Clover finishes special season with heartbreaking loss to top-ranked Dorman
Head coach Brian Lane burned his final timeout and walked out to his team.
His laminated playbook was hanging from his waistband, his headset around his neck. He said a few words to the field-goal-block team, walked back over to the sideline and put his hands on his hips.
All he could do, now, was wait.
The scoreboard read 42-42. 12 seconds. It was the third round of the 5A state playoffs. The Dorman Cavaliers were a 27-yard field goal away from ending one of the most special seasons in Clover High School history.
The Blue Eagles rewrote records to get here: And despite winning a region championship for the first time since 2006, scoring the most points in program history (by a lot) and earning the first unbeaten regular season in school history — they still viewed themselves as the underdogs on Friday night.
And for most of the game, the underdogs had a chance.
But then, with just 12 seconds left — after playing all game as if it were seizing its own fate against the top-ranked team in the state — all Lane and all but 11 of his players could do was look on. And wait.
Every fan in the stadium — on both the home and visitor sides — was standing. There was no wind.
The snap was level. The hold was good. And the kick was true.
A few plays later, the Dorman Cavaliers would storm the field, forming a dog pile over the kicker who had just extended their season. They’d win 45-42 and advance to the Upper State Championship next weekend.
On the other side, members of the Clover team would be scattered all over the field — heartbroken and at a loss for words.
“I love Coach Lane,” senior quarterback Gabe Carroll said, fighting back tears postgame. “I came from York. I don’t know what I would do without him, man. I was looking for an opportunity to play junior year…
“Without him, and his family, and everybody on this team, I wouldn’t be here today.”
‘Best decision for the team’
Coach Lane looked around him. Some of his players couldn’t move, tears streaming down their faces. He had his arm linked over his leading receiver and son, Jaylin, who was struggling to make it to the postgame huddle.
If Lane looked out by the locker rooms, where friends and family normally congregate after games, he would’ve seen a crowd double or triple the size of what it normally was.
If Lane looked out into the stands, he would have seen the entire student section, dressed in a hodgepodge of red and green, still in their seats, as if the season wasn’t over.
And for a moment, it didn’t look like Clover’s season would end on Friday.
Clover and Dorman would go back and forth in the first half — scoring at a 50-point apiece pace (at least): On its first drive, Clover went 10 plays and 80 yards, capped off by an 18-yard touchdown rush by David Hall. 7-0, Clover.
Dorman would then tie the game up with a Jayvon Cohen 39-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Hayden Lee.
And then, the Carroll to Jaylin Lane connection would come alive: Lane would score the Blue Eagles’ next three touchdowns in the first half. Lane caught a 50 yard pass; then a quick slant he took for 80 yards; and then a 23-yard catch on a gutsy fourth down call with five minutes left in the second quarter.
Dorman would score twice in that stretch.
At halftime, Clover was up, 27-21 — and Lane had already notched nine catches for 210 yards and three touchdowns.
“I’m going to try to go to the same college as him,” Carroll said, cracking a smile. “I’ll try my best. I just love him like a brother.”
Out of halftime, neither team let up. Dorman scored two unanswered touchdowns to start the third: one a quarterback scramble for a six yard rushing TD; the other a Chance Black 30-yard touchdown reception. 35-27, Dorman.
Clover would respond on the ensuing possession, though, with another 33-yard touchdown catch by Lane. Clover wouldn’t convert the extra point. 35-34, Dorman still up.
On Clover’s next possession, Lane — who’d accumulated 14 catches for 281 yards and four touchdowns up until that point — hobbled off to the sideline. Although he returned briefly, he ran gingerly the rest of the game.
On Clover’s final possession, Lane wasn’t on the field.
“I just was thinking, ‘If this is my last game, I’m not going to go out injured,’” Jaylin Lane said. “But at the end of the day, I couldn’t move, and I didn’t want to be a liability on the field…
“At the end of the day, I tried to make the best decision for the team.”
The teams traded a few punts — and then, Clover pulled out the two biggest plays of its season to date: Running back David Hall ran it up the middle for a 39 yard rush, his second touchdown of the day, and then Coach Lane dialed up a “Philly Special” — a pair of laterals before a running back tossed a touchdown pass to the quarterback.
And it worked.
“I can’t tell you how many times on Thursday practices we went through that play right there,” senior linebacker Hayden Johnson said of the two-point conversion. “It’s called a Philly Special. We’ve practiced it every Thursday practice for 14 weeks now. We needed it, and it worked in our favor.”
42-35, Clover leading Dorman.
Dorman would storm back, with help from a Kendall Norman 20-yard catch from Lee to tie the game.
A defensive stop forced a Clover punt.
And then the Cavaliers would get the ball back. And the leg of Omar Khan, who kicked a perfect game, would prove steady again.
‘Went down swinging’
Instead of looking in the student section after the game — or toward the locker rooms with bunches of congregating fans — Coach Lane diverted his attention to the postgame huddle, like he had all season.
He saw two seniors on the defense, Hayden Johnson and Shon Brown, give emotional speeches in their last moments in their Clover uniforms. Lane then stepped into the middle, told his team to come closely around him, and he started to speak.
His voice was hoarse but clear.
“The sun’s gonna come up tomorrow,” Lane said, his eyes scanning the crowd of his players.
The team would soon break it down with a prayer, and the players would slowly trickle off the field — as if they felt like their special season had ended too early.
But before they could, Coach Lane finished his thought.
“Guys, we did something that hasn’t ever been done at this school. Y’all understand that? I know it’s hard. But I’ll tell you what: We went down swinging, and that’s all I care about.
“We went down swinging. And I’m proud of y’all boys.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 6:51 AM.
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