Published: October 11, 2008 02:35 am            

2nd half dooms River Kings

PLEASANT VALLEY — On a gorgeous, summery fall evening, who would have thought the snowball effect would bury Clinton? That, and a strong second half by Pleasant Valley, any way.

The Spartans seized the moment after a couple of questionable calls went against the River Kings and went on to win 37-7 in a Mississippi Athletic Conference football game between teams that entered with 3-3 records and are battling for spots in postseason play.

“It kind of rips at your insides,” Camp explained the game of emotions. “Just when you start falling apart, their hearts are ripped out. Now we’ve got to regroup and go.”

The River Kings (3-4) are home for the last two games, playing Davenport Central (1-6) next Friday and North Scott (6-1) in the regular-season finale. With the expanded postseason system, no one is sure what it will take to qualify, but the coaches and players are saying they need to win both of them to assure themselves of advancing.

But, they saw the game against the Spartans of vital importance.

“We didn’t play good all night,” quarterback/defensive back Jake Mangler said. “We didn’t come out ready to play, and we didn’t finish.”

Camp said: “I’m not blaming the kids. They started second-guessing what they had to do. When you try to do too much to make up, it creates mistakes.”

The turning point came right before halftime when Clinton was forced to try a second punt after an illegal procedure penalty pushed it back 5 yards to its 8-yard line. Connor Peters fielded the punt at the Clinton 48, slipped and it appeared that both his knees hit the turf. The nearby official didn’t see it that way, though, and Peters returned the ball down the left sideline to the 5-yard line.

“We felt that one,” Clinton running back Ty Hatheway admitted.

“I’m not going to comment on calls,” Camp said, “but it left us in a situation of frustration.”

John Lindsrom found a huge hole on the right side on the next play and ran into the end zone for a 10-0 lead with 32 seconds left in the first half.

“You can’t really blame a game on one play, but it seemed to swing momentum,” Clinton lineman Matt Murphy said.

If it didn’t, Pleasant Valley’s opening drive of the second half might have.

The Spartans drove 67 yards in 10 plays, all on the ground, and took a 17-0 lead on a 2-yard run by John Lindstrom (18 carries, 133 yards).

“To be honest, that was our biggest drive all year,” Pleasant Valley coach Rusty VanWetzinga said. “We needed a big drive. I told them we’ve got to make a statement here on offense and run the ball hard downhill. We fired off the ball. If they get a slight hole, they go over hard.”

The Spartans finished with 318 yards rushing on 49 carries, with 264 of those yards coming in the second half.

The final blow to the River Kings’ psyche came after they scored their lone touchdown on a 6-yard pass from Mangler to Tyler Redman with 11:40 left in the fourth quarter. They came right back with a squib kick that went through a Spartan and was headed toward the sidelines before curling back in. Wade Lang picked it up and snaked his way up field before breaking free for an 83-yard touchdown return and a 24-7 lead.

“The kickoff return really broke us,” Camp said. “It was a perfect kick. It glanced off a kid’s leg and curved back in. We had him penned in and didn’t make the tackle.”

The disheartening loss overshadowed some good performances.

Hatheway, getting the bulk of the carries in the backfield with David Johnson sidelined by an ankle injury he suffered last week, gained 93 yards on 15 carries.

“The o-line did a great job, and there were a lot of great plays,” Hatheway said.

Mangler completed 15 of 28 passes for 154 yards, with Redman catching nine for 119 yards.

Scoring by quarters

Clinton 0 0 0 7 — 7

Pleasant Valley 3 7 7 20 — 37

First quarter

PV — FG Nick Ehrecke 42, 9:27

Second quarter

PV — John Lindstrom 5 run (Ehrecke kick), :32

Third quarter

PV — Lindstrom 2 run (Ehrecke kick), 8:17

Fourth quarter

C — Tyler Redman 6 pass from Jake Mangler (Mangler kick), 11:40

PV — Wade Lang 83 kickoff return (Ehrecke kick), 1:27

PV — Ellis Robinson 37 run (Ehrecke kick), 8:20

PV — Tim Martinez 25 run (Ehrecke kick), 2:08

Clin PV

First downs 15 17

Rushes-yards 27-70 49-318

Passing yards 154 18

Comp.-att.-int. 15-30-1 2-7-0

Punts-avg. 6-26.7 3-45.7

Fumbles-lost 3-3 4-3

Penalties-yards 5-40 10-84

Individual statistics

Rushing — Clinton, Ty Hatheway 15-93, Maurice Walker 5-6, Jake Mangler 6-minus-29, Tyler Redman 1-1; Pleasant Valley, John Lindstrom 18-133, Ellis Robinson 7-65, Nick Ehrecke 6-33, Mitch Michaelis 12-43, Ian Smith 1-1, Tim Martinez 1-25, Brett Vacek 2-minus-4, Gabe Domingues 1-18, Team 1-4.

Passing — Clinton, Mangler 15-28-0, 154 yards, Tyler Morehead 0-2-1; Pleasant Valley, Michaelis 2-7-0, 18 yards.

Receiving — Clinton, Redman 9-119, Walker 1-8, Drew Lakin 1-9, Wade Klooster 1-9, Hatheway 2-9, Kaleb Frazier 1-0; Pleasant Valley, Ehrecke 1-13, Lindstrom 1-5.

Missed field goals — Clinton, Mangler 30 (WR), 9:28 second; Pleasant Valley, Ehrecke 42 (sh) 2:30 second.

        

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