Published: September 06, 2008 02:26 am            

River Kings roll West

DAVENPORT - Everywhere Davenport West players looked, they saw Jake Mangler. Except, of course, when they looked up to see a Clinton defender — usually Austin Krick — greeting them in the backfield.

Mangler made the Falcons feel his presence passing, running, kicking, returning punts and intercepting passes Friday night as he led the River Kings to a 34-6 road victory in Mississippi Athletic Conference football at Brady Street Stadium. Meanwhile, Krick made five of Clinton's 11 tackles for lost yardage as the River Kings held their second consecutive opponent to one score.

The result is a 2-0 start, Clinton's first since 1997, as it heads into a rugged four-game stretch that starts next Friday at Burlington.

“That's good,” Mangler said of the 2-0 record, “but you never want to get overconfident.”

They have to feel plenty of confidence, though, after beating their first two opponents by a combined 68-13.

“They're getting more confident,” coach Lee Camp said. “It's fun to take a young bunch of kids and watch them grow.”

Mangler, the junior quarterback in his first year as the starter, is leading the growth cycle. He passed for 121 yards and two touchdowns, returned seven punts for 91 yards, kicked two extra points, intercepted two passes and capped his night with a 65-yard run that put the River Kings ahead 34-0 with 7 minutes, 38 seconds, remaining. He ran right and found room toward the sideline, then cut back behind Ty Hatheway and outraced the defense to the end zone.

“I got great blocks, and the backs sealed the ends,” Mangler said. “I just try to run off Ty's butt. If he goes outside (to block), I cut in.”

Mangler set up the River Kings at the West 25-yard line for their first possession with a 28-yard punt return. Although the drive stalled and Clinton turned over the ball on downs at the 11, the deep drive helped them get good field possession the next time they had the ball. Matt Murphy, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound defensive tackle, made a pair of key defensive plays - a tackle for loss on second down and batting down a pass on third down - that helped them get the ball right back. West was forced to punt again, and Mangler returned it 34 yards to the West 17.

“We pride ourselves on special teams,” he said. “All I've got to do is run behind the big guys. As long as I get behind them, I know I'm going to get yards.”

Mangler connected with David Johnson on a wideout screen for 13 yards to put Clinton in scoring position, then he drilled a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kaleb Frazier on third down for the first score with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

Next, it was Johnson's turn to find the end zone. Three times, in fact.

Mangler set up the first one, connecting on a 41-yard pass play with Tyler Redman. Redman, the inside receiver on the right side, caught a quick slant-in on the run and raced through the secondary until Garrett Hass finally stopped him at the 4-yard line.

“He let me know the safety was playing back and he was the hot receiver,” said Mangler, who was in the middle of a 7-for-8 streak of completions at the time. “He's a good receiver and made a good play.”

Johnson scored on a 4-yard run on the next play, with 10:50 left in the half. He scored again with 7:03 left, hauling in a 12-yard pass from Mangler on a fourth-and-2 play for a 19-0 lead.

“It was a corner route,” Johnson explained. “They had a small cornerback, and I was supposed to line up inside, but I changed it to line up outside.”

Moments earlier, Johnson saved the drive on first-and-10 from the 20 when he chased down an errant lateral at the 35, managed to elude four or five defenders that appeared certain to tackle him for a huge loss and then bowled over another defender to get back to the original line of scrimmage.

Johnson scored his final touchdown on a 22-yard run with 1:53 left in the third quarter. He got to the outside and then managed to weave his way through defenders along the right sideline for the score that made it 26-0. Johnson led the River Kings with 75 yards on 16 carries.

“We had a jab in, where I go one way and cut back,” he said. “I got good blocks from Ty (Hatheway).”

While Clinton's offense was piling up 300 total yards, the defense was doing a number on West. The River Kings limited the Falcons (0-2) to 68 total yards through three quarters.

“Defense has been a big part in both games,” Camp said.

Krick, who finished with nine tackles (seven solos) and five tackles for loss (two of them sacks), led the defense, and linebacker Ryan Cassidy also had three tackles for lost yardage.

“We had another week of hard work in practice,” Krick said. “There were not a lot of letdowns. We didn't allow a first down in more than a quarter.”

West finally started moving the ball in the fourth quarter, some of it against Clinton reserves. Bryan Cherryholmes finished the night with 163 yards rushing on 25 carries -- including a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:40 left to prevent a shutout - but 102 of those yards came in the final quarter. By then, the River Kings had the game in hand.

And they also had a little more confidence to take into next Friday's game at Burlington that starts a four-game stretch that also has the River Kings playing the three MAC teams that made it to the playoffs last year: Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption and Muscatine.

“We've got a lot of momentum going into Burlington,” Krick said. “Everybody is pretty happy with our performance.”







Clinton 34, Davenport West 6

Clinton 7 12 7 8 -- 34

West 0 0 0 6 -- 6

First quarter

C - Kaleb Frazier 2 pass from Jake Mangler (Mangler kick), 3:58

Second quarter

C - David Johnson 4 run (kick blocked), 10:50

C - Johnson 12 pass from Mangler (run failed), 7:03

Third quarter

C - Johnson 22 run (Mangler kick), 1:53

Fourth quarter

C - Mangler 65 run (Tyler Redman run), 7:38

W - Bryan Cherryholmes 2 run (kick failed), 3:40

Clin West

First downs 11 14

Rushes-yards 35-179 47-187

Passing yards 121 41

Comp.-att.-int 10-22-3 5-23-2

Punts-avg. 4-32.0 9-27.9

Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-1

Penalties-yards 5-45 3-40

Time of possession 21:43 26:17

Rushing - Clinton, David Johnson 16-75, Jake Mangler 6-70, Ty Hatheway 9-20, Maurice Walker 3-14, Tyler Morehead 1-0; West, Bryan Cherryholmes 25-163, Andrew McNamara 14-29, Logan Corrigan 5-14, Reed Dietz 1-2, Adam Cunningham 1-minus-2, Team 1-minus-19.

Passing - Clinton, Mangler 10-19-3, 121 yards, Morehead 0-3-0; West, McNamara 5-23-2, 41.

Receiving - Clinton, Tyler Redman 2-49, Johsnon 4-48, Drew Lakin 2-11, Sam Parker 1-11, Kaleb Frazier 1-4; West, Dietz 3-33, Garrett Mengler 1-7, Cherryholmes 1-1,

        

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