By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

Senior center Wayne Davis stepped up even before the coaches said anything and told his teammates that the Columbiana Clippers were beating themselves.

Davis simply said they needed to figure out what they are doing and get back into the game.

The message worked as the Clippers put up 34 points in the second half in a 41-0 win over Lisbon in an Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference tilt on Homecoming.

Jakob Cross led the Clippers (5-3, 5-0) with 364 yards passing and four touchdown passes to four different receivers.

“We feel we have the speed advantage on everyone we play,” Cross said. “Our offensive line as well played amazing tonight. I was able to sit back in the pocket. They gave me great protection all night. Our skill position guys made it happen.”

The Clippers seemed poised for a big night in the opening half when Chase Franken’s 1-yard run capped off a seven-play, 49-yard drive to make it 7-0 less than five minutes into the game.

Instead, Columbiana derailed itself on its next two red-zone possessions with two fumbles at the Lisbon 1-yard line.

“We always preach adapt and overcome in practice,” Cross said.

Instead of a 21-0 advantage, it was still 7-0 despite the Clippers having 175 yards of total offense to just 27 for the Blue Devils (3-5, 1-4).

“It’s what you’re afraid of when you are dealing with 16- and 17-year-old kids,” Columbiana coach Bob Spaite said. “We had a great week of practice. I thought we were ready. Our focus was good. Pregame was fine. I usually worry about homecoming. Let’s just give Lisbon credit. Stuff like that though is a lack of focus. It’s a lack of concentration.”

Then the Blue Devils started finding success on the ground moving the ball to midfield before time became their enemy and they were forced to punt when they couldn’t move the sticks on a couple of pass plays.

Brice Blackburn led Lisbon with 64 yards rushing.

“We’re struggling to finish drives,” Lisbon coach Alan Mikovich said. “We start to get a little momentum and then we fizzle out. We don’t have a ton of playmakers on offense due to injuries. We got out to midfield and there were a couple of passes we needed to connect on that we didn’t.”

The Clippers had their own issues with the red-zone mistakes.

“That took the wind out of our sails,” Spaite said. “That last fumble, we just deflated. There’s no other way to put it. While they didn’t gash us or kill us, they moved the ball. They wanted to play and we were questioning what was going on. That’s a very frustrating thing.”

Instead of stealing momentum, the Clippers figured out things because of the Davis speech as the Clippers scored on the first five drives of the second half with Xathan Cross and Joey Bable leading the way with 120 and 99 yards receiving respectfully.

“The defense played very well in the first half,” Mikovich said. “Their athleticism caught up to us in the second half. It’s just the nature of how our season’s gone. They have a lot of athletes out on the field. They do a good job and Bob runs a great program. We just wore down in the second half.