The underdog Clippers opened Friday night’s Western Class C semifinal with a nice drive that challenged the Leavitt defense. The Hornets snagged the momentum when they recovered a Yarmouth fumble, turned the tide with a lengthy drive, and never looked back in a 30-6 win.

“Our defense was great tonight,” Leavitt junior quarterback Levi Craig said. “On that first drive, we came out a little slow, but they got that turnover. We knew we had to go down and score and put the game in our corner. From there, we just had to go out and win.”

Top-seeded Leavitt (9-1) advances to next week’s regional final against Wells, which edged Spruce Mountain, 14-13.

“We’ve come further than anybody could ever imagine,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “It’s a group of kids that have really stuck together. They’ve really worked hard when everybody else’s expectations was that we were going to take a step back this year. These guys owned it and didn’t want that to happen. They put a tremendous amount of work in every week. We’re really proud of them.”

Leavitt threw for 296 yards on 18 completions. Craig passed for a pair of touchdowns and rushed for two others as the Hornets built a 24-0 lead by halftime.

“We just came out and executed and did what we had to do,” Craig said.

Maxwell Green led the Hornets with four catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Billy Bedard also had four catches for 75 yards and a score. Mitchel Davis had four receptions for 64 yards while Gabe Seeley had a pair of catches for 47 yards.

“I thought he spread it around pretty good,” said Hathaway, whose team had seven different receivers make catches. “They all kind of figured in there. You can’t really key on any one guy when he’s using all of them.”

Yarmouth (6-4) was held to just 47 total yards in the first half – 35 of which came on the opening drive.

“It was a great first drive,” Yarmouth coach Jason Veilleux said. “We thought we were going to get some momentum going. Then we just fumbled it away. It wasn’t our night tonight.”

Leavitt got pressure on the quarterback and Will Parkin forced the fumble. Lajoie Chandler recovered it at the 30.

“That was a big turnover,” Hathaway said. “They got off to a good start. Their no huddle was pretty crisp. They strung together some good runs right in a row. We came up with the turnover, and we were able to come down and get the score and the two. That was huge.”

Leavitt marched down the field on 10 plays. Despite the stiff wind, Craig threw for 45 yards on the drive, finishing it off with a 14-yard pass to Green in the right corner of the end zone.  Bedard rushed the conversion for an 8-0 lead with 6:44 left in the first quarter.

“Whatever it is, you’ve got to come out and know what you’re doing,” Craig said about the weather conditions. “No matter where we are or whatever is happening, we just stay calm and focused and execute and do what we have to do to get the job done.”

Leavitt forced Yarmouth to punt and got the ball back. That led to another quick drive and a Craig rush from the 3 with 4:16 left in the quarter. Isaiah Calder ran in the conversion for the 16-0 lead.

The Hornets added another score in the second with 9:00 left in the half, taking advantage of great field position following a defensive stop. Craig completed a 46-yard drive with a 9-yard run. Craig then connected with Green on the conversion.

“We knew they had gotten a lot better with the passing game the second part of the season,” said Veilleux, whose team lost to Leavitt 20-12 in September. “When you try to replicate that in practice, it’s the hardest thing to do. You can’t do it, especially with our low numbers.”

After totalling 244 yards in the first half, 177 through the air, Leavitt opened the second half with a 95-yard drive. Craig completed four passes for 57 yards. The last one was a 13-yard pass to Bedard, who caught it after a pair of Yarmouth defenders failed to catch it.

“There was always somebody open,” Veilleux said. “Our guys were still in position. They’d out jump and make a great catch.”

Yarmouth started moving the ball in the second half, utilizing its own passing game. The Clippers finished with 96 yards on 10 completions. Their lone score came with 4:36 left in the game when  John Thoma hit Jack Snyder with a 9-yard pass.

“It means a lot,” Craig said of returning to the regional final. “Everybody had us as the underdog this year. We came out and the coaches taught us well. Wells is a great team. It should be fun.”

kmills@sunjournal.com