Wheeling – If you’re reading this Hudson Clement just scored again.
The senior wide receiver from Martinsburg scored eight total touchdowns Saturday afternoon, helping the Bulldogs to their fifth title in the last six years with a 62-21 win over Huntington in the Class AAA title game at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Clement was stellar in every phase, catching eight passes for 175 yards and four touchdowns and running the ball seven times for 41 yards and four more scores.
“We’re coming into the game just trying to get the W at the end of the day,” Clement said. “But eight touchdowns, it’s a great feeling. When you have a great offense and a great team that can execute that’s what’s going to happen. Regardless, it could’ve been anyone on the field but it was great execution as a team.”
In a game billed as a matchup between two titans, Martinsburg took control late in the second quarter and never looked back.
After the Huntington QB Gavin Lochow tossed interceptions on the Highlanders first two drives, one to Clement,the hosts on the scoreboard created their own luck. A fumble recovery by Scout Arthur led to a six-play, 34-yard scoring drive that ended with a six-yard touchdown pass from Lochow to Noah Waynick.
Martinsburg answered when Clement, lined up at QB, powered in from two yards out on the following drive. The Highlanders drove the length of the field on their next drive, going for it on fourth-and-goal, but falling short at the Martinsburg 1-yard line.
It took the Bulldogs four plays to move the length of the field with Clement again scoring from two yards out.
“That was huge,” Huntington coach Billy Seals said. “We thought even if we didn’t get it, we could stop them and get the ball back and get pretty good field position. They ripped off a big run and got a couple of big plays and got down in scoring. That was a little bit of a back breaker in the first half and I kind of felt like the tide turned after that.”
A muffed return on the following kickoff opened the floodgates as Martinsburg QB Ezra Bagent found Clement on a 32-yard scoring strike to make it 26-7.
A 38-yard pass from Lochow to Nakyin Harrell made it a 26-14 game but touchdown passes from Bagent to Jacob Barrick and Hudson Clement in the final 1:24 of the half staked the Bulldogs to a 41-14 lead at the intermission and they never looked back.
“We won the turnover battle all year long in every game,” Huntington coach Billy Seals said. “We were probably minus-five or six today. You just can’t do that here and you can’t do that against Martinsburg. We had too many opportunities with good field position and maybe the stage got to us today a little bit. But it all falls back on me. I wasn’t good enough today.”
It was a solid half for Clement who scored five total touchdowns, intercepted a pass and completed a pass on a two-point conversion attempt.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Clement said. “You don’t go into a state championship game thinking you’re going to score eight touchdowns. But when you do it’s insane.”
Several records were either broken or tied in the game. Huntington tied the record for most interceptions thrown in a Class AAA title game with five. Clement shattered the overall Super Six record with eight scores (the previous record was five in Class A) and tied the Class AAA receiving and rushing touchdown records with four each. He also broke points record which previously stood at 28 (T. Porchia, Morgantown 1998).
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
Individual Statistics
Rushing – M: Eric King 17-152, Hudson Clement 7-41-4, Xavion Kendall 5-28, Exra Bagent 3-19, Roman Pierson 1-10, Zion Grantham 1-2; H: Gavin Lochow 20-108-1, Curtis Jones Sr. 4-31, Amari Felder 2-8, Naykin Harrell 1-5, D’Edrick Graves 2-3, Zah’Trelious Jackson 3-(Minus-2).
Passing – M: Ezra Bagent 12-21-0-207-5 TDs; H: Gavin Lochow 11-23-5 INT-185-2 TDs, Avocet Crawford 0-2-0.
Receiving – M: Hudson Clement 8-175-4 TDs, Jacob Barrick 2-21-1 TD, Roman Pierson 2-11. H: Nakyin Harrell  3-62-1 tD, Noah Waynick 3-20-1 TD, Amari Felder 2-23, Zah’Trelious Jackson 1-44, Taviun Chandler 1-30, Scout Arthur 1-6.
