LEES CREEK — A week after holding off Wilmington in the final seconds, Minford found a way to make it 2-0 against Clinton County in 2019.
The Falcons lost a 15-0 lead then had to hold on to defeat East Clinton 28-21 Friday night in a non-league game at ECHS.
The Astros are 2-3 on the year while Minford remains unbeaten at 5-0.
“Our kids are disappointed,”EC coach Steven Olds said. “I think eventually we are going to start pulling out games like this.”
In the end, the Astros had a chance to take the late lead. After pulling even with Minford, 21-21, East Clinton executed an onside kick. An EC player came out of the pile with the ball, Olds said, but officials game possession to Minford.
“The official told me their kid had the ball first, but our kid took it away from him,” a perplexed Olds explained.
The Falcons went downfield and scored with less than a minute to play to win the game.
“Our kids played like they belonged playing with those guys,” Olds said.
Minford took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and added to it with a touchdown midway through the second, 15-0.
“In years past, and I’ve been here for those, we would have hung our head,”said Olds. “Our kids just don’t do that now. We responded, went down and scored. We’re in this football game.”
The Astros scored late in the first half to make it 15-7 as Todd Wedding hit paydirt.
East Clinton posted the only third quarter points on the scoreboard with Jared Smith reaching the end zone but EC failed on the two-point conversion to tie the game and trailed 15-13 going to the final period.
The Falcons scored at the 7:47 mark of the fourth to go back up by eight, 21-13.
The Astros, though, already showing marked improvement under Olds, tied the game at 21-21. Jared Smith scored on a 60-plus yard run, Olds said.
On the two-point conversion, Smith hooked up with Patrick Dotson in the end zone.
