LOUISVILLE — Giving up two onside kicks and one blocked punt led to three first-half touchdowns put Clarksdale High School in a 45-point halftime hole at Louisville in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night.
The Clarksdale Wildcats (7-5, 3-1) were unable to bounce back as their season came to an end with a 59-0 loss to the Louisville Wildcats (12-1, 4-0).
Trailing 7-0 in the final minute of the first quarter, Clarksdale sophomore Josh Hollins punted to Louisville senior Claretavious Triplett, who returned it to the Clarksdale Wildcats 15. However, Clarkdale was called for an illegal substitution and had to re-kick at its own 5.
Louisville junior Billy Houston recovered a blocked punt in the end zone with 23 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.
Two Clarksdale punts were blocked during the fourth quarter in a 21-16 first-round home win against Itawamba Agricultural High School.
Louisville coach Lawrence Estes said that did not impact his decision to take the penalty and force Clarksdale to punt from its own 5.
“We just got the guys ready to play tonight,” Estes said. “They’re good ballplayers. Anytime you rise to the occasion, that’s what happens.”
Clarksdale sophomore Sammie Ray was unable to handle Louisville senior Elijah Wilkes’ kickoff with 7:33 remaining in the first half. Louisville senior Kristian Hopkins recovered the kick at the Clarksdale 21 with his team already ahead 28-0.
Three consecutive false starts put Louisville in a first down and 25 situation, but a 19-yard pass from senior quarterback Deonte Yarbrough to senior receiver Alvius Haynes gave the Louisville Wildcats a first down at the Clarksdale Wildcats 6. Senior running back Kevon Jackson ran in a 6-yard touchdown on a wildcat formation the next play to extend the lead to 28-0.
Louisville senior Ashanti Cistrunk recovered an Wilkes onside kick at the Clarksdale 38 with 3:45 to play in the first half. Jackson capped off the drive two plays later with a 38-yard touchdown run to give the Louisville Wildcats a 42-0 lead.
“From a blocked punt to two onside kicks, it just got bad and we just couldn’t control it,” Clarksdale coach Henry Johnson said. “It’s just snowballed on us and we couldn’t stop it.
“I thought we had a decent season. We improved from last year, but this finish right here is going to forever haunt me from this team. This bad finish we had, I don’t really have any words for it. When the snowball rolled, it started rolling and we couldn’t control it. It was bad tonight. I just don’t want this to be the identity of this team because this team has been a good team. They did some good thing. I just hate that it had to end like this for them.”
Louisville has outscored its two playoff opponents by a combined 100-0 with a 41-0 victory against Byhalia in the first round and the victory against Clarksdale Friday.
“From the beginning to the end, that’s where you’re supposed to jump on them,” Estes said. “A team, when they come all the way from a long way and come in your own backyard, you’re supposed to jump on them.
“Everything was clicking for us tonight, every aspect that we need. Everything. We couldn’t do anything wrong tonight.”
While the game was well in hand for Louisville at halftime, Clarksdale did manage to force two turnovers during the second half.
Clarksdale senior outside linebacker Kevin Smith recovered Louisville junior running back Michael Foster’s fumble just inside Louisville territory with 10:57 to play in the third quarter.
A 33-yard run from Clarksdale senior quarterback Cameron Matthews gave the Clarksdale Wildcats a first down at the Louisville 9. Clarksdale could not capitalize thanks to a sack, an incomplete pass and two bad snaps.
Clarksdale sophomore De’meric Strong recovered Louisville wide receiver Menyon Sanders’ fumble with 12 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Again, Clarksdale could not score.
“We came out and tried to play a little harder in the second half, but it’s hard to play when you’re down 45-0 in the first half,” Johnson said. “It’s just hard to bounce back from that, especially with a team like Louisville. They’ve got a great football team.”
Junior Queston Skipper and senior Antwan Wheeler saw most of the carries at running back for Clarksdale.
Clarksdale senior middle linebacker and running back Trejan Latham was unable to play after dislocating an elbow in the final minutes of the first-round playoff game a Itawamba Agricultural.
Johnson acknowledged Louisville has a strong program, but he felt Clarksdale played tough competition to prepare for the playoffs early in the season. Clarksdale lost to Tupelo 6-0 as a touchdown was called back in the final minute on a penalty and South Panola 19-14.
Tupelo and South Panola are both Class 6A schools.
“I’m not taking anything from Louisville,” Johnson said. “They’ve got a great group. I just thought we could make it a bit more competitive than that, but we do have a lot coming back, a lot of young kids on the field. It showed tonight. I just feel like we played some better competition before now, like your Tupelos and your South Panolas. I just thought we should have made a better showing and we just didn’t show up tonight.”
Yarbrough, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for one for Louisville, was in his third game back from injury against Clarksdale.
“He had one of his better games tonight,” Estes said. “He was beginning to come back and that’s what’s good about him.”
Louisville junior Drea Shumaker, normally a wide receiver, was the quarterback during Yarbrough’s injury. He also saw some action at quarterback against Clarksdale.
Estes is in his fifth season as the Louisville coach and will be retiring at the end of the season. He hopes to go out as a state champion.
“It would be great,” he said. “The last year coming up, it would be great going into our last part of the season there. The last go-round, that’s the way you need to go out.”
Estes said Louisville has been able to succeed by playing well in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams – and having depth on the roster, including at the quarterback position.
“You get all kids playing great, that means a lot,” Estes said.
Louisville is at Pontotoc (11-2, 4-1) in the next round of the Class 4A playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday.
Clarksdale has been a playoff team during all of Johnson’s six seasons as head coach and he expects them to bounce back next year.
“All I can do is thank the seniors for their effort this year and our underclassmen have to move on,” he said. “Like I said earlier, I just hate it had to end this way.”
Scoring summary
Clarksdale 0 0 0 0-0
at Louisville 14 31 7 7-59
First Quarter
L – Deonte Yarbrough, 1-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 7:21, Louisville Wildcats 7-0
L – Billy Houston recovers blocked punt in end zone (Elijah Wilkes kick), 0:23, Louisville 14-0
Second Quarter
L – Deonte Yarbrough, 18-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 8:40, Louisville 21-0
L – Kevon Jackson, 6-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 6:27, Louisville 28-0
L – Deonte Yarbrough, 1-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 3:47, Louisville 35-0
L – Kevon Jackson, 38-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 3:29, Louisville 42-0
L – Elijah Wilkes, 42-yard field goal, 0:00, Louisville 45-0
Third Quarter
L – Alvius Hayes, 14-yard pass from Deonte Yarbrough (Elijah Wilkes kick), 4:07, Louisville 52-0
Fourth Quarter
L – Camden Sanders, 7-yard run (Elijah Wilkes kick), 2:59, Louisville 59-0
