CMS closes year on 12-game win streak
EL RENO – Week one for the Clinton Middle School football teams seems like an entirely different team and season ago. After dropping both its openers, the Whirlwinds unleashed a 12-game winning streak to complete the season in perfect fashion, thumping El Reno 38-0 in the seventh grade game and 38-6 in the eighth grade game Tuesday.
Both teams ended the season with 6-1 records. The combined records of the Clinton football programs so far this season comes out to 26-3 with the seventh through ninth grade finishing at 19-2 overall.
Clinton Middle School head football coach Clay Chittum said the kids rallied back to complete an impressive season, despite not having a lot of preseason work.
“Having a six-game winning streak is always nice,” he said. “We got off to a rocky start, and the preseason didn’t help us a lot with the lack of a real two-a-days-type fall workout and only having one scrimmage and no film off that (scrimmage). Once we got things organized, it fell into place from there.”
In the seventh grade team’s win Tuesday, the Whirlwinds decimated El Reno with a 30-0 run in the first half. Garrison Rhoads rushed for a 57-yard TD off the sweep. Quarterback Cooper Sulley then found Adan Gutierrez on a hitch-and-go from 18 yards out to extend the lead. Clinton scored both of its two-point conversions to make it, 16-0.
Gutierrez wasn’t finished yet. He intercepted a pass on defense the next drive, returning it 28 yards for another score. Finally, he had his touchdown hat trick, snaring a 44-yard pass off a fade route from Sulley for the final score of the half with seven seconds remaining. The two scores made it a 30-0 Clinton advantage at the break.
The large lead allowed the seventh grade to play a lot of reserves in the second half. Rhoads finalized the win in the fourth quarter with a nine-yard touchdown run. Zac Adams scored the two-point conversion with a run off-tackle to make it, 38-0.
Chittum was happy to get the win. He added that the defenses’ shutout was helped tremendously by a progressing youngster at strong-side defensive end.
“The kid that stood out to me in the seventh grade game was Montiel Crane at strong-side defensive end,” he said. “We’ve had a number of injuries there. He kind of had to step up, and he struggled with some things for a while. But, he played exceptionally well. He got better and better as the season went on. I saw blow-delivery from him, and he got better with his hands. I was proud of him.”
Chittum, as he’s talked about all season, said the seventh grade group was able to run plays normal middle school groups usually can’t. He was able to call more pass plays with this group. Sulley and Gutierrez rewarded him all season with a special connection in the passing game. Chittum said Moises Cantu didn’t get many reps thrown his way this year, but he’s also a great receiver for CMS.
The eighth grade game followed a similar formula. This time Clinton took a 24-0 halftime lead. Trey Bennett bookended the scoring with an 18-yard TD run off the blast and a 57-yard TD run to end the half. In between his two scores, fullback Javion Hill ran for a nine-yard score. Quarterback Grady Gaunt helped convert all three two-point conversions, rushing for two and throwing another to Nick O’Neale.
Clinton finished the scoring in the second half with another Hill touchdown run, this one from four yards out. Caleb Edwards then scored on a 16-yard run, and Tra’Vonne Williams converted the two points to complete the 38-6 win. El Reno scored on the final play of the game with the reserves in.
“Overall with those guys, I was really proud of them,” Chittum said. “They gelled about week three, week four, and we just kept getting better each week. They started emerging as the team I kind of believed they would eventually be. It was just a matter of how fast that process would start to happen. They didn’t have a lot of success in the past. There’s always a little bit of doubt when you go 1-7.
“To their credit, they fought about as hard as any team I’ve ever coached. Early in the season, there were a lot of opportunities where things didn’t go well in games. Until about week six, we were always playing from behind, but they found ways to win. I’m exceptionally proud of them.”