The road to a championship starts here

Lions close regular season with a perfect record; Host Oelwein in First Round game tonight

   Quarterback Ozzie Adams passed his way into the Clear Lake High School record books and lifted the Lions to a 49-14 victory over Boone Friday night.  The win wrapped up another perfect regular season for the team, making them the Class 3A District 3 champions, and continued the number one ranked Lions’ state-best win streak for regular games.  The streak now stands at 41 straight regular season victories. 
    As the District 3 winner, the Lions (9-0) will host Oelwein (6-3), the fourth place finisher in District 4, in a 7 p.m. game tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 26).  First round action begins at 7 p.m. at Lions Field. This is the 14th consecutive year the Lions

have qualified for post-season play.   Tonight’s winner will advance to play the winner of the Decorah (7-2) vs. Boone (5-4) game in the Second Round Monday, Oct. 31, at a site to be announced.  Other teams in the Lions’ side of the playoff bracket include West Delaware, Manchester (8-1) playing Ballard (5-4) in the first round and Webster City (8-1) against Waverly-Shell Rock (7-2).
    The Lions also hosted Oelwein in the post-season opener last year and the underdog Huskies gave the Lions a battle.  Clear Lake came from behind to get a 21-7 victory.  The Huskies ended the 2011 regular season with a 37-14 loss to District 4 champ West Delaware (7-0, 8-1). 
    Clear Lake Coach Fred Wieck is pleased to see his team playing so well in all aspects of the game heading into the post season.
    “We had good offense and good defense.  A lot of kids played really well.  We had a great outing,” said Wieck. 
    Topping the coach’s list of outstanding efforts was Adams, who was 14/19 passing for 290 yards.  The performance made him the school’s all-time passing leader with 2,545 career yards.  The previous record of 1,240 was set by Mark Evans in 1981. The senior quarterback also broke the single season passing record of 2,390 set by Zane Zirbel in 2006.  Adams’ career mark is now at 2,545 yards and counting.
    Friday night, Adams threw four touchdown passes-- three of them to Michael Keeran.  Keeran also scored a fourth time on an 11-yard run.
    The Lions held a 7-0 first quarter lead after Matt Bieber put the Lions on the scoreboard with a one-yard run into the end zone.  Keeran scored on the ground next and Luke Monson caught a 29-yard TD pass from Adams to round out the Lions’ first half scoring. 
    Boone made the score 21-7 at the break on an 80-yard pass from Bryan Boesen to Chris Kelly.
    The second half was all Lions.  Gavin Sheakly  started the half off with a bang as he returned the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.  Keeran then caught passes of 40 and 15 yards to score and punctuated the night with a 53 yard reception early in the final quarter.
    Coach Fred Wieck noted Boone Coach Mark Camenisch was not happy with the final pass play to Keeran, but added that his job is to get his team ready for the play-offs.  “We’re not going to take a knee.  We’re going to keep playing,” said Wieck.
    “Michael Keeran had a great game and Cody Maulsby rushed well.  That’s all important heading into the post-season,” added Wieck.
    Keeran’s receptions Friday also put him on the brink of claiming a Clear Lake football record.  His nine TD receptions so far this season have tied him with Jeff Peterson’s 1981 single season- Read More Via e-Edition