ADDISON, Ala. – Addison welcomed into lovely hot and humid A.G. Hicks Stadium their archrivals from across the Lake, the 2A Winston County Yellow Jackets. The Jackets were not very good guests as the Jackets large and heavy offensive and defensive lines actually dominated Addisons lines enroute to a more than convincing 14-0 victory. The score didn’t sound too bad but missed Addison opportunities in the first half and no offense in the second half until the final drive of the game did in the Bulldogs. Make no doubt, the best team won tonight.
Addison kicked off and on the very first play of the game, Winston County running back Chris Clemons let Addison know it was going to be a long night as he scampered for twelve yards and a first down. Clemons would end up eclipsing the 100-yard mark and scoring both touchdowns before the evening was through. Addison’s defense, who didn’t play badly in the first half got the stop and forced a punt.
Addison took the ball at their own 38-yard line and began a very nice time-consuming drive running on all the plays with the exception of two. On a key third and fourteen, Jed Wilkins scampered for 21 yards and a first down. Wilkins then found Braden Luker for a 14-yard completion to bring the ball down to the Jacket 34. Two Luker runs later had the ball down to the 21-yard line with Addison having a first down. The Jacket defense stiffened and held the Dogs on a fourth down try from the Jacket 16-yard line. It would be the closest the Dogs would come to scoring all night.
After holding WCHS to a three and out, Addison drove once again down to the Jacket 28-yard line but once again failed to come away with any points. The first quarter ended with no score.
The Bulldog defense kept forcing the Jackets to punt after short drives, but the offense couldn’t capitalize. Addison would threaten one more time late in the second quarter as they drove down to the Jacket 18-yard line but a Yellow Jacket sack and then several ineffective plays for the Dogs gave the ball back to the Jackets with 1:25 seconds to go in the half. On the Jackets’ very first play of the drive, Jacket QB Landon Kelley, who is built pretty solid for a quarterback and surprisingly mobile for a bigger guy, hit a streaking Will Elliott down the middle of the field for a huge 40-yard gain. Three plays later, Mr. Clemons scampered untouched 32 yards for a Yellow Jacket touchdown. The extra point was made by Garrett Lewis and with only 21 seconds left in the half, Addison trailed 7-0. If you were a Bulldog player, you had to feel bad because you pretty much had your way in the first half and still trailed in the ball game. At the half WCHS led 7-0.
Addison got the second half kickoff and did absolutely nothing with it. Three plays and three yards later they punted to the Jackets and the WCHS line took over. WCHS then started running the ball gaining 4 yards here and 4 yards there. Kelley, who played a fine ballgame, would then hit a third down pass for a first down. Kelley and Clemons led the Jackets down to the Bulldog 31-yard line when Addison stood tall and held Kelley for no gain on a crucial fourth down stop.
With Addison’s defense giving the team a spark with the fourth down stop, it was the offense’s turn to drive down and tie it up. Well, three plays and three yards later, a shanked punt gave the Jackets the ball back at their own 47-yard line. WCHS then used 11 plays for 53 yards for the game sealing touchdown at the 10:32 mark of the fourth quarter. Kelley would find Eli Moore twice on third down to extend the drive and finally allow Mr. Clemons to power it in from two yards out for his second touchdown of the night. It was apparent that Mr. Clemons was the best player on the field this night. Lewis added the PAT to give WCHS the 14-0 lead.
To Addison’s credit, they did not quit and put together a solid and quick drive using the arm of Wilkins as he found Kayden Dyson for a nice scramble 36-yard pass play. Addison got down to the Jacket 25 but once again came away with nothing.
The teams traded possessions with Addison actually getting into Jacket territory on two more possessions but being unable to convert drives into points.
The game ended with WCHS winning a hard fought 14-0 victory. WCHS opens the season 1-0 and will host East Lawrence next Friday. Addisons drops to 0-1 and will travel to Vina on Friday.
Losing to your arch rival three years in a row is tough but everything is not lost for the Bulldogs and their season goals. This was a non-region game and Addisons hopes for a region championship and solid playoff season are still in front of them. They are going to have to get more consistent play from about every position group and it can and will probably happen.
Unofficial stats
Addison ran 35 running plays for 101 total yards. Addison had 26 passes for 134 yards. Addison ran 61 total plays for 235 yards. WCHS ran 41 running plays for 207 total yards. WCHS had 11 passes for 82 total yards. WCHS ran 52 total plays for 289 total yards.
Addison’s Wilkins was 12 completions out of 24 attempts for 130 yards.
Addison was led in rushing by Wilkins who had 16 carries for 55 yards. Luker had 10 carries for 27 yards. Hayden Holland had 2 carries for 14 yards.
Addison was led in receiving by Dyson who had 3 catches for 57 yards. Luker had 5 catches for 42 yards. Jacob McLamb had 3 for 34 yards.
Defensively Addison had Luker with 8 tackles, Holland had 5, Jordan Hubbert had 5, Tanner Lawrence and Caleb Vintson had 4 each. Bobby Williams and Dyson had 3 each.
WCHS had Kelley go 6 out of 11 for 69 yards in the passing game.
WCHS was led by Mr. Clemons who had 17 carries for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Kelley had 20 carries for 56 yards.
WCHS was led in receiving by Elliott with 2 catches for 47 yards. Moore had 2 grabs for 18 yards.
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