Rico Suave: QHS junior cornerback emerges as playmaker in crosstown victory against QND

QUINCY — Eventually, Rico Clay will remember how everything transpired.

In the aftermath of the Quincy High School football team’s season-opening 55-12 victory Friday night over Quincy Notre Dame, the details of Clay’s first career interception and the return that took him to the end zone for his first career touchdown seemed fuzzy.

“It sort of shocked me,” Clay said. “It’s such a different feeling.”

With the Blue Devils leading 20-6 and less than two minutes to play in the second quarter at Flinn Stadium, Raiders quarterback Noah Lunt tried to connect with senior wide receiver Aiden Klauser on a hitch route in front of the QND sideline.

“It was weird,” Clay said. “I saw him turn his hips and I thought, ‘He’s not going to throw it to the inside probably.’ So I was like, ‘I’ve got to get down.’ After that, it was just a blur.”

When Lunt threw the pass to the inside, Clay jumped the route, intercepted the pass, avoided getting knocked down by Klauser and returned the pick for a touchdown with 55.5 seconds remaining in the half.

The Blue Devils recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and scored three plays later when Tykell Hammers caught a 4-yard pass from Bradyn Little with 15 seconds remaining before halftime for a 35-6 lead.

The halftime advantage ballooned to 55-6 with three touchdowns in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, invoking the mercy rule running clock for the second time in the last seven meetings in the city rivalry.

“Football is like throwing a wolf out the back door,” QND coach Jack Cornell said. “Once you throw that wolf out the back door, there’s another coming through the front door and even more coming through the windows. Tonight, we didn’t get that wolf thrown out the back door completely without getting scratched on the face, but we’re not down and out.”

That clearly seemed to be the case when the Raiders scored on the first possession of the second quarter.

Lunt connected with Klauser, who had gotten behind the cornerback, on a pass to the 3-yard line, where Klauser put his foot in the ground, let a defender run by him and walked into the end zone with 9:54 to go in the second quarter. The touchdown trimmed the deficit to 14-6.

Less than two minutes later, Hammers caught an underneath screen pass and turned it into a 63-yard scoring play — the first of his three touchdowns — as the Blue Devils’ wealth of athletes and speed turned the tide.

“We told them, ‘Hey, it’s going to be someone’s night tonight,’” QHS coach Rick Little said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know who it is going to be. But if it’s not your night, you have to have enough confidence to know you’re a great football player and support your teammates. Your night’s coming.’

“And I really thought our guys did that. Everyone supported each other. We had some guys who had a night tonight, and that’s great to see. I’m anxious to see all of our guys have a night.”

Hammers’ night was pretty solid. The junior wide receiver caught six passes for 154 yards and three scores. Bradyn Little completed 14 of 21 passes for 303 yards with one interception and five touchdowns. Jack Hammock made four solo tackles on special teams.

But this night belonged to Clay, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior who intercepted another pass in the third quarter and returned it 55 yards to the 5-yard line. Jeraius Rice scored on a 5-yard run to finish what Clay couldn’t.

“I tried, I tried,” Clay said with a smile. “I saw the slot receiver coming out for a post. He was open. So I ran that direction and I knew when the pass came I was in position. I was like, ‘This is me, this is me.’ It was just my night.”

Little and the coaching staff could see good things coming from the lanky cornerback.

“That kid has worked hard,” Rick Little said. “The message in the locker room was trust the work. All these other things are fine, but the work is what matters. Rico is a kid who has done that. The pick-6 was huge because we had just gone three-and-out. Not only did he have a good break on the ball, but the run after that was spectacular.

“You can see his length and his potential. I’m really proud of him for putting in the work.”

It took a little shine off what was a solid start by Lunt. He completed 10 of his first 11 passes and finished 14 of 18 with 161 yards and one touchdown. The Raiders struggled to run the ball, piling up 49 yards on 18 carries, but Cornell believes better days are ahead despite a tough road trip next week to Richmond-Burton.

“We have a long way to go,” Cornell said. “We have a lot of improvement to do. This won’t define us. This is not the end of our season. I’m excited about the group of guys that we have. This is the best group of togetherness that we’ve had since I’ve been here.

“We know we have a tough schedule. We know we have a tough start to our schedule. Give a lot of credit to Quincy High for the way they played, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll try to throw another wolf out the back door next week.”