By MONTE DUTTON

It would be a gross exaggeration to claim that Newberry’s Kenton Caldwell defeated Clinton by himself.

The senior gave the Red Devils what they seldom ever get:

Hell.

The Bulldogs stormed into Wilder Stadium and thrashed the Red Devils, 41-12. The gaudy performance is likely to enhance Newberry’s ranking in Class 3A – it entered the game tied for sixth – and cost Clinton (1-2) its top slot in 2A.

But the season is young.

“Newberry is going to go a long way in the 3A playoffs,” said Clinton head coach Corey Fountain, “and we’re going to go a long way in 2A.”

Caldwell rushed 22 times for 219 yards and four touchdowns. He completed 19/22 passes for 199 yards and two more TDs. Jamel House caught nine of those passes for 100 yards and took one to the, yes, house.

The game was only 14 minutes, 16 seconds old, when Caldwell scored his third touchdown, and Newberry (3-0) led 20-0. When all to barking stopped, the Bulldogs had accrued 326 yards on the ground and the aforementioned 199 through the air.

It was Clinton’s worst defeat since Daniel eliminated the Devils, 52-7, in the 2021 3A playoffs.

Newberry won the CNNGA Battle of the Belt, awarded to the game’s winner, for the first time in three tries and ended a four-game losing streak to the Red Devils.

Javen Cook led Clinton with 102 yards in 10 carries, but the Bulldogs nearly doubled the Devils in total offense with 525 yards to Clinton’s 267.

About 3,500 fans witnessed the massacre.

It was the first of five Clinton home games. The Red Devils host Chapman and Daniel in the next two weeks.

If no game had been played, it would have been a perfect night. Football success is not a passing fancy – or for that matter, a running fancy – at CHS. Fifty years ago, the Red Devils defeated Myrtle Beach, 14-6, for the school’s third state title. Last year, Clinton won its ninth, 35-6, over Barnwell. The 1975 team was toasted at halftime. The current team was toasted by the Bulldogs, who led 27-12 at halftime and blanked the Red Devils in the second half.

Clinton leads the all-time series, 59-36-1, but the Red Devils haven’t lost two of their first three games since the COVID-hampered campaign of 2020.

“There were some really good things that we did, and there were some really bad things,” said Fountain. “Newberry is a really good team that is really well coached.”

Newberry didn’t stop Clinton. It contained the Red Devils.

“They plays we took all the way, we were undisciplined and got called for penalties,” Fountain said. “We’ve got to make corrections and get back on the horse. A really good team beat us.”

Newberry has won its first three games by a combined margin of 158-26. Chapin (0-3) and Fairfield Central (2-1) visit Newberry in the next two weeks.

Chapman (0-3), Clinton’s next opponent, fell, 56-0, to Boiling Springs on Friday.

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