Earle shuts out Clarendon in Homecoming massacre

Earle shuts out Clarendon in Homecoming massacre

Bulldogs maul Lions 69- 0

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The Earle Bulldogs continued their run of putting up big points while keeping their opponents from scoring, easily defeating the Clarendon Lions 69-0 on Friday in front of a Homecoming crowd.

Earle (4-1, 2-0) ran all over Clarendon (1-3) racking up 782 yards on offense and scoring nine touchdowns while holding the Lions to only 80 yards.

“I didn’t see anything that was bad tonight,” Coach Albert Coleman said. “We preach putting up zeroes. If they can’t score, they can’t win. And it’s good to see them understand tempo and get the ball and run the offense. So that was great.” Earle got off to an exciting start with Quarterback Tavarius Thomas seeming to score on a 63-yard run.

The play was called back on a holding penalty, but the Bulldogs got back in the end zone on a 31-yard run by Jalen Coopwood with 7:52 to play in the first quarter. Thomas ran it in for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

The Bulldogs scored again on their next possession on an 18-yard run by Quinlan Allen with 3:12 to go.

Coop wood powered his way in for the 2-point conversion to go up 16-0.

Earle found the end zone again after an interception gave them the ball back on its own 40-yard line.

Thomas followed with a big 37-yard run with :31 seconds remaining in the first quarter to get the ball down to the Lions 11 yard line, then ran it in for the score. Allen caught Thomas’s pass for the twopoint conversion to widen the lead to 24-0 to end the first.

Earle made it 32-0 to start the second quarter on a 52yard run by Thomas with 11:02 to play in the half with Coopwood converting for two.

The overmatched Lions were held to short gains on the ground all night and seemed to hold on to the ball just long enough to tick seconds off the clock to keep the Bulldog offense off the field for as long as they could.

An interception by Coopwood gave Earle a first and 10 on the Lion’s 26 yard line and set up another score as Allen ran it in with 10:04 to play.

Coopwood converted for two to make it 40-0.

After a 30-yard run on its next possession, Clarendon managed to get to the Earle 15-yard line, but turned the ball back over to Earle after a pass was nearly intercepted on 4th down and six.

Thomas then connected on an 80-yard touchdown pass to Leandrew Milow with Coopwood adding the extra two to make it 48-0 with 7:04 in the half.

Clarendon was forced to punt on its next possession after three attempts on the ground failed to gain any traction.

Denarius Crowder’s punt return got the Bulldogs to the 38-yard line and Allen ran it in to the end zone , but the play was called back on a penalty.

The Bulldogs got the points back on a 25-yard run by Coopwood with 1:41 left in the half.

Allen’s two point run was good to give Earle a massive 56-0 lead at halftime.

With the second string in to replace the starters and the mercy rule keeping the clock from stopping, Earle picked up where they left off scoring on their opening drive in the third quarter.

Back-up quarterback Denarius Crowder scored on a 30-yard run with 9:13 to play. The PAT kick by Milow extended Earle’s lead to 63-0.

The Bulldogs completed the rout with a 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter by lineman Demetrius Jackson with 10:40 left to play. The PAT kick by Milow was no good for a final score of 69-0.

Thomas completed 8 of 11 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown and racked up 110 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns on the ground.

“ I thought he controlled the offense and set the tempo well,” Coleman said. “He’s doing a phenomenal job for a first year quarterback.”

Coleman had high praise for Coopwood, who had two touchdowns and 205 yards on six carries.

“He’s been slimming down and working every day and running hard every day,” Coleman said. “And it’s paying off.”

Allen added 162 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.

“He’s a good kid and a hard runner,” Coleman said. “He drives the team offensively and defensively.”

Earle will travel to Brinkley this week for a road game. Coleman said he expects to see about the same outcome as the match against Clarendon.

“Our challenge will come around weeks eight, nine, and ten against Des Arc, Hazen, and Carlisle,” Coleman said. “That’s when we get ready for the playoffs. We’re going to try to keep putting up zeros until we get to the point where we play a much tougher opponent.

But it’s good to see them come out and hold and hold it down where we didn’t give them a score.”

By Mark Randall