by Chanse Hall
sports@clreporter.com
It was a great night for football after the rain quit falling last Friday night, as the Clear Lake Lions (3-0) hosted the Waverly-Shell Rock Go-Hawks (0-3) in a Homecoming matchup infront of packed stands.
The Lions rushed for 256-yards and passed for 62, completing three-of-six passes, while allowing 157 rushing yards and 109 passing yards that came from seven-of-10 completed Go-Hawk passes.
It was all defense after the Lions kicked-off to the Go-Hawks to start the contest and a red zone stand by the Lions saw Waverly-Shell Rock settle for a field goal to go up 3-0.
That score would stand throughout the first 12-minutes as the defenses gave their opposing offenses fits up and down the field.
It wasn’t until the second quarter that the Lions pulled out all the stops to get on the board and take a lead that wouldn’t change.
The score came after a Lion fourth down saw Jaxson McIntire line up to punt, but a fake run was the play and McIntire collected the yards to gain and more.
Sam Dodge, Lions running back, ran it in for six and the first score of the night, for the Lions.
The PAT would split the uprights off the foot of Kinnick Clabaugh to put Clear Lake on top, 7-3.
The Lion defense would again cause troubles for the Go-Hawks and the Waverly-Shell Rock drive would end in a punt.
Starting from their own 20, Clear Lake would immulate its previous drive and be faced with another fourth down.
McIntire once again lined up to punt but the call was to run once more and McIntire found himself advancing the ball to Waverly-Shell Rock territory to the 38 for a big gain.
“They gave us the same look so we said ‘Why not?’, said coach Aaron Stensland. “Sometimes you just can’t out think yourself and out coach yourself, you let your athletes and your kids do it for you and they did a great job. They did it, they blocked it. I don’t know how many sneaks went for 38-yards but we took that one and it was great to see.”
Sitting 12-yards out from the goal line, the Lions handed the ball to Titan Schmitt who took it in for six more and the PAT by Clabaugh, once again, sailed through the uprights and the Lions would end the first half ahead of the Go-Hawks, 14-3.
Starting the second half receiving the kick, the Lions looked to extend their lead even further.
Cael Stephany, the Lions quarterback, led the drive – connecting with Thomas Meyer twice through the air – and finished the drive with six points after diving over his offensive line to break the plane and extend the Lion lead.
Waverly-Shell Rock started its first drive with just over seven minutes to play in the third.
Adjustments made at halftime seemed to pay off, as the Go-Hawks began to make strides and on a 4th and one conversion attempt, Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ethan Bibler broke multiple tackles before getting to the outside and running the ball in for six from midfield.
With 5:38 to go in the third quarter, the Lions led 21-10.
Waverly-Shell Rock would make it a 3-point game after a drive that saw Wesley Hubbard in the endzone for six and a 2-point conversion, putting the Go-Hawks down 21-18.
With it being anybody’s game, it would come down to the fourth quarter.
The Lions ran the clock down to under five minutes and faced another fourth and one, but a hard count caught the defense off-guard and it was a fresh set of downs that led to another Schmitt touchdown.
The PAT was good and the Lions led by 10.
Schmitt ended the night rushing for 118 yards and two touchdowns to lead the team.
“Waverly is always a good opponent and have been a good team for many years and are always going to be pretty solid,” said Schmitt. “I am ecstatic that we won. Our team played great, a couple of things to work on still but we kept fighting and it went our way.”
Waverly-Shell Rock meant business on its next drive, moving down the field and collected antoher seven points to make it a 3-point game once more with 2:32 left in the contest.
Waverly-Shell Rock attempted an onside kick which was recovered by the Lions at their own 44.
The Go-Hawks used all timeouts with just 2:15 left on the clock.
The Lions continued to push the ball down the field and run out the clock before the Lions entered victory formation and kneeled out to get the win.
Coach Stensland was excited for the win and knows there are still things to work on.
“We talked about [Waverly-Shell Rock] being 0-3 and the three teams they played were 8-1 and were ranked two, three and six in radio Iowa polls in 4A,” said Stensland. “Coach Hubbard and those guys have won 20 games in the last two years. If we can get a win over Waverly-Shell Rock we will take it.”
Coach Stensland spoke to the toughness of the Lions team and that the future of the team is bright.
“It gives us a shot to feel like we can be in all these games. Making the jump from 2A to 3A, there is always concern there because of depth. We are trying to get reps to our younger guys in spots when we can,” said coach Stensland. “It’s going to be a monster of a district coming up.”
The Lions will take on Webster City on the road this Friday.
