HEARTBREAKING FINISH

Class 3A, DII Millsap Bulldogs celebrate Homecoming Night at the expense of Clifton Cubs with rally late in the fourth quarter for win; Clifton open this week before District 13-3A, DII play begins

Making their third straight road trip to wrap up the non-district schedule, the Clifton Cubs found out the hard way that there’s no place like home.

Although Clifton led the entire game and held a 10-7 advantage through most of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs forced a late Clifton turnover that proved costly as Millsap capitalized to score in the final two minutes of the game to pull off a dramatic 14-10 come-from-behind victory over the Cubs on Homecoming Night at Bulldog Stadium.

“On the road for the fourth time in five games and the second homecoming game in a row, we knew that we would be in for a battle for four full quarters,” Clifton football head coach Brent Finney said. “It is always tough to lose a close game like that. But close games like this require you to play hard all night and play with great intensity, and we did that.”

Despite effectively running their ball control offense, the Cubs (2-3) only managed to put three points in the scoreboard in the first half on senior Andres Devora’s 20-yard field goal to cling to a slim 3-0 lead at intermission.

“We told the kids all week that this was going to be a tough game, and it was,” Finney said. “Millsap is a physical, tough team and had some good size on both sides of the ball. We moved the ball effectively all night, but we were only able to get three points out of the first half.”

Although the Cubs were able to move the ball effectively at times, points still proved hard to come by for Clifton. With senior running back Parker Tunnell leading the way, the running game produced a couple of big plays that led to points. And the passing game produced some big first downs as junior quarterback Joaquin De La Hoya connected on six of 15 passes for 89 yards, connecting with Devor three times for 45 yards and hooking up with Tunnell and senior Ervin Rodriguez to move the chains.

After Millsap senior running back Kai Hanog gave the Bulldogs a lead in the third quarter with a touchdown run, Tunnell countered with Clifton’s only touchdown of the game to put the Cubs back ahead. Tunnell finished as the game’s leading rusher with 117 yards, while senior fullback Riley Finney added 42 yards on seven carries.

“We were able to improve some things in the run game and complete a few passes,” Finney said. “As a result, we were able to sustain our drives, which were things we focused on during the week.”

For the most part, the Cubs defense shut down the Millsap passing game and came up with three interceptions. While limiting Millsap to 288 yards of total offense, the Bulldogs connected on two huge passing plays, and repeatedly came up with big runs when they needed them. Hanog finished with 107 yards on only 12 carries, but the Cubs limited junior Reid Green to only 70 yards on 19 attempts.

“Defense again played a great game all night,” Finney said. “We challenged the guys all week, and we were very proud of how they played.”

Defensively, Finney led Clifton with 12 tackles, followed by junior James Liardon with seven and senior Royer Lopez with six, while Devora collected two interceptions and Rodriguez came up with another.

“A couple penalties put us behind the chains a few times,” Finney said. “And the one turnover obviously really hurt. But our kids still continued to play hard even after going from up 10-7 to down 14-10 with less than a minute left. They kept fighting and gave themselves a couple shots at the end zone at the end of the game. I could not be more proud of these kids as we head into district.”

This week, the Cubs will have an open week before opening District 13-3A, Division II competition by hosting the Rogers Eagles (2-3) on Oct. 6 at Cub Stadium.

“Rogers will be big and physical as well,” Finney said. “So, these last two games have really helped us in preparing to open district against those guys.”