Clayton's leg lifts Falcons

A.C. Flora defenders Jalen Ayers and Lamont Todd bring down Brookland- Cayce tailback Rodderickus Fanning. Photos by Morgen Orr With three tremendous swings of his leg, A.C. Flora's Grant Clayton connected on three field goals, the last of which came from 49 yards, to give the Falcons (2- 2) a 9- 7 victory over Brookland- Cayce (0- 3) on September 12 at Memorial Stadium.

Clayton's first field goal came just three minutes into the game as A.C. Flora drove down the field on its first possession. A halfback pass from Terry Cherry to Jaylen Ayers for 34 yards and strong runs by Cherry and Carlos McCoy put the Falcons within field goal range. Clayton hit from 29 yards to give the home team a 3- 0 lead.

Three- and- out series and punts by each team defined most of the rest of the first quarter. To start the second, Brookland- Cayce used quick passes from Kenyatta Castleberry to Foster Stephens and Jonathon Rumph to move effectively down field. Upon reaching the 1- yard line, a Castleberry fumble was recovered by the Falcons' Lamont Todd, giving the ball back to Flora after a highly successful drive.

Flora's Ricky Williams tries to tackle Bearcat quarterback Kenyatta Castleberry. Neither team was able to muster much offense through the rest of the second quarter until a short drive by Flora in the final minute. Clayton's second field goal came from 37 yards and went through the uprights as the sirens blared ending the half with the Falcons leading 6- 0.

Following a direct snap to Rumph that gained four yards for the Bearcats, Coach Abby Bray called a pass play to the tight end, Vincent Odom, designed to exploit an opening in the middle of the field. Castleberry's pass was perfectly thrown finding Odom's hands mid- stride, and more importantly, behind the defense. Odom rumbled 76 yards for the touchdown, as the Bearcat sideline erupted with joy and a 7- 6 lead not even four minutes into the second half.

But offense was tough to come by for both teams for most of the rest of the game. B- C found theirs first and put together a 62- yard drive midway through the fourth quarter keyed by a 31- yard run by fullback Simeon Twitty. Twitty's run set the Bearcats up inside the ten- yard line with four downs to increase the fragile one point lead. The Falcon defense had other ideas, stuffing the Bearcats on three straight plays, forcing a fourth down and two from the five- yard line. B- C tried a pass to the front right corner of the end zone, but McCoy broke up Castleberry's pass.

With possession of the ball and six minutes on the clock, A.C. Flora set out to drive the length of the field to try to win the game. Strong, up- the- middle runs by Jermaine Simmons pushed the Falcons out of depths of their own end of the field. A third down pass to Carlos Jeter preserved the Falcon drive, and short passes to McCoy kept the ball moving down field for Flora. Facing fourth down from the 32- yard line, Coach Robin Bacon again called on Clayton to deliver points for the Falcons. Clayton's 49- yard field goal sent the Flora sideline and bleachers into celebrations as the ball easily cleared the crossbar with just 48.9 seconds to play.

Brookland- Cayce tried valiantly to get close enough for their own field goal but could come no closer than the 34- yard line. The Bearcats' desperation 51- - yard field goal try fell short giving the Falcons a hardearned 9- 7 victory.