It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t clean and it certainly wasn’t the conventional spring game played between Claxton and Long County — but at the end of the night the Tigers wound up with something they hadn’t had all of 2016.
    A win.
    In a scrimmage formatted for the starters to play the first three quarters and the reserves to play the fourth, Claxton beat Long County 10-7 in a game ridden by penalties, sloppy line play and procedural goof-ups. But at the end of the night new head coach Tony Welch already can see improvement in his new team, who’s currently riding a 12-game, regular season losing streak dating back to Oct. 23, 2015.
    “We won and that’s important to making the next step, but the thing I wanted to see most was them compete, and they did that,” Welch said. “When you complete, anything is possible. The only thing that cures losing is winning.”
    In the time the starters were on the field, Long County would commit nine penalties for 62 yards only to be topped by Claxton’s 12 penalties for 90 yards. Between the two sides, five sacks were given up, 15 tackles were made behind the line of scrimmage and six passes were dropped.
    Maybe sloppy was an understatement. But Welch says this is something to be expected to the start of a new regime in the spring. The players are still getting used to the fast pace Welch runs his offense at and aren’t quite so used to the level of conditioning his multiple-set scheme calls for. If anything, fans can’t complain about their new team being boring.
    “It’s spring ball man, this is where you work out communication and timing,” Welch said. “It happens to all the teams all over the region. You only have nine days to prepare. I’m proud of how they performed tonight because they continued to push through the mistakes.”
    Claxton’s offense in 2016 was historically bad. The Tigers averaged less than seven points a game, were shutout twice and topped double-digits in only two games. Thursday certainly flashed struggles on offense, but there were flashes of explosiveness not seen on 2016’s squad from a multitude of formations.
    On first and ten Claxton would line up in a traditional triple-option set, then on second and seven would come out in the shotgun with four wide receivers. It’s a radical change for a Claxton program used to traditional single-wing football, but with those radical changes have come some exciting potential of a young Tiger team.
    The one player who flashed the most potential in the new offense was quarterback KaRon Taylor, who finished with 45 yards rushing on ten carries and 32 yards on 4-of-9 passing while scoring Claxton’s only touchdown. After being sacked for the third time in second and goal, Taylor had Claxton 13 yards away from the goalline in what was a 7-3 game during the third quarter.
    From under center Taylor faked a toss and looked towards the right side of the endzone, but with pressure coming from that side it forced him out of the pocket to escape to the left side of the field. Taylor would outrun all of the Long County defenders to the edge before lunging his outstretched arm over the pylon to give the Tigers their first lead with 4:45 left in the quarter.
    By the way, Taylor’s still in the eighth grade.
    “He’s a heady kid,” Welch said. “We gave him just enough line support to make plays, but he’s going to get better and so is our line.”
    Taylor will join the ninth grade in the fall, but after his performance Thursday he looks to be an easy shoe-in for the starting job. Tagging alongside him in the big play department was Shy-Rik Furman who had a pair of ten-plus yard runs of his own on a pair of misdirection sweeps.
    But possibly more impressive than Taylor’s first game under center was the overall performance of the Claxton defense. This was a defense that gave up more than 34 points in seven games last season, and even while the unit got gashed early on it would adjust as the game carried along to give their offense a chance to catch up.
    Claxton admittedly had trouble with Long County running back Eric Crawford in the first quarter, who was averaging nearly seven yards a carry in his the Blue Wave’s first three drives. He’d score Long County’s lone touchdown after Claxton fumbled away their second possession at their own four yard line.
    “We adjusted from a four front to a five front, which made a big difference for us,” Welch said. “Then the boys stepped up and made the plays when they needed to.”
    Over the course of the game Claxton would eventually work down Crawford’s yard per carry average to 5.4 for 92 total rushing yards in three quarters. But as a team Long County would only averaged 3.5 yards per play, being as the Blue Wave had trouble containing the Tiger pass rush led by Von Hagan who finished with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
    Hagan would also grab two receptions for 22 yards and nearly had another which would have gone for a first down on Claxton’s initial drive had been able to hold on to the ball.
    The larger point is fans leaving the Pecan Grove had something they didn’t see last year, well two things actually. A win first and foremost, but more importantly hope. With a new offseason workout schedule in place and an alum pridefully trying to will his team back from the depths of winlessness — the flagship school of Evans County just might have a football team they can be proud of come August.