ELKINS, Ar —  There are 502 cities in the state of Arkansas. Five hundred and two cities for coach Chris Dufrene, head coach, of the undefeated 4th ranked Clinton YellowJackets, to get his 100th win as coach of the Jackets. Out of all the cities, the city of Elkins, AR is where it happened to be. Congratulation Coach Chris for your 100th win! Boy… was it  by far the YellowJackets’ toughest game of the year.

A strong opening drive by Elkins left the Jackets trailing for the first time since week one, but Charlie Sowell quickly broke a 45 yard plus touchdown run three plays later to tie the game. The extra point from sophomore Matthew Gonzalez gave the Jackets the lead, and they never gave it up, but sometimes they might have checked the rearview mirror.

Quarterback Weston Amos showed out in the Yellow Jackets’ biggest test of the year. He rushed for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 carries, and threw for 55 yards and had a big touchdown pass as time expired in the first half. His favorite target Friday night seemed to be Austin Drake who hauled in two catches for 51 yards and the touchdown. When asked about the key to the Jackets offensive success, Amos was quick to hand a compliment to the offensive line. He stated, “They played really well all game long, in short down conversions they definitely came up big time.” The speedy quarterback has easily played a huge role in the Jackets’ offense this year, and only seems to be getting better as the competition gets better. His play Friday night earned him both Van Buren County Farm Bureau Player of the Game and First Arkansas Bank and Trust Offensive Player of the Game. He is the first Jacket player this year to win both awards in the same game.

The Jackets looked to put the game away early after scoring on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter to extend their lead to 34-12, but Elkins had other ideas as they came roaring back. The home team proceeded to answer the Jackets touchdown with one of their own, then recover 2 straight onside kicks after consecutive trips to the end zone.

Down 6, 34-28 with the ball on Clinton’s side of the field, Elkins seemed to be taking control of the game as they were driving with all the momentum. Just when they looked too strong for the stout Jackets’ defense, linebackers Caleb Bowman and Sky Davidson dug in and took back the momentum. Junior Caleb Bowman tipped a pass by quarterback Quinn MCclain into Davidson’s hands for his first interception of the year. When Davidson was asked about the interception he replied, “ It was my first interception in my whole life, I was so happy… We just took back the momentum man. It was huge.” After the only turnover of the game, the Jackets dominated the remainder of the conference game .

Senior Dylan Hayford brought out his inner beast for the rest of the game, as he  earned First Arkansas Defensive Player of the game nominated by Jeff Hall and the radio crew in the broadcasting booth. Hayford has been practicing as defensive end as of late, while he is undersized for the position, he uses his speed to get around the blockers and get to the quarterback and Friday night he did just that. Hayford had two solo sacks and an assisted sack, while he hurried the quarterback into an errant throw on multiple other occasions. All took place in the critical second half for the Jackets as they rebuilt their lead.

The black and gold had over 6 different guys carry the ball Friday night for a season high of 387 yards. Behind Amos, Hinchey and Davidson did the bulk of the workload as each back carried the ball  over 15 times and reached the end zone. Hinchey rushed 15 times for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Davidson rushed 18 times for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Your Clinton crazy stat of the night is Clinton’s offense was  5-5 on 4th down conversions and scored a touchdown on all 7 of their possessions.

The Jackets look to continue their winning ways and undefeated season this Friday night at Jim Tumlison field when the Marshal Bobcats (0-7) travel to Clinton. The game is Pink out for breast Cancer, so show your support for survivors, current fighters, and YOUR UNDEFEATED YELLOWJACKETS at 7 p.m this Friday, October 19th.

Annika Landers and Sydney Brown