Published: October 04, 2008 01:14 am      

Clinton comeback falls short

MUSCATINE — Muscatine has built its football reputation with a wide-open, potent offensive attack. But, for the second year in a row, the Muskies stepped up on defense when they played Clinton.

The River Kings found little success until midway through the third quarter, and they were unable to catch up with Muscatine. The Muskies won their homecoming game 17-14 on Friday night, leaving both teams with 3-3 records in the Mississippi Athletic Conference.

“They did a nice job shutting us down,” Clinton coach Lee Camp said. “Our guys were confused, and we were in the tank, especially in the first quarter.”

Clinton’s defense played well much of the night, but the Muskies had just too much Edwin Arceo for the River Kings to handle. Arceo, a senior who moved from receiver to the quarterback spot last week, scored all of Muscatine’s points, kicking a 35-yard field and ripping off touchdown runs of 63 and 20 yards.

The long run gave Muscatine a 10-0 lead in the third quarter.

“We had a blitz on and ran past him,” Camp said. “He is a tremendously quick athlete and did a good job.”

Clinton finally got its offense rolling after that.

Arceo’s kickoff went for a touchback, but Clinton quarterback Jake Mangler directed an 80-yard scoring drive that pulled the River Kings within 10-7. He hit Tyler Redman, who made a diving catch for a 35-yard gain to the Muscatine 45-yard line, then Ty Hatheway took over.

With No. 1 rusher David Johnson going out in the first half with an ankle injury and Maurice Walker shaken up later, Hatheway had consecutive runs of 15 and 20 yards, and he also scored the touchdown on a 6-yard run.

“Ty had to pick up the load and did a good job,” Camp said. “Jake also did. We got those two going, got into sync and moved the ball.”

An interception by Shawn Winoski put the ball back in Clinton’s hands, but its next drive stalled in Muscatine territory. Moments later, Winoski intercepted another pass, but this time the River Kings fumbled and Muscatine recovered.

The Muskies didn’t let another opportunity pass, and Arceo completed a drive with a 20-yard run for a 17-7 lead with 5:47 remaining.

Once again, Clinton roared back. Mangler had a key first-down run, then hit Kaleb Frazier on back-to-back passes, the second a 34-yard score.

Clinton tried an onside kick, but Muscatine recovered, then the Muskies were able to get off a punt in the final half minute, leaving Clinton too little time for a late miracle.

“We just weren’t disciplined enough to march down the field against them,” Camp said of the overall offensive difficulties. “We shuffled players and did a lot of things. Some people rose to the occasion, some didn’t.”

Clinton was fortunate to head into the locker room at halftime trailing only 3-0.

“At this point in the season, we can’t put ourselves in those spots,” Camp said. “We’ve got to get out of the blocks faster.”

Arceo was personally responsible for a 3-0 Muscatine lead. He kept the ball on third-and-6 and broke loose for a 36-yard gain to the Clinton 32, with another 15 yards tacked on at the end for a Clinton penalty. The drive bogged down there, but he kicked a 35-yard field goal to put the first points on the board.

Despite enjoying great field position the rest of the half, the Muskies were unable to put any more points on the scoreboard. They had several opportunities, however.

“I feel the defense stepped up and made some big plays for us,” Camp said “We just couldn’t establish any field position at all in the first half. We struggled with that, and they took advantage of the short field.”

Clinton sacks helped end the next two Muscatine possessions, the second coming from Matt Murphy for an 8-yard loss on fourth-and-7 from the Clinton 43.

Clinton dodged two bullets on Muscatine’s next possession.

The Muskies took possession at the Clinton 48-yard line after a punt, and Arceo connected with Allgood, Muscatine’s starting quarterback in the first four games, for 18 yards on first down on the final play of the first quarter. Two plays later, Arceo passed to Nolan Hagerty for 10 yards and another first down.

Arceo ran for 9 yards on the next play, then threw an apparent touchdown pass to Hagerty on the next play. A penalty negated that and moved Muscatine back to the 22, but Arceo tossed an inside screen to Allgood, and he took the ball all the way to the 4 for a first-and-goal. Moments later, the Muskies still were at the 4 on third down, but a completed pass was fumbled and Clinton recovered at the 3.

The Muskies had an another excellent opportunity later in the second quarter. They recovered a fumble at the Clinton 18 but got nowhere and Arceo missed to the right on another 35-yard field goal attempt with 5:08 left in the half.



Scoring by quarters

Clinton..... 0 0 7 7 - 14

Muscatine 3 0 7 7 - 17

First Quarter

Mus — Edwin Arceo 35 FG, 10:12

Third Quarter

Mus — Arceo 63 run. (Arceo kick), 5:12

Clin — Ty Hatheway 6 run. (Jake Mangler kick), 2:54

Fourth Quarter

Mus — Arceo 22 run. (Arceo kick), 5:47

Clin — Kaleb Frazier 34 pass from Mangler. (Mangler kick), 3:50

Clinton Musc

First downs 9 11

Rushes-yards 38-139 33-109

Passing yards 119 111

Comp.-att.-int 8-17-1 12-28-2

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-yards 6-37 8-40

Individual Statistics

Rushing (Att-Yds) – Clinton (Jake Mangler 13-53, David Johnson 9-(minus-5), Maurice Walker 6-36, Ty Hatheway 10-55). Muscatine (Edwin Arceo 20-83, Kyle Allgood 3-(minus-8), Nolan Hagerty 1-4, Xavier Bou 1-4, Jared Hetzler 1-2, Anthony Cox 7-25).

Passing (C-Att-Yds-Int-TD) – Clinton (Mangler 8-21-119-1-1). Muscatine (Arceo 12-28-111-2-0).

Receiving (C-Yds-TD) – Clinton (Tyler Redman 6-73-0, Kaleb Frazier 2-46-1). Muscatine (Kyle Allgood 5-64-0, Nolan Hagerty 5-38-0, Nick Clemens 1-1-0, Mat Snyder 1-8-0).