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MARTENSDALE — Smiles adorned the faces of the Clarke football sideline much longer they did on any Friday night a year ago.
When all was said and done after the final whistle, a whooping, hollering and leaping bunch of Indians bounded into the air as the coaching staff exchanged forceful embraces.
The feelings following Clarke’s 45-0 win at Martensdale-St. Marys were a long time coming after a winless 2017 campaign.
Second-year head coach Duane Matthess held a tight grip around senior captain Riley Domina for a longer time than any of the other embraces.
Friday was just the one step in what Matthess hopes is a program-changing process.
“It’s about them getting to experience a tidal wave of changing the culture here at Clarke,” Matthess said. “Really establishing a different type of legacy, that’s kind of what we’ve been hammering home with the kids. You have a great opportunity to establish a new legacy that’s going to affect generations of kids that come after you.”
The moment left an impact on Domina as well.
“It was more just a me and him moment. Just realizing what we’ve had to go through, we’ve done a lot of individual camps,” Domina said. “It’s finally paying off. It shows what hard work can get you, even in a program that isn’t normally successful.”
While the final score demonstrates a game without much strife, the early action left plenty of doubt in the air.
On its first drive, Martensdale-St. Marys marched from inside its own 20 before Clarke’s defense came away with a stop on fourth down pushed back against its own red zone.
Following runs of 52 yards by Domina and 38 yards by Payton Winship, Brian Avalos booted a field goal that started an impressive kicking night. Avalos booted six extra points successfully after his field goal started the scoring for Clarke.
Early in the second quarter, when Amani Fry read the eyes of Blue Devils quarterback Jack Franey, he floated out to the flats and stepped in front of the pass, taking it just over 20 yards to for a pick-6. Franey ended the night 7 of 14 passing for 99 yards through the air.
“Amani’s pick-6 really changed the momentum of the game for us,” Matthess said.
Fani Fry added a fumble recovery later in the contest.
Clarke employed its new, unconventional throwback offense, reminiscent of the wing T, to three more touchdowns in the first half. The Indians utilized deception through motion, fake handoffs and further trickery to befuddle the Blue Devil linebackers.
Clarke 45, MSTM 0
Clarke 3 28 14 8 -45
MSTM 0 0 0 0 -0
The Sentinel-Tribune recently made the decision to post around half-length articles online while still including all articles at full length in print. For the reasoning around this decision, READ HERE.