Clement Leads Martinsburg To Class AAA State Title
Senior sets Super Six record with 8 TDs
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WHEELING -- After a loss this season to Spring Valley and having COVID end its four-year run as state champions a year ago, Martinsburg made a statement on Saturday.
Senior standout Hudson Clement was named the game's MVP as he broke a Super Six record with eight total touchdowns and the No. 2 Bulldogs hammered top-seed and unbeaten Huntington 62-21 inside Wheeling Island Stadium for the W.Va. Class AAA state title.
The win is Martinsburg's ninth state championship in the last 12 years.
"The most special thing, after COVID, is being able to come back and get these kids back on the field," Martinsburg coach Britt Sherman said.
Perhaps nobody was happier than Clement to be back on the game's biggest stage.
"That loss just motivated us more," Clement said. "This whole season we've had to fight and battle. There have been so many bumps in the way but this is what we worked for."
Clement also tied Super Six records with four rushing touchdowns and four receiving scores.
He finished with 175 yards receiving and 41 yards rushing.
"We were coming into this game just trying to get the 'w' at the end of the day", Clement said. "But eight touchdowns is a great feeling. When you have a great offense like this and a great team that can execute, that's what is going to happen. Regardless (of who it is), it could have been anyone on the field. It was just great execution as a team.
"You don't go into a state championship game thinking 'I'm going to score eight touchdowns' but when you do it's insane."
Clement never came off the field, playing defensive back and serving as the holder for extra points.
In fact, he even delivered an interception on defense during Huntington's first drive of the game and capitalized off his own takeaway as he scored the game's first touchdown with 5:31 to play in the first quarter on a 6-yard run.
"He's a great player," Sherman said. "He's one of the best players I've ever coached and he has the best hands I've ever seen. He's a competitor. His football IQ is extremely high. Whoever gets him at the next level will be very fortunate."
Huntington fired right back with a 66-yard drive that culminated in a 6-yard TD pass from Gavin Lochow to Noah Waynick to tie the game.
Then, following a 68-yard march, Clement lined up in the wildcat and found the end zone from 2 yards out.
Martinsburg was playing without injured quarterback and Hudson's brother, Murphy Clement.
"I had to. Once Murphy goes down someone has to step up," Hudson Clement said. "It's always been the next man up this whole season because we've had lots of injuries."
The game changed for good on the next possession. Huntington marched the ball down to the 1-yard line but was stopped short on fourth down to turn the ball over.
Martinsburg then marched 99 yards in four plays and 1:57, using a stellar one-handed catch by Hudson Clement in the process. He also ran in the TD from 3 yards away for a 20-7 lead.
That score was the first of four touchdowns the Bulldogs scored over the final 2:52 of the first half to take a 41-14 lead into halftime.
Hudson Clement had the TD record by halftime with five total scores (three rushing, two receiving).
"We put in a couple of different schemes and moved Hudson around," Sherman said. "If they are overloading one side, we'd come back and throw it to him on the other side. We just tried to go where they weren't."
Huntington struck first in the second half as Lochow ran in from a yard out to make it a 41-21 contest but the Highlanders didn't sniff the end zone again.
Hudson Clement added three more scores in the second half -- a 5-yard TD run, a 21-yard TD reception from quarterback Ezra Bagent, as well as a 40-yard screen pass for a TD.
"He's such an explosive player and a great kid," Sherman said. "All of those plays were really big for us. It's the last time and we weren't hiding anything -- motion, screens, reverses -- we wanted to do all kinds of fun stuff."
Huntington coach Billy Seals gave all the credit to Martinsburg.
"They have a heck of a football team," he said. "We have nothing to hang our heads about. We didn't play well and they had a little bit to do with that."