CLINTON — For three-and-a-half quarters Friday night, Clinton gave North Scott more than what it could handle.

But North Scott scored two touchdowns in the final 7:07 to grab a 48-38 win from Clinton.

“That’s a hard one to take for the kids,” Clinton coach Lee Camp said. “I know the conference hadn’t predicted us too high. But we had a pretty good attitude of where we wanted to finish. I think we feel this one we maybe let slip away. North Scott took advantage. You have to give them credit.”

While the loss was disappointing, Camp said there was a huge difference in his team. North Scott beat Clinton 49-19 in Week 2 last year.

“It’s a different world,” he said. “These kids, especially our seniors, were tired of the way that we weren’t ready. They’re very competitive kids. They’re a pretty tight group; they have a lot of fun together. They’re working hard. They want to come out and make a statement that we’re a competitive football team. The juniors have fit in well and they’ve bonded as a really good team.”

The Lancers (1-1) were expecting a good shot from Clinton.

“We were not surprised,” North Scott quarterback Randy Schmidt said. “We knew they were a dangerous team. We had to limit their big plays, but we didn’t do a great job of that tonight.”

The other story of the game was offense. The teams combined for more than 1,100 yards of total offense. Schmidt ran for 295 yards and passed for 193.

“I did all right, I guess,” Schmidt said. “The offensive line did their job and opened up some holes. That led to me and Josh (Limkeman) running for some big ones.”

Clinton (1-1) quarterback Will Carr accounted for almost as much offense. He rushed for 258 yards and threw for 160.

“We feel with the kids that we’ve got — if we do some things right — that we can be a pretty potent offense,” Camp said. “Our offensive line is really doing a good job upfront. ... I think Will and those backs are confident that we’re going to get something going.”

North Scott tried to knock Clinton out early. Schmidt rushed for a 74-yard touchdown only one minute into the game. But Clinton responded with an 83-yard touchdown run by Carr.

The Lancers returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but Clinton wouldn’t go away.

Clinton’s next possession ended with a touchdown to tie the game. Cody Collender caught a shovel pass from Carr and ran in for a 36-yard touchdown.

After forcing a North Scott turnover, Clinton decided to run that play again. This time Carr hit Dustin Caldwell with a shovel pass for a 12-yard score and a River King lead.

The Lancers responded and Clinton kicked a field goal right before halftime to take a 23-21 lead.

The River Kings marched down the field to open the third quarter but missed a field goal after a nearly seven minute drive. Then North Scott fumbled, Jared Daehler recovered it and returned it 43 yards.

The River Kings needed only two plays to score. Carr threw a 22-yard pass to Tyler Thacker, and Dustin Caldwell rushed for a 10-yard touchdown. Caldwell caught a pass from Carr for the two-point conversion that put Clinton ahead 31-21.

Then Schmidt struck for a 60-yard touchdown run. On the next Lancer possession, he scored from 18 yards out to give North Scott the lead.

“I think they’re pretty good,” Camp said. “When you make a little mistake, they really get super good. A couple of them were broken tackles. I think one time we had five guys touch (Schmidt) and he kept going. Their o-line does a really nice job. We just made some mistakes.”

Carr responded with a 64-yard touchdown of his own to retake the lead for Clinton, but that was the last River King score as North Scott scored the final 14 points of the game.

“In the fourth quarter, we were making plays,” Schmidt said. “Everyone did their jobs when we needed to.”

Camp said the River Kings couldn’t, and wouldn’t, dwell on this missed opportunity. The team planned to be right back at it this morning in preparation for next Friday’s game at Brady Street Stadium against Davenport Central.

“There were a lot of positives and a few negatives that we’re going to bring up,” Camp said. “For each negative, we want improvement. Each positive we want to continue. I think they’re still confident. They had a chance to win. We need to regroup and get ready for the next opponent.”



NORTH SCOTT 48, CLINTON 38

North Scott    14    7    7    20    —    48

Clinton    7    16    8    7    —    38

First quarter

NS — Randy Schmidt 74 run (Jon Rus kick), 11:00

C — Will Carr 83 run (Jeremy Peters kick), 4:43

NS — Rus 95 kickoff return (Rus kick), 4:25

Second quarter

C — Cody Collender 36 pass from Carr (Peters kick), 11:48

C — Dustin Caldwell 12 pass from Carr (kick failed), 4:54

NS — Josh Limkeman 2 run (Rus kick), 2:56

C — FG, Peters 22, 0:02

Third quarter

C — Caldwell 10 run (Caldwell pass from Carr), 3:37

NS — Schmidt 60 run (Rus kick), 2:49

Fourth quarter

NS — Schmidt 18 run (kick blocked), 9:35

C — Carr 64 run (Peters kick), 9:11

NS — Limkeman 2 run (Rus kick), 7:07

NS — Ricky Grimes 56 pass from Schmidt (Rus kick), 3:48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — North Scott (47-432), Randy Schmidt 20-295, Josh Limkeman 26-139; Clinton (39-344), Will Carr 18-258, Ryan Driscoll 13-69, Dustin Caldwell 5-14, Jaylen Broadenaux 3-3.

Passing — North Scott (13-17-1, 193 yards); Schmidt 13-17-1, 193 yards. Clinton (10-17-1, 160 yards); Carr 10-16-1, 160 yards.

Receiving — North Scott (13-193), Ricky Grimes 3-73, Noah Gumpert 3-51,  Jon Rus 5-44, Limkeman 1-16, Ty Williams 1-9; Clinton (8-148), Caldwell 5-46, Tyler Thacker 2-40, Cody Collender 1-36, Broadenaux 1-30, Jason Banker 1-8.