By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton High School put an abundance of football riches on display Friday night.

Oh, come on. They score a bunch of points all the time.

Yes. The final score was Clinton 63, Aiken 6. As they say on commercials, But that’s not all!

The halftime score was 51-6. Aiken (0-4) was really achin’. Green Hornets haven’t been so downtrodden since Kato left.

The Red Devils did what they wanted.

Head coach Corey Fountain was cautious in his praise, noting that his Red Devils “need to cut out the big plays.”

Aiken had one.

“If we can cut out the big play and make [the other team] sustain a drive, I think we can get that goose egg (shutout) we’re looking for,” Fountain added. “Still, defense played a great game all night long. Special teams played well. We were able to win the field-position battle.”

Any way they wanted it. That was the way they needed it. Any way they wanted. It was quite a Journey in front of about 3,500 Wilder Stadium fans, about 3,470 of whom were decorated in red.

It seemed as if every quarter was played one side of the field, the one leading to Aiken’s goal line.

Clinton (4-0) gained 263 yards rushing and 182 passing, amassed 21 first downs to Aiken’s six and kept the ball for over six more minutes. The Red Devils had 195 of those rushing yards and all of the passing in the first half. The clock ran merrily along for most of the second.

Tushawan Richardson had another stellar night. He hit 8/10 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns. The junior has thrown three TD passes in consecutive games, which is rare in these parts.

The Red Devils scored five touchdowns on the ground, three through the air and one by the Bonneville Salt Flats. Zay Johnson scooped up a blooped kickoff, right after Aiken’s only score in the second quarter, and shifted his inner Millennium Falcon into warp drive. He was past the Green Hornets’ coverage before they knew he was gone. The 68-yarder put Clinton up, 37-6, with 7:31 remaining in the second quarter.

Twelve Devils rushed. Seven scored. Four caught. Kadon Richardson caught four passes and scored once on a reception and once, the last one, on the ground when he was inserted at quarterback.

Javen Cook rushed four times for 58 yards but didn’t score. Tray Cook rushed five for 55 and didn’t score. Zane McLendon rushed 10 for 50 and scored twice.

After Johnson’s rocket run, the second most memorable occasion of the night was the unintentional fake punt turned into a frantic first down by Lukas Kuykendall, who is by far the smallest lad on the squad. It was about midway through the fourth quarter when a low snap eluded him. He fumbled with it a bit, corralled it and headed around the corner, down the right sideline, with Hornets in hot pursuit. Kuykendall got the first down in the same way that the Roadrunner avoided Wile E. Coyote.

It was magnificent in its way. And hilarious.

Poor Aiken. It had a runner, JaMarcus Jenkins, with a game-high 89 yards. The principal quarterback, Luke Jones, hit 8/16 for 72 yards, 43 of which were on a scoring strike to Jameat Williams. The Green Hornets gained a respectable 4.7 yards per play. Of course, Clinton’s norm was 9.1. The Red Devils stopped Aiken on fourth down all three times they tried.

It just wasn’t much of a contest. Clinton led, 30-0, before the Green Hornets scored, and scored 33 more after.

Yet again, penalties plagued the Red Devils, and the game in general. Clinton had 10 for 100 yards. Aiken had eight for 63.

The going gets tougher next week when eighth-ranked Chapman (3-1) comes to town. The state’s top-ranked Class 3A school, Dillon, lost Friday night, meaning that third-ranked Clinton and Chapman, are likely to move up. Daniel (3-0) should take over the top slot.

“We’re gonna be ready one week at a time,” Johnson, a Cincinnati commit, said. “I think we’re ready to be challenged. I think we’ll be ready.”

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