Nation Ford Falcons fly past Clover

FORT MILL – On Homecoming Night, the Nation Ford Falcons bounced back from two straight losses to rip through the Clover Blue Eagles, winning 56-20.

Nation Ford was down a key receiver in junior Alex Stennett, who was out with a concussion, but the Falcons didn’t miss a gear.

Nation Ford came out throwing and quarterback Cole Martin hit Jordan Helms on a big 47-yard gain to get the Falcons past midfield on just the fourth play of the game. Martin would then connect with Tyree Chaplin for 28-yards to get to the one-yard line before running it in himself on the next play.

Clover open its first series of the game pounding the ball with its famed wing-T offense and moved the ball with ease. The Blue Eagles would score on a one-yard run by Cody Payne to cut the Nation Ford lead to one, but missed the extra point.

From there, the Falcons’ defense was more suffocating and quickly figured out Clover’s game plan. Clover played better in the second half, but still struggled to stop the Nation Ford offense.

Turning point

In the second quarter, after the Falcons’ defense forced another Clover punt, Martin hit wide receiver Josh Shade for a 43-yard touchdown pass where Shade made two Blue Eagles’ defenders collide with each other and faked out several defenders on his way to the end zone.

On their next drive, Nation Ford really put things out of reach in the first half as Martin hit Hank Tuipulotu for a 42-yard pick up after the Falcons got a holding penalty a couple plays earlier.

Tuipulotu was tacked at the 28-yard line of the Blue Eagles, where Martin and Chaplin would work the rest of the way to the end zone as Chaplin would run in from five-yards out.

Critical

After forcing Clover to punt in the first quarter, Martin hit Rayquwan Taylor on a 20-yard pass to get Nation Ford across midfield. That helped to set up a 42-yard touchdown pass to Shade two plays later to extend the Falcons lead.

Star contributions

Martin passed for 482 yards for Nation Ford and Shade caught four passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Helms caught three passes for 104 yards and Tuipulotu caught eight passes for 117 yards as well for the Falcons. For Clover, Payne rushed for 160 yards to lead the Blue Eagles.

Overheard

“We wanted to come out and execute,” said Nation Ford head coach Michael Allen. “We executed when we had too. I am happy with the energy we are showing now.”

Allen said he knows next week’s game against Rock Hill is important when it comes to the playoffs.

“We got to win out is the way I look at it,” he said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Nation Ford Falcons fly past Clover."