West Limestone rolls to victory over Clements

Published 12:15 am Friday, August 28, 2020

West Limestone coach Shelby Davis saw some good and bad in the Wildcats’ season-opening game Thursday night against Clements.

The positives were, of course, the final score, a 53-19 victory. He was also pleased with the way his team rushed the ball, running for 279 yards on 36 attempts. However, he was less than pleased with the rash of penalties his team received, most of them holding penalties that prevented the Wildcats from even more yards and points.

“We were very sloppy, and I wasn’t pleased with that at all,” Davis said. “We’re a lot better than that. A lot of it was us doing stupid stuff, and we’ve got to get that fixed. I promise you we’ll be doing a lot of running (Friday).”

Clements coach Michael Parker was also bemoaning his team’s mistakes, as four first-half turnovers and a blocked punt allowed West to have short fields much of the half and take a 35-7 halftime lead before cruising to victory in the second half.

“They were more physical than us tonight, and that’s something we’re going to have to fix,” Parker said. “They hit us hard and we took it on the chin. We just made some crucial mistakes, and when you make those, it costs you. You can’t do that against good teams. All we can do is get better.”

The game started well for Clements after Deontae Crenshaw returned the opening kickoff to the 13-yard line. The Colts scored four plays later on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jaden Gilbert to Hunter Hall.

But it was all West Limestone after that. Quarterback Colin Patterson opened the scoring for the Wildcats when he scrambled for a 30-yard touchdown run. Dakota Wilson scored ran for a 19-yard touchdown on West Limestone’s next possession to give the Wildcats a lead they would never relinquish.

After Clements lost a fumble, West scored on a 6-yard touchdown run by Jonah Smith. The touchdown was set up by a 40-yard completion from Patterson to River Helms. Helms basically jumped over the back of the Clements defensive back and secured the catch as he was falling to the ground.

Two possessions later, West Limestone blocked a punt, which set the Wildcats up at the 20-yard line. Thorne Slaton scored on a 3-yard touchdown run four plays later..

Clements lost another fumble on its next possession to set West up at midfield, and the Wildcats were able to score one more touchdown before the half. Slaton capped off the drive with a 4-yard scoring run with 1:16 remaining in the half to give the Wildcats a 28-point halftime lead.

Slaton put the game completely out of reach on the first play of the third quarter, when he returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 41-7.

Slaton finished the game with 86 rushing yards and two scores to go along with his 80-yard kickoff return touchdown.

Clements came back to score on its next possession with the big play being a 45-yard run by Gilbert. Crenshaw capped the drive off with a 2-yard touchdown plunge.

However, West Limestone answered with a long, methodical touchdown drive of its own. Backup quarterback Landon Navas finished the drive with a 2-yard run just over a minute into the fourth quarter.

Clements answered on its next drive, with Gilbert throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Crenshaw, but West Limestone closed the scoring with 2:18 remaining in the game when Navas got loose for an 18-yard touchdown scamper.

In addition to his 30-yard touchdown run, Patterson was 7-11 throwing the ball for 139 yards. River Helms had 91 of those receiving yards on three catches.

Gilbert had 24 passing yards and two touchdowns and 81 rushing yards for Clements.

West Limestone will host Deshler in its region opener Friday, while Clements has an off week.

“We’ve got a real big one next week with Deshler coming in, so we’ve got to get ourselves ready,” Davis said. “We’re going to have to clean up our mistakes and play a lot better if we want to be able to win next week.”