Partly Cloudy, 77°
Weather sponsored by:

New wrinkle: Clay passing game erupts

By Ray DiMonda Correspondent
Posted 10/13/21

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - As the Clay Blue Devils football team hosted the Gainesville Eastside Rams, late in the game, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration showed up at C.B. Bowles stadium …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

New wrinkle: Clay passing game erupts


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - As the Clay Blue Devils football team hosted the Gainesville Eastside Rams, late in the game, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration showed up at C.B. Bowles stadium to investigate what all the air traffic over the stadium was about. They quickly learned it was just the host Blue Devils putting on an outright aerial assault on the Rams, scoring all five touchdowns with the passing game.

“We are figuring out ways to transform our offense to get our playmakers the football,” said Clay Head Coach Kyle Kennard.

Quarterbacks Billy Mobley and sophomore Jayden Jenkins amassed a combined 428 yards, completing 22 out of 29 passes on their way to leading the Blue Devils to a 33-13 Homecoming victory.

The two offensive hurlers seemed to go odd and even sets of downs and both seemed to target senior receiver D’maurion Frazier who had 11 receptions for 223 yards and three of the five Clay touchdowns.

The game wasn’t all fun and games early as neither team could find the endzone in the first quarter. As the volley of possessions went back and forth, it became apparent the Homecoming may have the Blue Devils distracted.

“It took us a little to get going offensively,”said Kennard. “There is a lot going on, a lot of distractions. We talked a lot about hone it in, and lock in on the actual game, because nobody cares about homecoming unless you win. Once we got going, we were fine.”

As the game moved onto the second quarter, the dam broke, and it was a Clay Air Show that would make Tom Brady proud.

Frazier seemed to have glue on his hands as anything that was remotely close to him, he hauled in, including a full extension catch, pulled in and landing in the endzone for one of his three touchdowns. Frazier was not alone pulling down the pigskin as Senior Brandon Peavy caught a touchdown pass and racked up two catches for 38 yards. Sophomore Payton Dykas bookended Peavy with a touchdown of his own, pulling down five receptions for 119 yards. Rounding out the receiving corps were Senior David Ford with two catches for 19 yards, and Junior Jarvis Lee going two catches for 29 yards. Frazier’s other highlight reel moment was a first down 75 yard connection for touchdown that turned the wick up on the Clay Crazies.

“We actually didn’t get the look we wanted, and the kid just made a play,” said Kennard. “I mean sometimes that’s what it comes down to, not ball plays, but ball players.”

The pass game was complimented by Senior Chris Goldstein who took the ball on a ground game of 73 yards on 10 carries. Any time the Rams thought they had the adjustments to slow down the air attack, Goldstein came back with a one-two punch, keeping the Rams off balance all night. Jenkins backed up Goldstein with six carries for 19 yards. On the night, the team racked up an impressive 522 all purpose yards on their way to the 33 points.

The Rams were held scoreless through three quarters as the Clay defense put up a nearly impenetrable front and were aided with their secondary who racked up an interception by Junior Toshombee Jenkins and a pass deflection by Senior Jonathan Rouw.

“We have a bunch of guys who have a ton of pride, love flying around, and hitting people. We had a pretty good bead on what they were going to do and our kids came out and handled the gameplan pretty good,” said Kennard.

The Clay Crazies will pack up the cars and head over to St. Augustine as the Blue Devils take on the Menendez Falcons in a district matchup as Clay tries to break their streak of alternating wins and losses.

“We’ll meet and plan as a staff on how we’ll prepare better to play on the road. We have to figure out a way to see if we can get them going, strike, and play fast early,” said Kennard. “They’ll give us some fits with their running game and things that they do, but I’ll dive deeper into that this week.”