Blue Eagles defeat Forestview, travel to Westwood

Riding the momentum of last week’s 23-20 come-from-behind win over Forestview, the Clover High School football team shifts its focus to Westwood Friday night.

The Blue Eagles will play the Redhawks at 7:30 p.m. at the northeast Columbia school.

After games against Westside and Forestview, head coach Chad Smith said the Clover team will be ready when Region 3-AAAA play begins Oct. 2 at Fort Mill.

“We think playing a tough nonregion slate of games will prepare the team for region play,” he said. “We travel to White Knoll next week, a team that won its region last year.”

Smith is keenly aware of the task at hand Friday.

“They are a very good football team. They were a good team last year, but I think they are better this year,” he said.

Smith said Friday’s opponent is explosive and big along the offensive front.

“Their offensive line averages 310 the across the board,” Smith said. “They run multiple offensive schemes and will give you a ton of personnel packages.”

Said Smith of Friday’s opponent: “We look forward to going down I-77 to compete against one of the best teams in the state. I don’t think our kids will back down from anybody.”

Against Forestview, Smith lauded the players.

“We had a big lead early,” he said. “I was very proud of the way our kids came back, keeping their heads and coming out with the win. We probably learned more about ourselves than we would have if we had blown them out.”

The Blue Eagle defense was dominant in the early going, forcing a three-and-out on Forestview’s initial offensive series.

Clover’s offensive unit took over with good field position at the Jaguars’ 49 and marched down the field, culminating with senior quarterback Noah Lindsay’s 18-yard TD toss to Willy Clark with 4:02 left in the first quarter.

“We’ve got a single route where the safety rolls out and I cut in front of him,” said Clark. “It felt really great that we pulled out the win. It builds confidence for our game at Westwood.”

The Blue Eagles forced another three-and-out and the offense responded with a 57-yard touchdown drive.

Lindsay’s tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to wingback Cody Payne with 8.9 ticks left in the first quarter. Payne, a running back, hauled in Lindsay’s soft toss amid Forestview defenders for the score.

Clover moved ahead 16-0 when the Jaguar center snapped the ball into the end zone early in the second quarter.

With future Division 1 running back Moe Neal leading the way, the Jaguars scored three unanswered touchdowns to move ahead 20-16.

Facing third down at the Blue Eagle 44, Lindsay found Willy Clark open down the middle and the junior took it to the house with 7:05 left in the game.

Forestview threatened a couple times but the Blue Eagle defense sealed the win.

The Blue Eagle defense held Neal far below his rushing average.

“We held him to 82 yards on 30-something carries,” said Smith. “The kids made plays when they needed to and bottled him up. That’s really the reason we came out on top.”

Neal rushed for 266 yards and scored four touchdowns the previous week.

“We practiced all week preparing for him,” said Blue Eagle Chase Griffin. “We went all out and we got to the ball. We did what we were supposed to do and did a good job of wrapping up.”

Lindsay completed nine of 14 aerials for 148 yards and three touchdowns, prompting Smith to dig into the record books.

“We’ve determined that the last time Clover had more yards passing than rushing was 2003,” said the Blue Eagle coach.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Blue Eagles defeat Forestview, travel to Westwood."