CLINTON —
A 40-14 loss to Davenport Central last Friday definitely was a step in the wrong direction for the Clinton High School football team.
The task at hand tonight isn’t exactly easy as the River Kings try to get back on track. Unbeaten Muscatine visits Coan Field to face the Kings, who have lost two in a row after a season-opening win at Davenport North.
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The loss to Central left the Kings a bit mystified after they saw many positives the week before in a loss to North Scott.
“We were flat,” Clinton coach Lee Camp said of the performance against Central. “Maybe the kids took them lightly. Central had its back against the wall at 0-2. They wanted it real bad.”
For the fourth week in a row, Clinton’s opponent has one player who will grab the attention of Clinton’s defense. Senior quarterback Jon Crowe will see if he can follow North Scott quarterback Randy Schmidt and Central running back Zach Minch in giving the Kings fits.
Whereas Schmidt and Minch shredded Clinton’s defense with their legs — the River Kings have allowed 400-plus yards on the ground each of the past two weeks — Crowe will try to burn the Kings with his arm. Running a no-huddle offense, he has completed 49 of 68 passes (72.1 percent) this season for 731 yards, throwing 12 touchdowns and no interceptions.
“They return a quarterback who is a real experienced player and does a nice job of taking what you give them,” Camp said. “They have some quality receivers, and they really get to the ball.”
The key for Clinton’s defense is to deny big plays. Twelve of the 16 touchdowns against the Kings have come on plays of 10 or more yards, six on plays of 35 or more, including one kickoff return and one fumble return.
“We have to shut down an offense consistently. We do it a lot but not consistently,” Camp said. “Usually it’s somebody getting overanxious and not staying with his responsibility. With the people we have, we have to play consistently and do the little things right.”
Camp said Muscatine played an aggressive 4-3 defense that had been difficult to move the ball against.
“We’ve got to be sure we get our keys and assignments,” he said. “They’ll probably sit in Cover 2 and bring more up to the line to stop our option, so it’s a challenge for our offense.”
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