It was a close call on Friday night as the Clear Lake Lions went into halftime trailing for the first time this season.
The Algona Bulldogs came to town and after a touching pregame that involved a moment of silence for Algona police officer Kevin Cram, complete with the Clear Lake Fire Department flying a large flag just outside of the south endzone and honorary captains from Clear Lake first responders and Algona Police Department, the two teams got down to business.
The Algona Bulldogs led the Clear Lake Lions in total yards, rushing for 146 yards and passing for 255 for a total of 401 total yards of offense, while the Lions rushed for 170 and passed for 156 for 326 yards of total offense.
The game started off with Clear Lake forcing a three-and-out and a poor punt that only went for a total of three yards, putting the Lions in great field position at the Bulldog 19, but the Algona redzone defense proved to be stout and the Lions were forced to kick a field goal, putting them ahead 3-0 early.
Algona, led by junior standout Alex Manske, couldn’t get anything going on offense and once again punted, this time having a better punt and pinning the Lions back at their own 35.
The Lions would show some spark, but a Devin Larsen interception put the Bulldog offense back on the field at their own 13.
Turnovers proved to be costly for the Lions, with the first seeing Algona capitalize for seven points, to put the Bulldogs ahead 7-3 as the first quarter ran out.
The Lions were able to start the second quarter by finding the endzone after four minutes off the legs of Titan Schmitt from two-yards out, once again putting the Lions ahead – this time 10-7.
A rare Bulldog turnover put the ball back in the Lions hands and once again, a stout Algona defense held the Lions to a field goal for three.
A big play by Algona’s Evan Allie was negated by a holding call, but that didn’t stop Manske who once again found Allie for six on the next play with just 1:42 to go in the half.
The half ended with the Lions trailing 14-13 after two quarters.
“We couldn’t quite get a feel for what they were doing up front defensively in that first half,” said Lion coach Aaron Stensland. “It was the first time this year that we’ve had adversity through halftime. We have not trailed at half this year, so what do you want to do, how do you want to fight?”
Stensland and the Lions coaching staff didn’t have a big halftime message, instead let them have a shot to put together a win.
“We really did just kind of leave them alone tonight. We showed them the adjustments we were going to make and they got themselves together and played ball,” said Stensland.
The Lions received the ball to start the second half after deferring to start the game.
It wasn’t the best start as the Lions fumbled the ball across midfield and the Bulldogs recovered to start from their own 49.
Algona marched down the field and capitalized on another Lion turnover, putting the Lions down 21-13.
Clear Lake was able to muster some offense after Cael Stephany found his favorite target in Thomas Meyer for a 47-yard catch and run to the Algona 11.
Sam Dodge finished the drive with a score and the Bulldogs were sitting down 21-19.
A two-point conversion tied the game at 21 and it was a brand-new ball game for the Lions.
The Bulldogs weren’t laying down, though, and marched down the field to score on the legs of Manske.
With just 4:16 to go in the game, the Lions needed a touchdown and point after to tie the game.
Clear Lake found success in a passing attack that seemed to be non-existent up until well into the third quarter.
Stephany would find Schmitt for a big gain to the Bulldog 35 and soon the Lions had under two minutes to go from the Algona 21.
Dodge took the Lions to the 11 and Stephany found Derek Erpelding in the front corner of the endzone to put the Lions in a good spot to tie the game and take the game into overtime.
“It wasn’t just all me it was a great ball by my quarterback, great blocking by the line and without that nothing would have happened,” said Erpelding. “If the ball comes my way I just have to make a play. It’s exhilarating and it feels great to be out there.”
It was what happened next that shocked the crowd.
Instead of making the decision to tie the game and rely on the defense to make the stop and head into extra quarters, coach Stensland put the offense back on the field to go for two and the lead.
“Our thought process was as we were driving was to give seven (Manske) the ball back in a tie game or to go to OT was going to be scary,” said coach Stensland. “We wanted to go into our tight look and get that yard and a half [on hard count] and I think that made all the difference.”
The hard count drew the antsy Bulldogs offsides and gave the Lions another half of a yard.
Titan Schmitt received the ball and instead of going up the middle the sweep by Schmitt saw him just break the plane of the endzone and the Lions were up 29-28 with 1:24 to go.
Manske and the Bulldogs pushed down the field and made their way into Lion territory, getting to the 34 at their best, but penalties pushed Algona back to the Lion 49, effectively taking the Bulldogs out of field goal range as well.
After timeouts from both squads with only 8.3 seconds to go, the Lions were able to keep the Bulldogs on a short leash and take the victory to stay undefeated at 6-0 and put the Algona Bulldogs down to 4-2.
“It isn’t ever over with a kid [Manske] like that. That is a good team and that kid is impressive,” said coach Stensland. “There were a lot of timeouts there and we talked a lot about contain with three rushers and bat everything down.”
The win hadn’t gone unnoticed around the state either, with the Des Moines Register ranking Clear Lake second in class 3A just behind Williamsburg and ahead of Creston in Monday’s new rankings.
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
Algona 7 7 7 7 28
CL 3 10 0 16 29
Team Stats
AB CL
Passing 27 11
Pass Yards 255 156
Pass TDs 1 1
Rushing 31 40
Rush Yards 146 170
Rush TDs 3 2
Tackles 47 47.5
Sacks 1 1
PAT 4 1
2-pt 0 2
FG 0 2
Individual Stats
Passing
Att Yds TDs
Stephany 7-11 156 1
Rushing
Att Yds TDs
Dodge 6 46 1
Stephany 7 38 0
Schmitt 27 86 1
Receiving
Rec Yds TDs
Erpedling 1 11 1
Dodge 1 10 0
Schmitt 1 44 0
Meyer 4 91 0
Tackles
Total Sacks TFL
Dodge 8 1 1
Hartl 9 0 2
Cavett 4 0 1
Kerr 1 0 0
Schmitt 3 0 0
Ainley 1 0 0
Larson 4 0 1
Allsbrook 1.5 0 0
Bieber 1 0 0
Bunn 2 0 0
Richtsmeier 0.5 0 0
Trenary 5.5 0 0
Litzel 4 0 0
Johnson 0.5 0 0
Meyer 2.5 0 1
Fumble Recovery
Rec Yds TDs
Meyer 1 0 0
Kick Returns
Ret Yds Avg
Dodge 1 16 16
Fuhrman 1 29 29
Schmitt 1 18 18
Field Goals
FG PAT
Clabaugh 2-2 1-1
