PHOTO: Brady Fox takes a break on the sidelines after his third interception
Brady Fox takes a break on the sidelines after his third interception
For the first time ever, the Claymont football team has nine wins in a season. And they’re not done.
The Mustangs improved to 9-0 Friday night with a 27-13 win over Garaway in a key IVC South contest.
Claymont’s offense did enough to take a halftime lead and the defense took over from there.
Garaway’s 13 points all came in the first half. Three straight Garaway possessions in the third quarter ended in interceptions by senior Brady Fox.
“Those were big,” Claymont coach Buddy White said of the interceptions. “All three of them were in our territory. Brady is a very intelligent guy. He dissects teams and knows what they’re doing.”
The Pirates took a final swing at the end zone in the final minute of the game, but Parker Haney intercepted a tipped pass to end the final threat and send Claymont into the victory formation.
“We got a big play from Cam Stout in the second half and our defense took over,” said White. “We did what we were supposed to do … we won the game. That’s what we came here to do and we feel very fortunate to have accomplished that.”
Claymont coach Buddy White walks the sidelines during a break in the action Friday.
Claymont’s defense has, indeed, been the star of the show. They Mustangs have five shutouts in nine games and have surrendered just 37 points, an average of just 4.1 points per game.
“We have some really good guys up front,” White said, discussing his defense. “Our front six is very, very good. They’re very disciplined and they seldom miss tackles.
“I expected our defense to be good, I just didn’t expect them to be this dominant.” Claymont opened the scoring on a 33-yard run by Jackson Jinks.
Colson Kuemerie answered for the Pirates late in the first quarter.
Calvin Edwards scored for Claymont in the second quarter and the Mustangs threatened again late in the first half. A blocked punt, Edwards scored a second touchdown that made it 19-7.
Garaway’s last score came on a 51-yard bomb from Grady Miller to Trey Miller. The Mustangs reached the 1 with seconds to play in the half, but Garaway got the stop.
Claymont got the only touchdown of the second half of a 20-yard run by Stout.
“This is the first time in school history that a Claymont team has won nine games and that’s really, really big,” White said. “These kids came together and made decisions. I asked them before the season what they thought our record would be and they said Coach, we just want to win every game.”
The Mustangs face a huge challenge next week when they host unbeaten Indian Valley. The winner ends up as the IVC South champions and finishes unbeaten.
‘Wow, they’re going to be good and they’re not going to beat themselves,” White said of the upcoming game against Indian Valley. “We’re going to have to play our best game. We can’t play like we did tonight with all the drive-killing penalties. IV is a very disciplined team and Coach Lancaster does a phenomenal job of keeping those kids ready. They never panic. They come out and play and they play hard. They beat you because most teams can’t play four quarters with the intensity level they play, but we accept the challenge and we’ll be here next week.
Photo credit: JacqueP Photography LLC
“I knew I was approaching the record, but at the end of the day, that’s not what this is about. It’s more about getting to the next week successful and healthy. Thankfully, we got both done tonight.”
