H.S. Football: Clearview dominates Wellington for season's first win

WELLINGTON — Clearview played like a beast of prey as it wrecked Wellington's homecoming Friday night.The Clippers earned their first win of the season — a 30-0 drubbing of the Dukes — to improve to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Lorain County League. Wellington dropped to 2-3 and 0-2.Making his first start at quarterback for Clearview, senior Kam Williams sparkled in his debut. Williams rushed for 82 yards on 13 carries, including a pair of touchdown runs. He also completed seven of 10 passes for 75 yards with a touchdown.Williams, who normally plays running back, never played quarterback at any level."We know we're better than an 0-4 team," Williams said. "It's just about putting in all together. It's that time of year we need to start putting everything together and just try to finish out the year one game at a time. We just have to keep going, one game at a time. The defense did their thing. It all started up front with the offensive line. It was all doing their thing, just making plays."We just thought it would be better for the team (the switch at the quarterback spot, replacing Braden Turner who moved to wide receiver). We're just fixing things one game at a time."Williams and Turner capped a nine-play, 68-yard opening drive with a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8 with 8:08 left in the first quarter. Williams added touchdown runs of 1 and 11 yards.Led by senior defensive lineman Manny Moore, Clearview never allowed Wellington across midfield until the final two minutes. Moore returned a fumbled lateral 12 yards to the Wellington 20 to set up Clearview's third touchdown, an 11-yard run by junior Christian Stevenson with 8:28 left in the third.Moore added a safety for Clearview with 2:46 left in the third. Moore tackled sophomore Chaise Milks in the end zone one play after the Clippers turned the ball over on downs at the Wellington 3."Coming in here we had a chip on our shoulders being 0-4," Moore said. "That's not how we wanted to start off the season. From the beginning we were coming after everything. My teammate Kam did his work with the O-line. From this point on we're coming after everything in the LC8 for sure. We kind let down after halftime last week (against Black River). This week we kept it quiet at half and focused on our game. We came out with the same intensity the second half as we did the first."Clearview took full advantage of Wellington's woes with injuries and penalties. The Dukes were only able to dress 23 of 35 players. The home team also committed seven penalties for 80 yards. Three of the penalties kept Clearview scoring drives alive."It's a great feeling. It always feels good to get the first win of the season," Clearview coach Cody Kaya said. "I'm very proud of the kids, especially the seniors. They stuck around. We had a bunch of adversity this offseason. Really it's all about the kids. I couldn't be happier for them. It's been an emphasis taking care of the ball."We've had some very good moments this year. Some of the scores don't reflect some of the good we've had in the last few games. Tonight I felt that we did enough little things right to get out of here."It was a frustrating night for Wellington coach Rob Howells, whose team has lost its last three matchups with Clearview."The injury bug hit us hard," Howells said. "We're down a lot of guys. I thought we had a great game plan. A credit to Trey Moore stepping in at quarterback (for injured Gaven Wacker). We've got to execute. We can't have that lack of discipline and have penalties like that and turnovers and expect to win football games."We had inconsistencies. We had some young guys get their first Friday night. It is what it is, but heck they kept fighting. The scoreboard isn't going to show how much they fought, the heart and passion, especially our captain Trey Moore he plays with. It stinks, it hurts but you have find some positive from out of it."Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.