Shepard's McClinton Lights Up Lane Stadium With Electric Play

Opening the season on the road and having a young team with a lot of two-way players caused some headaches for head coach Dominic Passolano on Friday night.

“Maybe it's a case of we need to get more experience, get some of these kids more experience, some of the juniors more experience,” Passolano said. “Some of the seniors who didn't play a lot last year, (get them) more experience, maybe that's the case there. It was very sloppy, we weren't consistent and that's stuff we have to work on.”

Though it was sloppy, Passolano liked the result—a 27-0 win over Payton Prep, thanks in part to the performance of junior . The quarterback/defensive back scored two touchdowns and had a hand in another, his leaping interception in the second quarter that led to the game's first score and got Shepard's motor running.

Payton Prep's quarterback dropped back on third-and-10 at his own 37-yard-line, and let loose a pass that got tipped at the line of scrimmage. From there, it was all McClinton.

“I just had my man, he (came) across the middle and somebody deflected the pass," he said. "I was just happy to be in the right spot at the right time. I just picked it off and tried to score.”

Though he didn't get into the end zone on the pick, he brought the ball to the 6-yard-line. From there, it was all punishing tailback John Kotas, who battered through a Payton linebacker for the first Shepard score of the season.

McClinton wasn't done putting his stamp on the game, though, as he scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak and later connected with Brandon Lucas on a 43-yard TD pass. The performance drew tempered praise from his coach.

“This is his first year on varsity, his first year starting as a varsity quarterback and DB, so he was nervous,” Passolano said of McClinton.

“He made some plays and made some mistakes. I think that's what you see, inconsistency, when you have a junior. That's going to happen here. Hopefully we can get everything tuned up for next week.”