Article by Josh Longstreth
It was a tough game to swallow last week for the Clare Pioneers. Clare would jump up early on defensing State Champion, Gladwin. It was a game that the Pioneers had the look like they might run away at points in the game. It would be for not though as Gladwin roared back to take it from the Pioneers. One week after the gut punch, Clare wouldn’t bounce back in a big way to show just how much they have already moved on from that game.
The Pioneers had things rolling early as Carter Smedley would be on the receiving end of a Jayden Arthur 14-yard touchdown pass to give Clare a 7-0 lead. Clare had their offense in tune again, this time it would be Jacob Halicek grabbing an Arthur pass from 11-yards away. After a Camden Babcock good PAT, the Pioneers would lead 14-0. They weren’t done quite yet. Arthur would take one into the endzone on his own this time on a 46-yard touchdown scamper. All Clare after one, 21-0.
Things would slow down a bit in the second quarter but the Pioneers defense would still let Harrison feel it for much of the quarter. Smedley would take a rushing touchdown in from 6-yards away. It would be all Clare after one half of play, 28-0.
Clare would be the ones to strike first in the third quarter. Smedley would reach the endzone for the third time on the night on a 23-yard touchdown run. This would push the Pioneers lead to 34-0. Later in the quarter, Aiden Van Bonn would get in on the action on a 35-yard touchdown run.
That would be all that a hungry Clare team would need on the night. The defense wouldn’t let up and the Pioneers offense had their way all night. They go on to take this one over the Hornets, 41-0.
The Pioneers would rack up 345 yards of total offense on the night. Jayden Arthur was absolutely brilliant on the night by finishing with 138 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. He added 56 yards on the ground along with a rushing touchdown. Carter Smedley finished with 2 rushing touchdowns and 1 receiving touchdown.
Harrison will fall to 2-3 on the year. They will take on a Shepherd team who fell in a big way to Ovid-Elsie on Friday night. The Bluejays welcome in Harrison next Friday night.
This was a big bounce back win for Clare as they improve to 3-2 on the season. It’s a team that continues to show they can get over something in a hurry and they did that again tonight. Tonight, things weren’t in favor of Harrison as the Pioneers took that out on them. Clare will be back at home next week when they welcome in Okemos. The Wolves sit at 0-5 on the year and have really struggled to gain any ground over the last three weeks.
