By MONTE DUTTON

Everything was back to normal at Wilder Stadium on Friday night.

The Clinton offense was in high gear, zooming about in a 46-21 conquest of Chesnee that opened the Red Devils’ Region 1-2A schedule. “Zoom” is what running back Javen Cook goes by, and the shifty junior riddled the Eagles with 129 yards and two touchdowns in 16 carries, hiking his season total to 812 yards.

Zoom, zoom, zoom / We’re going to the moon.

The senior quarterback, Tushawan Richardson, looked fit and sharp in the aftermath of Helene, which cost Clinton two games. Richardson hit 9/14 passes for 178 yards, spreading the touchdown tosses around to Chris Boyd for 47 yards, Devin Swindler for 30 and Noah Garrett for 19.

“I think this was the kind of game our offense was looking for,” said the QB. “We ran the ball well. We threw the ball well. It was good to get back out there and play ball again.”

Six rushers combined for 276 yards. Swindler caught four passes for 62 yards. Lukas Kuykendall was 5/5 on extra points and kicked a 28-yard field goal.

The offense was lively for both sides in Clinton’s first game against a school in its new classification. The Red Devils are first-time callers on Landrum next week.

Chesnee (2-4, 0-1 Region 1-2A), in fact, ran up 330 yards, 263 of them on the ground and 70 by Jayden Williams. Four Eagles rushers picked up 40 or more.

But the Eagles amassed 248 of their 330 yards in the second half, when Clinton head coach Corey Fountain was freely emptying his bench. Clinton led, 29-7, at the half.

Oddly, Clinton (4-2, 1-0) scored on the final play of the first half – a one-yard run by Rhett Gilliam – and Chesnee scored on the final play of the game, on Kale Thrift’s one-yard run.

Fountain likened the game to Clinton’s earlier win over Chapman (49-27), when the Panthers scored late and often.

“I thought we really played well,” said Fountain, “and I think the (storm) break helped us by getting some players who were banged up healthy again. It was really great to go play again, and I think our guys really dedicated themselves to getting ready.”

Wilder Stadium, where about 4,000 filed in, was a friendly place. The Red Devils hadn’t played at home since Aug. 30 and at all since Sept. 20. A home game against Union County was canceled, and a visit to Liberty moved to Nov. 8 by ravages of Helene.

Twenty-one days seemed like an eternity. Afterwards, fans, players and coaches were hugging and talking about how much they appreciated one another even more than they do every week.

Chesnee likely bused home feeling encouraged by its second half, and nothing in it dampened Clinton spirits, either. Happy is the team when everybody plays.

At the beginning, the Red Devils went to work right away and produced a 30-yard connection from Richardson to Swindler that, coupled with Gilliam’s conversion run, put Clinton ahead to stay, 8-0.

After the Eagles punted, Clinton capped a 10-play, 76-yard drive with Richardson’s 19-yard toss to Garrett, and Kuykendall’s placement boosted the edge to 15-0 with 1:09 remaining and at the end of the first quarter.

K.J. Proctor’s eight-yard scoring run got Chesnee as close as it would get with 8:41 left in the half, but that only made the Red Devils angry. Clinton scored twice more on Richardson’s 47-yard connection to Boyd and Gilliam’s run on the last play of the half.

Chesnee quarterback Evan Lawter completed 6/14 passes for 67 yards. Paul Martin accounted for 38 of them on one play.

The Red Devils added three more second-half scores on Cook rambles of eight and 12 yards and Kuykendall’s field goal.

Lawter’s one-yard run put the Eagles on the board again in the fourth quarter, and Thrift’s score at the end.

Wellpilgrim.com is back in my dingy living room, where there is electricity and wi-fi again. For now, I have closed my offices at Zaxby’s and Bojangles’, and I wish to acknowledge restaurants and, for one day, the public library, for keeping me minimally in business.

I hate to ask for help because there are so many more needy than I, but …

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who support my efforts, not to mention those of the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

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Read my NASCAR novels, Lightning in a Bottle and Life Gets Complicated, both concerning the irreverent adventures of Barrie Jarman. Download them for your devices, or order in paperback. Lightning in a Bottle is available in an audio version.

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