CLYDE — The Clyde defense turned in its second-best effort of the young season as the Bulldogs posted a 34-0 win over Comanche on Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.
The Indians, who were coming off a momentum building 31-28 win over Breckenridge last week, couldn’t get on track in the loss as they gained just 66 yards — only nine of which came after the game’s opening drive.
“They just whipped us in all phases of the game and took it to us,” Comanche coach Stephen Hermesmeyer said. “We had a drive at the first of the game, got a turnover and had a chance to put some points on the board, but credit their defense as they shut us down.”
Clyde’s offense posted 378 yards of offense as it imposed its will after a slow start in a game between two smash-mouth offenses.
“We have the utmost respect for Comanche, and they are a physical-style team and always have been,” Clyde coach Scott Campbell said. “They really had our attention after knocking off Breckenridge last week. I’m really proud of our offensive line (with) the way that they have come together the last couple of weeks.”
Clyde’s defense has 10 seniors that have set the tone this season. The Bulldogs gave up only six yards of offense to a talented De Leon squad in the season opener.
“It’s kind of like an extension of the coaching staff out there,” Campbell said. “They all know how to get aligned and know their assignments. It’s kind of the relentless nature that they play and they run to the ball really well.”
The offensive line paved the way for the Bulldogs to gain 235 yards on the ground on 39 carries — just over six yards per carry. Clyde was also 6 of 14 on third down and 3 of 3 on fourth down.
“We were 3 of 3 on fourth down last week against Merkel last week,” Campbell said. “That’s something that we work on in practice and we have a set of plays that we want to run in that situation. We did a great job executing, but everything that we did on offense was set up by short fields that our defense gave us.”
Clyde opened the scoring with 1:21 to play in the opening quarter when Jax Roam caught a screen pass on third and 9 and broke free for an 82-yard touchdown catch from Dylan Neumann.
“Comanche is a tough team and has a history of being a tough team,” Roam said. “That play was not designed to be a touchdown. It just worked out to be one.”
The catch-and-run was big for the Clyde offense.
“It freed the offense up and it freed everybody up,” Campbell said. “(Comanche) was playing in our backfield early on and continued to give us fits up front, and (Roam’s catch) kind of settled us down.”
Neumann added a pair of touchdown runs in the second quarter as Clyde built a 20-0 halftime lead.
The second scoring run came with 22 seconds left in the half after a botched punt snap left the Bulldogs needing just 28 yards to score.
“Special teams will cost you and we tell our team that all the time,” Hermesmeyer said. “There are three phases to a football game and if you take a break on one of them, it will bite you in the butt, and that’s what happened to us (Friday).”
Clyde’s final two scores came in the third quarter on a 40-yard Bo Baker run and Neumann’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Christian Deal.
NONDISTRICT
CLYDE 34, COMANCHE 0
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | ||
| Comanche | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| Clyde | 7 | 13 | 14 | 0 | — | 34 |
FIRST QUARTER
CLY — Jax Roam 82 pass from Dylan Neumann (Pedro Altamirano kick), 1:21
SECOND QUARTER
CLY — Neumann 8 run (Altamirano kick), 4:13
CLY — Neumann 2 run (kick failed), 0:22
THIRD QUARTER
CLY — Bo Baker 40 run (Altamirano kick), 4:54
CLY — Christian Deal 34 pass from Neumann (Altamirano kick), 0:34
| COM | CLY | |
| First downs | 6 | 17 |
| Rushes-Yards | 28-36 | 39-235 |
| Passing | 30 | 143 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 4-12-0 | 5-10-1 |
| Punts | 6-34.7 | 2-28.5 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-49 | 8-80 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Comanche, Logan Wilkerson 11-39, Ricardo Sanchez 1-10, Jorge Rios 1-3, Bryce Hermesmeyer 1-2, Oscar Rios 1-0, Cash Cook 4-(-3), Luke Wilson 8-(-4), Team 1-(-11). Clyde, Bo Baker 16-102, Donovan Gomez 5-48, Dylan Neumann 5-37, Canaan Charleston 8-35, Damien Petrillo 3-26, Christian Deal 1-11, Team 1-(-24).
PASSING — Comanche, Cook 3-10-0—24, Hudson Welch 1-2-0—6. Clyde, Neumann 5-10-1—143.
RECEIVING — Comanche, Wilson 2-20, Rios 1-6, Hermesmeyer 1-4. Clyde, Jax Roam 2-99, Deal 2-45, Britten Brashear 1-(-1).
RECORDS — Comanche 1-2; Clyde 2-1.