A football team at any level is usually just an injury to a key player away from their fortunes being turned upside-down, and the Cardinals are no exemption to that as their sideline continues to pile up players not dressed out due to various injuries.
Clinton lost Cade Banks and Connor Brammel; two probable All-Conference players, following their week 1 loss at Boonville. Now, after their 37-7 home loss to Odessa on Friday night, the Cardinals will head into week 3 likely without the talents of other key players in Austin Clifton, Quintin Faught and Andy Vandenberg.
"We were already down our top two lineman," said Clinton head coach Todd Mowery. "Now we'll be down two more starters for the upcoming game."
With both teams facing early struggles, Odessa led just 7-0 at the end of the first quarter but then rallied for 2 scores in the second quarter to take a 23-0 halftime lead.
The Cardinals were able to move the ball downfield, but reminiscent of week 1, penalties and turnovers continued to kill successful offensive drives.
"Our defense is playing well, but they're just getting put in bad situations," Mowery added.
The visiting Bulldogs added a touchdown in the third quarter to stretch their lead to 30-0 before reserves began to filter onto the field.
In the fourth, Odessa tacked on one more TD and the Cardinals scored on a Kanden LaFarge pass to Brody Barnhart for their lone touchdown of the night for the 37-7 final.
LaFarge finished the game completing 20 of 36 passes for 186 yards and 1 TD. He also had 2 interceptions.
Barnhart paced the wide receiving corps with 7 catches for 67 yards while Jase Wilson also hauled in 7 passes for 43 yards.
Markus Oliver led the Cardinals on the ground with 18 rushes for 78 yards.
Will Golder led the Clinton defense with 12 tackles while Payton Goth finished with 11.
Goth and Landon Stamper both also had sacks of the Bulldogs quarterback and Jack English had 1 interception.
The Cardinals will be at home again this week when they host Summit Christian Academy for a 7:00 PM kickoff.
SCA stands at 1-1 on the year with a 35-28 win over St. Michael the Archangel in week 1 and a 71-0 loss versus East (Kansas City) last Friday night.
