pictured is Abilene Senior, Taygen Funston
ABILENE: Clay Center Junior Quarterback, Drew Hoffman scored with 1:18 left in the game to give the Tigers a 14-7 victory. Hoffman scored on a 7 yard run. Clay Center has now defeated Abilene 7 straight times. The Cowboys last victory over the Tigers came in 2018.
After a scoreless first half, Clay Center got on the board in the 3rd quarter on a 4th down pass play. The Tigers converted on a 4th and 4 play at the Abilene 34 yard line. On the play, Hoffman was under pressure but was able to connect with Cayden Good for the score. The touchdown gave Clay Center a 7-0 lead with 1:08 to play in the 3rd quarter.
Abilene finally got on the board with 4:48 to play in the game on a quick drive. The Cowboys drove 64 yards in 3 plays and scored on a 5 yard run by Senior, Lane Hoekman. The big play of the drive was 59 yard pass play from Taygen Funston to Levi Evans. Clay Center answered on the following series with a 7 play, 67 yard drive that drained 3:24 off the clock. Abilene got back the ball at the 29 yard line with 1:18 to play and 1 timeout. They drove to the Tiger 44 yard line but had a pass intercepted on the final play of the game on a desperation throw to the endzone.
Levi Evans, a Senior, finished with 4 catches for 116. Evans was the City Plumbing and H-Vac Player of the Game on offense. The defensive player of the game was Senior Defensive End, Heath Hoekman. Clay Center got a huge night out of Senior Fullback, Eisaac Girton, he finished with 29 carries for 145 yards. He was an All-NCKL performer a season ago. Clay Center finished with, unofficially, 257 yards of total offense with 223 of it, on the ground. Abilene totaled 227 yards of total offense. The Cowboys passed for 190 and ran for 37 yards.
Abilene will travel to Chapman next Friday, while Clay Center travels to Southeast of Saline.
