CLEWISTON — The Clewiston Tigers quietly just had one of their most complete games of the season against the John Carroll Catholic Rams on Oct. 18.

The Tigers were able to outlast the Rams to complete the 17-10 victory.

Under center for the first time this year for the Tigers was Clewiston junior Morris James. James was back on the field for the first time since he tore his ACL during basketball season last year.

Besides a fumbled snap on the first play from scrimmage, James didn’t show much rust throughout the game and looked comfortable in the quarterback role. On the Tigers second drive James was able to hit Oran Singleton in the end zone to put the Tigers up 7-0. Singleton made a great play on the ball, jumping up with a Rams defender in his face and coming down for the touchdown.

The Tiger special teams, which has been a question mark all year for the program, had one of their best games of the season. Jaivus Chavers and Rayven King had great coverage on the ensuing kickoff following the touchdown, which pinned the Rams back deep near their own endzone.

The Rams were able to respond with a long drive using a hurry up offense run by John Carroll quarterback Jay Allen, who was able to burn the Tigers, mainly on the ground with quarterback draws.

But after getting into Clewiston territory, pressure from the Tiger defensive line forced Allen to throw a ball late across the middle of the field. Chavers was able to intercept the ball and return it to midfield to give the Tigers offense great field position.

James was able to orchestrate a drive down to the Ram 20-yard line where the Clewiston special teams would shine again, putting up three points to increase the Tiger lead to 10-0 near the end of the second quarter.

The Rams were able to finally get on the board in the third quarter to bring the score to 10-7. But Clewiston was able to respond with a long, time-consuming drive of their own.

That drive was highlighted by two big runs by Clewiston junior EJ Bryant that brought the Tigers all the way to John Carroll’s goal line. Facing a fourth goal, Bryant was able to weave his way through the Ram defenders to find the end zone and put Clewiston up 17-7.

John Carroll was able to respond with a field goal in the fourth quarter to bring the score to 17-10, but Clewiston kept the ball out of the Rams up-tempo offense by going on a long, game-winning drive on offense to run out the clock.

That drive might be the biggest statement drive that the Tigers have had all season. Clewiston simply refused to give John Carroll the ball back in the fourth quarter, moving the ball the distance of the field to the Rams goal line.

The win brings the Tigers to 4-4 this season, which is double their win total from last season.

Next, Clewiston will travel to face the Pahokee Blue Devils who are on an upswing after an impressive 20-7 win over the Seminole Ridge Hawks last week.

The Tigers and Blue Devils kick off at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25.