The McClave Cardinal football team wasted a brilliant rushing performance by junior Saxon Turner in their 58-54 season-opening loss to Manzanola last Friday night in McClave. Turner, a hard-nosed junior, rushed for more than 300 yards and had five touchdowns in the tough loss to the Bobcats. It was McClave's first loss to Manzy in the last five games.
It was the McClave defense that failed Friday night, as they could never come up with the one stop to turn Manzy away. It was a game of momentum shifts, as the teams went back and forth the entire first half trading touchdowns. The Bobcats led 35-34 at halftime by virtue of making more of their extra point conversions.
The Cards came out in the second half and held Manzy on their first possession, causing a turnover and scoring on a long Turner run. They held the Bobcats on their second possession and took a 13 point lead on a touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Cody Canfield to sophomore end Tate Mauser.
But in the key moments of the game, the McClave defensive backs allowed a Bobcat receiver behind them on a fourth-and-16 play to score from midfield. When Manzanola recovered the onside kick that went directly to Mauser and out of his hands, they were able to score just minutes later. They took all the momentum at that point; the Cards were playing catch-up from that point on.
The Cards had an opportunity to win the game in the final minutes. McClave moved to the Manzy 40 yard line after two first downs, but a long Turner run down to the Bobcat nine yard line was negated on a questionable holding call and McClave could get no closer.
"Obviously disappointing," Coach Shawn Randel told his troops after the game. "We played hard but we didn't play very smart. To score 54 points and lose is very, very disappointing. Our football IQ is not very high right now, and we have a lot of things to learn in order to get better."
