Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium, two football teams took the field in a desperate search of a much-needed victory.
The Clovis East Timberwolves had lost three straight games, all by a total of just seven points while the Clovis West Golden Eagles had lost 45-21 against the Buchanan Bears Oct. 11.
Only one team would walk off the gridiron that night victorious, and that team was the Timberwolves as they defeated Clovis West 28-14 on the strength of its hard-nosed running offense.
The Timberwolves started the game with the ball and immediately went to work doing what it does best. With a variety of dives, reverses and end arounds, the Timberwolves sliced and diced the Golden Eagles defense with the run to the tune of a 71-yard drive that culminated with running back and reigning Clovis Roundup Player of the Week Chandler Hamilton plunging into the endzone from a yard out to give East a 7-0 lead.
The drive ate up nearly 9 minutes of the first quarter, encapsulating the ball-control offense that head coach Ryan Reynolds is known for.
Both teams traded empty possessions offensively, that is until the Golden Eagles defense decided it would take matters into its own hands since the offense had been unable to generate points.
With 5:06 left in the first half, West defensive back Isaiah Howard recovered a Hamilton fumble at the 16 yard line and promptly returned it 84 yards for the score to even the game up at seven.
The Timberwolves recaptured the momentum, though, when quarterback Sean Kelly found Hamilton in the back of the endzone for a 4-yard touchdown. Clovis East took a 14-7 lead heading into the halftime locker room.
In the third quarter, that gritty, ground and pound offense of the Timberwolves appeared to start wearing on the Clovis West defense. Hamilton found paydirt for the third time in the game and the fifth time in the last two weeks when he rushed 22 yards for a score with 8;14 left in the period.
Running back Jo’nation Dejohnette then powered his way into the endzone from two yards out to give the Timberwolves a healthy 28-7 lead.
West put together an answer on the ensuing possession with a 15-yard catch by Isaiah Howard, but it was too little, too late for the Golden Eagles as there was only 5:47 on the clock and a 14-point deficit.
The Timberwolves continued to pound away with the run to kill the clock and the Golden Eagles couldn’t get its run defense to get them off the field.
On a 3rd down and four to go and the Golden Eagles desperate to get a stop, an offsides penalty gave the Timberwolves a first down, putting the game on ice with 1:41 left. The Timberwolves got into victory formation and kneeled the ball to run out the clock and West’s aspirations of a comeback.
Reynolds said after the game that the win meant more to his team than just another victory in the standings.
“It was huge for our morale,” Reynolds said. “We’ve been so close. Other than last week, we’ve been up at halftime every single game. We could easily be 6-1 or 7-0. To come up short each time, our morale was really, really low.”
The Timberwolves hope that this new-found morale boost can carry them into next week’s game against Buchanan Oct. 25. The Bears defeated Clovis 27-20 on Friday, improving to 5-3 on the season.
The Golden Eagles play the undefeated first place Central Grizzlies at Lamonica Stadium Oct. 24.