CLAYTON – Fuquay-Varina junior lineman, Shaun Underwood was born in the 1990’s, but Bengals assistant coach, Dale Lowe and the Fuquay staff made sure he and his teammates took a trip down memory lane before their trip to old-time rival, Clayton High.

“Our defensive coordinator told us that since the 1960’s that this has been a very big rival, and we knew they were gonna bring it,” Underwood said following Fuquay’s 14-7 win at Clayton on Saturday night. “All we had to do was prepare for this week and play as hard as we could.”

There were Saturday night lights in Clayton (0-2) as the game was postponed from Friday night due to heavy rain all over the area.

Bengals quarterback and punter, Nate Budde helped Fuquay escape from a dangerous situation in the first quarter. Backed up inside the 20-yard line, a fourth down punt snap sailed over Budde’s head into the endzone. He escaped several Comets and booted a punt on the run from behind his own goal line.

Two plays later, Fuquay’s Justin Thomas intercepted a Clayton pass that set up the Bengals’ first scoring drive. A few plays later, junior wing back, Eric Powell rumbled 12 yards for a score. Also the place kicker, Powell nailed the extra point to complete the turn around.

Following another Clayton turnover, Budde got loose for a 24-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to give Fuquay a 14-0 halftime cushion.

Fuquay was plagued all night by dropped passes and a determined Clayton run defense. Bengals junior fullback, Cory Hunter still managed 81 rushing yards and Budde ran for 71.

The Comets made things really interesting with a touchdown at the 6:18 mark of the fourth quarter.

“The last two years when we’ve played them, it’s always a dog fight when we’ve played,” Fuquay coach Ryan Habich said. “We knew we’d have a tough ballgame. Coach (Gary) Fowler and his defensive staff do a great job with their defense. We knew it would be hard to move the ball.”

But Habich knew his team would need to move the ball one last time and kill the clock through the final few minutes to cancel out the Comets’ fresh momentum.

Underwood said he knew it, too. “We had to get to it, man,” he said. “We knew we had to do work then after that.”

And the Bengals did just enough, holding onto the ball as Clayton burned timeouts. Budde took a knee, and Fuquay got back on the buses at 2-0.

Longtime Clayton coach, Gary Fowler sees new faces now when he looks across the field at the Bengals coaching staff, but he said the Fuquay community should be proud of their coaches and their team.

“It’s not as wild as it was back in the old days, but I’m gonna tell you what – it’s that same old Fuquay attitude,” Fowler said. “And I’ve been doin’ this thing for 25 years, and we’ve been playin’ them for a long time. All it is, is when they line up, they play hard and it’s a hard fought game. This right here was a physical game out here – and there’s no mess. It’s just football. That’s probably what made this rivalry great.”

The Bengals return home this Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against West Johnston (1-1) of the Greater Neuse River conference. The Wildcats are coming off a 10-7 loss to South Johnston.