BETHEL – On the heels of the resignation of the head coach just hours before kickoff, the East Clinton football team was defeated by Bethel-Tate Friday night 61-6 in SBAAC National Division action at BTHS.

Jeremy Yankey told the team he was resigning just prior to their boarding the bus to Bethel-Tate. Mark Scovanner, an assistant coach, was named interim head coach.

“It’s just another very strange obstacle in our 2018 season,” Scovanner said. “We’ve had a lot of non-football, off field issues this season. This one was big.”

Despite the news, Scovanner said the Astros came out and performed well early in the game.

“We got a stop on defense and the offense moved the ball so it seemed like they had their heads on straight,” he said. “Maybe at the end of the game it weighed on them.”

East Clinton’s only score of the night came in the third quarter when Todd Wedding returned a short kickoff for a touchdown.

“We then got a stop on defense and got the ball back in their territory,” he said. “Things were looking bright in that third quarter. But one mistake built into a snowball.”

Scovanner said Austin Rolfe had two tackles for loss and two interceptions on defense.

However the same issues that were present through seven weeks came to the forefront in week 8.

“We made some stops, just didn’t get enough,” he said. “It was our mistakes that did us in on defense.

“On offense, we can’t sustain drives. The same mishaps, same mistakes that we’ve been having all year on offense.”