Deja Vu for CL Lions

(Above) The Clear Lake offense capitalized on this interception by Austin Warnke.  Ten plays after the interception, the Lions ran in for a touchdown.  Making a block is Sam Nelson (7).  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway 

It was deja vu all over again for the Clear Lake football team Friday night.  For the fourth time in as many weeks, the Lions found themselves down late in the game with a chance to score and win.  In a game filled with mistakes on both sides of the ball,  Hampton-Dumont (2-3) took home a win over the Lions for the first time since 1990.  The final score was 7-6.

“We have a lot of guys playing with great effort and determination, but we need everybody to be doing that - and we have to be better at the details,” said Head Coach Jared DeVries, whose team dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in Class 2A District 3.

The Lions were challenged by the fact that they were without a significant number of players, due to non-disciplinary reasons.  DeVries said eight or nine starters were not in the game.  He expects that will continue to be the case as the season progresses.

“We had enough kids to play and we should have won.  When you hold a team to seven points you should win.  We can’t make that many mistakes on offense,” he said.

The game did not get off to a good start for the Lions.  On the first play from scrimmage the Lions hoped to surprise the Bulldogs with a reverse, but a fumble gave the visitors the ball on the Lion 22.  They scored in three plays and kicked a PAT for a quick 7-0 lead.

The miscues continued on the Lions’ second possession.  An illegal block negated a good kick-off return by Tyres Green and three plays later another fumble was recovered by H-D.

The Lion defense did its best to spark the team’s offense.  A booming sack by Nathan Lollar provided an 11-yard loss and when quarterback Cal Heeran reached back to launch a long pass, Austin Warnke was there to intercept at the 15.  Ten plays later, Andrew Crane carried the ball in for a Clear Lake touchdown.

Among those out of the lineup was Carson Toebe, who not only plays quarterback for the Lions, but is the holder on PATs.  A challenging snap led to a missed PAT by kicker Eric Ritter and the Lions trailed, 7-6.

Just when it looked like things were starting to click, another critical mistake took the wind out of Clear Lake’s sails.  The Bulldogs were forced to punt with 2:25 left in the first quarter, but a roughing the kicker penalty let them hang onto the ball.  The Lion defense stiffened and got the ball back, but an interception thrown by PJ Feuerbach gave the ball back to Hampton-Dumont.  The team sputtered to halftime still trailing by one point.

The second half started much like the first, but this time it was the Bulldogs who struggled.  On third down, the snap went over the head of the H-D quarterback. On the next down the Bulldog punter got his kick off from the half yard line and Warnke returned it to the 20, but the Lions were sent back to the 38 after they were flagged for an illegal block.

[wlm_nonmember]To read more of this article, please login or sign up for our E-Edition[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]

The Lions failed to take advantage of the short field and turned the ball over on downs on the 19.

The Lions worked themselves into position to score as the third quarter was winding down.  Feuerbach connected with Tyres Green for a 66-yard pass play which moved the ball from the Lion five to the Bulldog 29.  Unfortunately, the drive ended on the 23.

Early in the fourth the Lions gained some life when H-D was called for roughing punter Eric Ritter.  Additional Bulldog penalties helped the Lions move the ball all the way to the H-D 37, but once again they came up empty. The Lions’ final gasp had the ball at midfield with just under two-minutes to play, but the Bulldog defense held the Lions and then let time run out.

Feuerbach completed four of eight pass attempts in the game for 70-yards.  He was intercepted twice.   Green finished with three catches for 73-yards.  Warnke hauled in one for 12-yards and Maeto Gonzalez had one reception for minus three-yards.

The Lions picked up 122-yards on the ground, led by Jaden O’Brien-Green with 31-yards on six carries.  Sam Nelson ran three times for 29 and Andrew Crane picked up 25-yards in 10 rushes.

Defensively, the Lions held H-D to a mere nine-yards rushing and 65 through the air.  Thomas Gansen was a one-man wrecking crew with 11.5 total tackles, 10 of them solo and nine were for a loss.  Five of Caden Jone’s six tackles were solo.  Tucker Jones also finished among the leaders with five tackles, three of them solo and two for a loss.

This week the Lions (1-4) travel to West Marshall (4-1).  The Trojans, who are new to District 3, started their season with wins over Cedar Rapids Jefferson (46-6), Roland-Story (60-13), Hampton-Dumont (48-12) and Aplington-Parkersburg (33-19).  They are coming off a 23-13 loss to Gilbert.  Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

[/wlm_ismember]