Curtis clobbers Clinton, 52-12

If there was anything that needed to be said about Dewitt Clinton High School’s matchup with Curtis High School last Sunday, Clinton head coach Howard Langley hit it right on the head.

“This is a barometer game for us today,” Langley said prior to last Sunday’s matchup. “Curtis is a really good team that is projected to win it all. Me and my guys will see where we stand.”

Before even touching the field, you could see what Langley meant. From a pure physical standpoint, the Warriors looked far superior. The Curtis players were much larger, more physically imposing and most have been playing football from an early age. The majority of Clinton’s players, however, as Langley pointed out, are learning the game from scratch once they reach the high school level.

And on Sunday, it showed.

The Governors came into the game sporting a 2-1 record, but soon figured out that they were no match for Curtis – at least not on this day – suffering a 52-12 shellacking on their own home field.

After going three-and-out on the first drive of the game, Clinton was forced to punt from its own 40-yard line, which set up a score by the Warriors just two plays later, when Ty Son Lawton ran for a 52-yard touchdown, the first of two scores on the day for the Warriors running back. This set the tone for Curtis early as they sent a message to the now-silent Clinton crowd: Curtis was here to play.

Pick 6

The Governors were able to make a little noise on their next defensive possession, after a tipped ball resulted in an interception by cornerback Davian Rutledge, who took it back for a 75-yard touchdown and tied the game at 6-6.

But that lit a spark under Curtis’ star wide receiver, kick returner and free safety, Amad Anderson. On the ensuing kickoff, he responded, running for an 85-yard return that was one of his many special highlights of the day.

The game soon got into the heads of some of the Clinton players, and they could no longer channel their emotions strictly toward stopping Anderson and the Warriors.

“We need to work on our attitude more than anything else – focus and discipline,” Langley said after the game. “We were kind of in the game and then they had a couple of big plays and we lost our cool.”

Clinton’s next possession, following Anderson’s return, didn’t go too well, either. After being unhappy with a Curtis player, Clinton senior receiver Derek Capellan, punted the ball in the direction of the Warriors’ sideline. Because of his actions, the team was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, putting them back on its own 30-yard line.

The Warriors took command, and, at this point, the more Clinton’s sideline lost its cool, the more Curtis saw it as a time to deliver more points. The Warriors went on to score 22 unanswered points in the first half as Curtis took a 34-12 lead into halftime.

Rush, rush, rush

Both Lawton and Anderson combined for nearly 200 yards rushing in the first half and the start of the second half was more of the same, except Curtis quarterback Quincy Adams joined the mix, peppering passes all over the field, most notably a 57-yard scoring strike to Anderson.

“We knew we were facing a hard team,” said senior quarterback Luis Ortiz. “They came out here and played well and we knew they were going to do that. Our game plan, we didn’t use it, which was to stop Quincy [Adams] and Amad [Anderson].”

Nonetheless, this game had little to do with execution and more to do with attitude as emotions played a significant role in Clinton’s subpar performance. Clinton became even more frustrated in the second half, delivering late hits that resulted in more penalties and even an ejection of Rutledge at the end of the third quarter.

Aside from a fumble recovery by middle linebacker William Rivera in the fourth quarter, the game never played in Clinton’s favor, both physically and mentally. But there was a lesson to be learned from the defeat and Langley delivered it to his players following their loss.

“We need to work on keeping our composure, and when were on the field, no matter what the score is, who is winning or losing, we have to keep our composure,” Rivera said after the game. “As a team coach said we have to understand they are human beings just like we are and we should treat them with respect.”

Home field

Clinton has time to make things right, however. The Governors’ next two matchups will come at home when they face New Utrecht, who is 2-3, this Saturday at noon before hosting Grand Street Campus the following week.

“Tomorrow we come and start all over,” Langley said. “We’re 2-2 with the rest of the season ahead of us, so you kind of just start from scratch.”

But what can Clinton take from a loss like this one?

“You know what it’s like to get your butt kicked,” Langley said. “You don’t want to have that feeling or experience again, so you have to do better.”