Lions devour Mohawks, 49-21

(Above) Thorson Olinger (52), Drew Enke (81), Ty Fisher (59) and Braxton Doebel (33) team up to bring down a Mohawk ball carrier in Clear Lake’s 49-21 romp in the battle for Cerro Gordo County bragging rights.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

The Clear Lake Lions earned a 49-21 victory over county rival Mason City Friday night — in spite of themselves.

“We did what we wanted offensively, but we continue to talk to the kids about being more disciplined— moving your feet on holding calls, and making better decisions.  We don’t want to be playing from behind the sticks,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Jared DeVries.

The Lions, 3-1 and rated number six in the most recent Radio Iowa poll, were called for more than 20 penalties in the win, with some resulting in touchdown—or touchdowns, being called back.

Clear Lake was the first to put points on the board.   Jaden Green wasted no time establishing the Lion ground game, as he quickly ran the ball down the field for the Lions.  The effort set up Jaylen DeVries first of four touchdown passes.  DeVries found Drew Enke for a 27-yard TD completion.  Hunter Nielsen nailed the first of his seven PATs to put the Lions ahead, 7-0.

Mason City (0-4) had the score knotted at 7-7 with five-minutes to go in the first quarter on a sustained 10-play, 40-yard drive.  But that’s where the Mohawks’ fortune ended.  Deep in their own territory in the second quarter, the home team was forced to punt from the 22.  A fumble on the snap resulted in the Mohawk punter being tackled inside the 10 by the Lions’ Austin Larson and Thorson Olinger.  On the next play, DeVries completed a pass to Nick Danielson for a score.  The kick was partially blocked, but still successful and the score was 14-7.

The swarming Lion defense did their best to get the ball back in their possession in time for another score before the half, but the Lion drive was stalled with penalties and the first half ended with Mason City still in the game, despite almost 90-yards in Lion penalties.  The Lions had just 14-points despite 176-yards of offense, compared to 47 for the Mohawks.

Coach DeVries said he expected his team to clean up their play in the second half, but it just didn’t happen.  Thankfully, in between whistles, the Lions moved the ball.  They needed just two-minutes when the second half started to march 65-yards for a score.  A trick play, a reverse which left Danielson handing off to Enke, resulted in a 39-yard touchdown and PAT.

Fueled by the excitement, the Lion defense held Mason City to another three-and-out and Clear Lake’s offense was back in business within minutes.  With the exception of a false start on their first play, the Lions systematically moved the ball using the run, setting up a fourth and goal from the one.  This time Mason City was offsides, making it easy for DeVries to sneak the ball in from the half-yard line for a score, 28-7.  The 10-play, 87-yard drive is the longest of the season for the Lions.

Mason City continued to sputter and had became worse when the Mohawk punter fumbled a snap at the 32.  The Lion defense immediately jumped on the situation and gave the ball back to their offense on the Mohawk 15.  On the next play, Kody Kearns reeled in a DeVries pass and the third quarter ended with Clear Lake on top, 35-7.

A face mask penalty helped the Mohawks to their only other score in the game.  The miscue jump-started the Mohawks’ first drive in the fourth quarter and resulted in a 35-14 score.

The Lions pulled away for their final scores on a 28-yard touchdown pass to Danielson and a late score by freshman quarterback Carson Toebe.  Toebe ran the ball in from eight-yards out to wrap up a five-play 71-yard drive.

Mason City reached 21-points with another assist from the Lions.  A horse collar call put the Lions over the 100-yard mark in penalties and helped the Mohawks down to the Lion 22.  With :21 left, Mason City scored from eight-yards out.

The Lions finished with 471-yards of offense.  DeVries completed eight of 20 pass attempts for 116-yards, most going to Danielson (44) and Enke (42).  The junior QB also ran 12 times for 76-yards.

Green ran the ball 10 times for the lions and collected 125-yards.  Alex Snelling was a workhorse with eight carries fielding 72-yards.  Danielson finished with 18-yards on three carries; Enke had 40-yards on one; and Toebe picked up nine-yards on two totes.  Kearns carried once for 15-yards.

Defensively, Austin Larson loomed large.  The junior made eight solo tackles, two for a loss, and two assists.  Enke and Snelling had five solo tackles apiece.  Enke also made four assists.  Jagger Schmitt was credited with four solo tackles and an assist; Braxton Doebel, Ty Fisher and Olinger each made three solo tackles.

Coach DeVries calls Friday night a “new season” for the Lions, as they open District play

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against Hampton-Dumont.  The game will be played at Lions Field, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.

“They look to be a typical Hampton-Dumont team—big and physical,” said DeVries.  “They run about 75 percent of the time and use their ground game on offense to help their defense.  They will have the best offensive line we will have faced, with all five seniors on the line.”

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