By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Oct. 2, 2004
LAKE The second half belongs to Clarkdale.
The Bulldogs, who trailed 20-7 at the half, scored 32 unanswered second half points on the way to handing veteran coach Jud Gartman his first career win at Clarkdale.
There were many stars in the second half for Clarkdale, 1-4 overall and 1-0 in division play. Among those was Sirven, who rushed for 237 yards on 18 carries and scored on runs of 7, 68, 21 and 77 yards.
As a team, Clarkdale rushed for a whopping 431 yards on 53 carries.
While the Bulldogs were dominant in the second half, that was not the story for the first two quarters.
After Clarkdale took a 7-0 lead on a Sirven's 7-yard scoring run with 6:45 left in the first quarter, Lake went to the air and quickly took control of things.
The Hornets tied the game with 5:09 left in the first when Jeffrey Wilson hauled in a 51-yard scoring pass from Maurice Pinkston.
Lake went up 14-7 with 2:57 left in the half when Greg Sanders scored on a 9-yard run. The score was set up by a 29-yard pass from Pinkston to Wilson.
After Clarkdale went four-and-out, the winless Hornets went up 20-7 when Pinkston scored on a 9-yard run with 19 seconds left in the half.
Pinkston really had the Bulldogs baffled during that scoring drive, completing passes of 28 and 19 yards and also rambling for an 11-yard gain and a first down.
In the second half, the Bulldogs began to target the fleet-footed quarterback.
That the Bulldogs did, as Eastman recorded two of the four sacks Clarkdale notched in the second half. The Bulldogs had none in the first half.
The Bulldogs got a big spark in the second half, when running back Cedric Burns returned to the backfield, after carrying the ball just once in the first half. Burns was questionable before the game, due to a shoulder injury he suffered in last week's 14-13 loss to Heidelberg.
Burns made his presence known in a hurry in the third quarter as the Bulldogs took the second half kickoff and moved 61 yards in just four plays. Chris Skinner scored the touchdown on a 17-yard run with 10:34 on the clock, but the score was set up by runs of 40 and 13 yards by Burns.
Sirven agreed.
Burns scored on a 4-yard run on fourth-and goal to bring Clarkdale to within 21-19 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. The pass for two failed, leaving the 0-6 Hornets with a two-point lead.
With the Hornets keeping a close eye on Burns, who finished the night with 99 yards on just nine carries, Sirven took over.
On the third play of Clarkdale's next possession, Sirven took a handoff, bounced it outside and raced down the left sideline for a 68 yard score with 2:22 left in the third quarter. The run for two failed, leaving CHS with a 25-20 lead.
Sirven scored on runs of 21 yards with 9:01 to play in the game and 77 yards with 3:21 left on the clock. Chris McKissack had three extra point kicks on the night to account for the rest of the Bulldog points.
The Bulldogs held Lake to just 64 rushing yards, but Pinkston hit on 9-of-20 passes for 202 yards.