Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008
Titans turn back TJ in shootout
Hunter Pavlik | Special to The Gazette
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What began as a slow offensive start turned into a high-scoring affair as Tuscarora High held off a furious fourth-quarter comeback from host Thomas Johnson and avenged a painful loss from last season with a 49-34 win Friday night.
A year ago, the Titans fell 14-13 against TJ after failing on a potential game-winning two-point conversion. That loss had been on the minds of many of Tuscarora's players, including one that did plenty of damage on Friday.
"All I remember was last year when they stopped us at the one-yard line and I knew that couldn't happen again," Titans' senior running back Dominic Clarke said afterwards. "That's been in me since that game."
The Ohio State bound-Clarke proved to the difference for the Titans (4-1 overall, 2-0 Monocacy Valley Athletic League Chesapeake Conference) as he gave his team a spark in all three aspects of the game. He scored twice on the ground, forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown and took the second half kickoff 90 yards to the end zone.
After scoring on a 27-yard run in the first quarter, Clarke used a punishing hit to give Tuscarora a 14-point lead. Clarke, forced the ball loose after he leveled TJ's D.J. Scott on a short sideline-catch. Senior Bryce Hether scooped up the fumble and took it 55 yards to give the Titans a 21-7 second quarter lead.
Despite Clarke's best efforts, it seemed the Patriots (2-3, 0-2 Conference) were going to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. TJ trailed 42-21 going into the final period, but scored twice in three minutes and pulled within eight after a blocked extra point.
And for a brief moment it appeared that the Patriots had a chance to tie the game when D.J. Scott returned a punt for a touchdown with five minutes remaining to cut the lead to 42-40, but there was one problem, a flag. The play was called back for an illegal block in the back penalty.
TJ's offense was led by quarterback D.J. Jenkins, who finished with 255 passing yards and two touchdowns. Nick Forbes led the Patriots on the ground with 108 yards and two scores on 15 carries.