Turbeville – The East Clarendon High School football team took a big step forward in its first season under head coach Larry Cornelius. After winning a combined six games in the four previous seasons, the Wolverines went 5-6 and won a playoff game for the first time in 17 years.
For it to take another step forward next season, Cornelius said ECHS has to be able to overcome its biggest weakness.
“Our biggest weakness this year was our physical weakness,” Cornelius said. “We’ve just got to continue to work in the weight room and continue to get stronger. We just had some people who maxed out and had nice increases in the weigh room.
“Game in and game out, we were just not able to match up with other teams’ physical strength. We were able to do some creative things to get wins. We gave the effort, we had the grit, now we need to be able to have the strength.”
After losing its first three games of the season and four of its first five, East Clarendon started to show marked improvement. It beat Hemingway 49-0 in its Region 5-Class A opener, but the following week may have been the greater indicator of improvement.
The Wolverines went on the road to face defending Class A lower state champion Johnsonville – which would go on and win the lower state title for a second straight year – and battle it before falling 31-21.
ECHS then beat Carvers Bay 14-12 and Scott’s Branch 47-8 to clinch second place in the region. That gave East Clarendon the chance to host its first playoff game since 1998 – that’s right 25 years. East Clarendon took full advantage of it, jumping out to a 28-0 lead after one quarter against Military Magnet and going on to a 42-0 triumph.
“It obviously meant a lot for us to get our first playoff win in almost 20 years,” Cornelius said. “We wanted to make sure we came out and hit on all cylinders. It was a fun game and we took control immediately. We dressed out 47 guys and everybody got at least one rep (play). It was just kind of validating about what we’re trying to do.”
Even though the Wolverines fell to Bamberg-Ehrhardt 41-13 in the second round, that game showed how far they had come. ECHS met the Red Raiders in its fifth game of the season and dropped a 69-0 decision. B-E led 35-0 after one quarter and 56-0 at halftime. Iin the rematch, East Clarendon only trailed 13-0 at halftime.
“We’re obviously proud of what we accomplished in our first year together,” Cornelius. “I was proud of the way the seniors were taking root, buying into what we were selling.”
The Wolverines had six players selected to the All-Region 5 team in senior running back Rod Shaw, senior offensive lineman Kyle McCutcheon, senior H back/linebacker Ryan Sullivan, junior linebacker Hunter Mixon, junior wide receiver/defensive back Whit Nesbit and sophomore athlete Takoda Cornelius.
Shaw was the focus of the offense. He had 178 carries for 1,092 yards, good for a 6.1 per-carry average. He also ran for 12 touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass as well.
McCutcheon graded out at 83 percent and finished with 16 knockdown blocks. Sullivan had 68 tackles and one sack at linebacker while finishing with 140 receiving yards and one touchdown at H back.
Mixon had 80 solo tackles and a team high 26 tackles for loss to go with two quarterback sacks. Nesbit led the team in receptions with 21 for 289 yards and four touchdowns while running for a score. Defensively, he had 16 tackles, an interception and four pass breakups.
Cornelius, the coach’s son, played multiple positions throughout the season but his main focus was at quarterback. Takoda threw for 482 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 311 yards and four scores.
“I'm extremely proud of him, being a coach’s son and what comes with it,” Coach Cornelius said of Takoda. “He does whatever I ask him to do. He would probably prefer playing anywhere else but quarterback.”
The head coach is hoping his starting B team quarterback, freshman Blease Hardy, can step into the starting spot next year and afford him the chance to play Takoda in different spots.
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