Hurricane Isaac’s rainy remainder allowed Ava to outrun defending Class 3 state champion Rogersville 14-12 Friday night.

Ava halfback Kyle Clinkingbeard put the Bears in a good position early by taking a fourth and short situation and turning it into a 41-yard gain. From there he would cap off the offensive series with a bruising 8-yard run for the first score of the game.

“We came out wanting to play our game of running the football and the weather helped with that,” the senior rusher said.

Clinkingbeard powered his way for 141 yards on 29 carries, and credited Kolton Davis and Zach Taylor on the offensive line for his success.

Defensively, the Ava Bears looked to contain Rogersville senior quarterback Evan Gruener from making positive plays. And this was the case in the first half, when the Wildcats failed to convert three fourth-down conversions and trailed 14-0 at halftime.

Yet the Rogersville offense managed to stage a comeback in the third quarter with Gruener making the best of a broken play as he dodged Ava tacklers to pick up 65 yards.  His big gain would set up a short scoring rush for running back Cody Chaney. 

The Wildcats would take this momentum into the fourth with Gruener orchestrating a drive through the air. He connected with three different receivers as Rogersville escaped its own territory and found the endzone on a 50-yard catch and run to senior wideout Brock Buzbee to make the score 14-12. 

The Wildcats caught a break with less than a minute to go when Ava quarterback Ben Loge fumbled in Rogersville territory, yet the state champions couldn’t capitalize and ended the five-play drive unable to pick up a 4^th and 1 attempt.

When asked where the 1-1 Ava Bears would go for the rest of the season, Clinkingbeard simply said: “Up. It’s the only way we can go.” 

Next week, Ava will take on 2-0 Mountain Grove while 0-2 Rogersville will face 1-1.