By MONTE DUTTON

WOODRUFF — The old rivalry just ain’t what it used to be.

Clinton (6-2, 2-0 Region 4-3A) and Woodruff (3-6, 1-2) have tussled since dinosaurs started wearing helmets, but the Red Devils’ 36-20 triumph on Friday night at W.L.Varner Stadium was their fourth in a row and seventh out of nine.

The days of Keith Richardson on one sideline and Willie Varner on the other are long gone. The rivalry at hand is being played next Friday, when seventh-ranked Chester (8-1, 3-0) pays a visit to Wilder Stadium. Well, the Cyclones were seventh before they downed Emerald, 48-16.

“Chester’s a physical team, and they’re fast,” said Clinton head coach Corey Fountain. “You’re not going to bust off a big play on Chester. You’re going to have to sustain drives and execute over and over again. On defense, you can’t give up the big plays.”

Clinton-Woodruff was different 10 years ago, and it may well be different 10 years from now. Brett Sloan is the first-year Woodruff head coach, and the Wolverines put up a fight. They scored first, had more total offense at halftime and put up 300 yards for the night. Clinton wound up with more (391) and pulled away in no small part due to a balanced attack. The Red Devils rushed for 281 yards and passed for 110. The Wolverines passed for 270 and rushed for 30 … in 24 carries.

After Woodruff broke on top on T.J. Morris’s 28-yard pass to Kam Taylor (and Joshua Ruiz’s kick), Clinton went to work.

Tray Cook nearly broke the ensuing kickoff. Woodruff squibbed it and most of the coverage outran the kick, which Cook fielded and dashed to the Wolverines’ 37. On the next play, Tushawan Richardson dropped a dime on Zay Johnson, who ran it in. Keegan Fortman’s kick tied the score.

Before the first quarter was over, Cook scored on a four-yard run and the Red Devils led. Ruiz kicked a 31-yard field in the second quarter to get Woodruff back within four. Another Cook, Javen, hiked the Clinton lead with a 16-yard rushing TD, and Ruiz kicked another three-pointer, a 24-yarder, with 1:24 to play in the half, which ended with Clinton up, 21-13.

Woodruff didn’t score again until 24 seconds remained in the game on a 48-yard Morris pass to Aiden Gibson. By then Kadon Crawford had scored on runs of 2 and 1 yard, and the Wolverines had surrendered a safety after a 15-yard loss.

The first half was played mostly in a drizzle, but the rain picked up in the second. The experience may well benefit the Red Devils, who never committed a turnover. Johnson scored a touchdown, caught three passes for 84 yards and intercepted a pass. Richardson only threw eight times, completing five for 110 yards.

Crawford played quarterback for Clinton for parts of the second half, and he was relentless running the “wildcat” keeper, picking up yards at will and crunching many Wolverine defenders.

“We could hammer the ball without handing it off,” Fountain said. “Direct snap, power right, power left and go right at them. It’s fun to punch people like that.”

And, by the way, Woodruff piled up more penalty yards than Clinton. Only six more, but it’s a start. Holding penalties have plagued the Red Devils. Most of Friday’s were of the illegally procedural and in-motion variety, the five-yard kind.

“I thought the offensive line did a good job of pounding the line of scrimmage,” Fountain said, “and D.J. (Clark, the leading rusher with 88 yards in 13 carries) did a good job of sticking his nose in the hole. It wasn’t always a big hole, but he got his yards. That’s what we needed to sustain drives.

“I thought we did well on special teams. I thought we operated kickoffs and kickoff returns the way we wanted.”

It rained. Fortman clanked a field goal off the left upright on the last play of the first half. Both, Woodruff touchdowns were long passes.

But Wilder Stadium is going to rock next Friday, and everything is still on the line and right with the world.

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