By Ashley Hargrove
COXEY — Barry Daniel did something last Friday night most Clements football teams haven’t done a lot of in the past—throw the ball.
Initially that wasn’t the game plan for the Colts’ Class 2A, Region 8 game against Lexington, but after a flu breakout hit the Clements team, the coach had to come up with something different. Daniel decided to rely on the arm of veteran quarterback Jamison Bridges.
“After our right side was out with the flu, we decided we were going to have to go with a different plan and decided to try and throw it to see how it would go,” Daniel said. “It worked out pretty good, except for the win side.”
Bridges finished the night 37-of-52 for 315 yards and a touchdown. While that might have put a more pressure on the senior, Bridges didn’t seem to mind any.
“I like throwing more because it puts the pressure on me,” Bridges said. “It allows me to be more in control of what’s going on and the line doesn’t have to remember so much about who they have to block and can basically just pick whoever comes in their gap and not worry about anything else,” Bridges said.
Despite dropping to 0-2 on the season, Daniel feels the team has put those losses behind them and are prepared for what Phil Campbell may bring tonight.
“Their attitude has been good, despite being 0-2,” Daniel said “They really thought we were going to kill them after the West game last Monday, but we went out and practiced and tried to get better. This week has been upbeat. I think they realized we didn’t play as well as we could have against West and I think they were smart enough to recognize that Lexington was a pretty good team. We had them (Lexington) on the ropes, we just needed to make a play or two here or there to win the game. If we would have made those plays we would be 1-1 instead of 0-2, but it’s been upbeat. Our kids bounce back pretty well.”
Kickoff for Clements and Phil Campbell is 7 p.m.
