Semi was 14 of 23 through the air for 228 yards and 3 TD. Hollins had 5 receptions for 124 yards and a TD, Torrence had 6 receptions for 81 yards and 2 TD, and
Jakobe Williams had 7 carries on the ground for 15 yards and a TD. Defensively,
Chad Holiday led the team with 7 tackles along with
Veshone Malone. Senior DL
TJ Spann had 6 tackles, and Senior LBs
Lucian Price and
Michael Johnson had 5 tackles each.
The Arrows return to action next Friday night when they host the Mavericks of Germantown. It will be Senior Night as well as the Pink Out game in the fight against breast cancer.
