Lions overpower Osage, 56-12

(Above) The Lion defense kept Osage’s offense in check in the season opener, holding the Green Devils to just 31-yards on the ground.  Here, Connor O’Tool (51), Sam Nelson (7), Max Deike (55) and Thomas Gansen (52) swarm to the ball carrier.-Reporter photos by Chris Barragy.

by Marianne Gasaway

“One snap at a time” has been the mantra for the Clear Lake football coach throughout the pre-season.  In their season-opener against Osage Friday night the Lions put the plan into action and came away with a 56-12 victory.

“The best thing about the game is that we completed one play at a time,” said head Coach Jared DeVries. “We had good plays and we were able to forget about bad ones.  The best thing we did is, we got up after every play and went hard again and again.”

The Lion offense, led by All-Stater Jaylen DeVries and featuring a host of potential big play-makers, did not disappoint.  DeVries completed 17 of 20 pass attempts for 343-yards and the Lion ground game provided another 149-yards.

But the Lion defense was not to be overshadowed.  The defense, with its swarming tackles, quickly forced the Green Devils to punt on their first possession.

In the game the Lions held Osage to a meager 31 yards rushing.  Quarterback Colin Muller depended on his receiving corps to produce positive yardage.  He completed 16 of 33 passes for 225-yards in the game.

The Lions took a quick 7-0 lead on their first possession.  A six-play, 92-yard drive ended with Jagger Schmitt zooming and spinning into the end zone.  Hunter Nielsen made the first of six PATs.

After Osage went three-and-out, the Lions kept their home crowd on their feet when DeVries connected with Kody Kearns for a 45-yard touchdown.  A blocked PAT resulted in a 13-0 score barely halfway through the first quarter.

Another strike to the senior, Kearns, this time for 79-yards with 1:59 remaining in the opening quarter, and ensuing PAT made the score 20-0.

The Green Devil defense barely had time to catch its breath after another three-and-out before the dynamic DeVries-Kearns duo struck again.  This time Kearns went streaking down the sideline and caught a 41-yard delivery from his quarterback.  They followed that with another two-point conversion from the eight-yard-line following an illegal substitution.

The 79-yard pass play was the longest of Kearns’ three touchdown receptions.   He ended the game with 166-yards on three receptions.  In addition he carried the ball once for 33-yards.

Osage finally got on the board midway through the second quarter on a 15-play, 78-yard drive.

That was quickly answered with a Lion score, as DeVries scrambled his way to the end zone from the 15, putting the score at 35-6.

Back on defense, Schmitt did something no Lion has done for six years.  The sophomore stepped in front of a Green Devil receiver to make an interception and run the ball back for a score.  The PAT had the Lions ahead 42-6 with three-minutes left in the first half.

Osage tried to re-create the magic which brought them back from a large deficit last year to challenge the Lions.  With :38 left in the half, Muller made a quick completion from 11-yards out to make the score 42-12.  But the Lions threw cold water on whatever hopes the visitor had of taking momentum to the locker room with a 49-yard TD strike between DeVries and Carson Toebe.  Toebe’s second catch on the night netted him 91-yards receiving in the game.

At the half the score was 49-12.

With a running clock in motion, the Lions made their final score on the opening possession of the second half.  The nine-play, 60-yard drive ended with a quarterback sneak into the end zone from one-yard out.

With the game safely in hand, Coach DeVries let his younger players get their first varsity experience.  Sophomore Joe Faber completed his only pass attempt and others took their first hand-offs and got into the scorebook with tackles in the final minutes.

A look at the final statistics showed the Lions had a balanced attack,  In addition to DeVries and Kearns carrying the ball for 38 and 33-yards respectively, Jaden O-Brien-Green ran seven times for 32-yards.  Faber ran three times for 19, Schmitt carried once for 14 and Jorge Rivera rushed seven times for 13.

On defense, the Lions were led by its seniors.  Jack Barragy recorded five solo tackles, while Connor O’Tool had three solo and four assists.  Austin  Larson made three solo and one assisted tackle and Mitchell Raber brought down two Green Devils alone and assisted on two more.  Junior Tyres Green was also among the leaders with four solo tackles.  Juniors Ty Fisher and Thomas Gansen were each credited with sack assists.  Fisher also made one solo and three tackle assists while Gansen had four

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assists.  Jagger Schmitt, a sophomore, made three solo and one assisted tackle.

This Friday the Lions, who moved up to number two on the Radio Iowa Class 2A poll this week, will travel to Waverly for another non-district game.  The Go-Hawks also started the season with a win.  They defeated North Fayette Valley, 18-7.

“Waverly has a big football program and talented roster.  We will see how we respond to that, along with being on the road,” said Coach DeVries. “We will continue to take things one snap at a time.”

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