Lions fall to 4th ranked Waverly-Shell Rock

(Above) Clear Lake’s Alex Snelling (8) and Tate Storbeck (4) attempt to bring down a Waverly-Shell Rock running back during Friday night’s game.  Also pictured for Clear Lake is Jake Keith (50). Snelling led the defense with five solo and two assisted tackles.  Storbeck had two solo and seven tackle assists. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

Clear Lake’s home football opener didn’t end with a win, but the Lions (1-1) showed tenacity in a 35-7 loss to Class 3A’s fourth rated team, Waverly-Shell Rock.  The Go-Hawks (2-0) rattled off 21 first half points before the Lions got on the board early in the second half.  From there, the Lion defense found ways to slow down the visitor, but couldn’t reach the end zone.

“Waverly-Shell Rock is a very good football team, but we didn’t play our best,” said Clear Lake Coach Jared DeVries.  “We came out a little flat and had some mental busts in coverage.  We got looking at the scoreboard too much instead of the field.”

The Go-Hawks set the tone for the game by taking their first possession to the house in just two plays.  Quarterback Luke Velky connected with Mosai Newsom on a 40-yard pass play to give W-SR  the lead only three-minutes into the game.  In the game, Velky completed 10 of 15 passes for 166-yards.

The Lions managed first downs on their first quarter tries, but their most productive drive died at the Go-Hawk 33.  W-SR took over and marched 69-yards in six plays for their second touchdown.

An eight-play, 65-yard drive opened the second quarter and the Lions were in a 21-0 hole.

On their first three possessions the Lions managed just 28-yards of offense, while the Go-Hawks had amassed 193-yards of offense and scored on each of their first three touches.

Clear Lake’s first defen

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

sive stop, a three-and-out with 3:30 remaining in the first half, seemed to give the Lions a spark.  Jaylen DeVries and company started at their own 33 and using a combination of runs and passes to Nick Danielson, Jaden Green and Drew Enke moved the ball all the way to the Go-Hawk 14 before stalling in the red zone with :44 seconds remaining in the half.

“We settled in and began to execute better in the second quarter,” said Coach DeVries.  “We got some things going and never showed any quit, but we failed to execute in a big moment and we have to improve on that.”

The Lion defense continued to stymie the Go-Hawks in the second half and again set the stage for the offense to produce.

Another W-SR three-and out resulted in the Lions getting the ball at their own 37 and traveling down the field for a score.  DeVries found Kody Kearns for a 35-yard TD play.  A successful PAT by Hunter Nielsen made the score 21-7 and all of a sudden the Lions had out-gained the Go-Hawks 68 to -1.  Despite big moves by the Go-Hawks as the quarter came to a close, the score stayed the same until early in the fourth when they capped a 68-yard drive with a TD and PAT.

The Lions answered the call and battled all the way from their own 20 to the Go-Hawk nine before being turned away empty handed.

W-SR tacked on their final score with two-minutes remaining when Ben Hemer rambled 31-yards to pay dirt.  Hemer led the Go-Hawk offense with 110-yards on 15 carries.  W-SR gained 243-yards on the ground.

The Lions relied largely on their passing game for 261-yards of total offense.  DeVries completed 20 of 33 pass attempts in the game for 190-yards.  On the ground the team gained just 73-yards, led by Jaden Green with 38-yards on 14 carries.

Senior Drew Enke was DeVries’ top receiver.  He pulled down eight passes for 93-yards.  Kody Kearns had five receptions for 54-yards and Nick Danielson caught six passes for 43-yards.

Defensively, the Lions were led by Alex Snelling, with five solo and two assisted tackles.  Chase Stuver made three solo tackles and had seven assists.  Tate Storbeck made two solo and seven assisted tackles.  Stuver had the Lions’ only solo tackle for a loss.  Austin Larson was also active on defense with three solo and two assisted tackles.

Coach DeVries noted his team is extremely healthy and young players are gaining valuable experience which will help the Lions down the line.

This week the Lions will host Garner-Hayfield-Ventura in a 7:30 p.m. game.  The former district foes come into the rivalry game with identical 1-1 records.

“Emotions will be high,” said DeVries.  “GHV is a big, physical football team that loves to run.  It is always a good rivalry game.”

[/wlm_ismember]