Lions too much for Go-Hawks

(Photo By Christina Yates)

Playing like they’ve been there before, the No. 1 (2A) Clear Lake Lions (6-0, 3-0), defeated the seventh ranked (3A) Waverly-Shell Rock Go-Hawks by a convincing score of 27-6 in non-district play Friday night. 

The game was a re-match of last year’s Second Round of the 3A playoffs. Clear Lake won that show down before falling in the semifinal round to eventual champion, Bishop Heelan. 

Now playing 2A football, Clear Lake showed it can compete at any level by controlling nearly every facet of the game.

The Lion offense was unstoppable in the first quarter, as Brock Adams and Chandler Diercks both found the end zone on back-to-back drives.  A huge defensive stop between the scores put the Lions up 13-0 at the end of the quarter. 

The second quarter was back and forth, with big stops coming on both sides of consecutive drives. But the Lions found their way into the end zone one last time to go up 20-0 at halftime. 

More defensive stops characterized the second half.   Adams and Diercks both broke free on two more long runs to the end zone in the third and fourth quarters.

With the clock ticking down the final minutes of the game, the Go-Hawks finally found the end zone for the final score, 27-6.

The Lions’ offense was lead by Diercks, whose 118-yards rushing on eight attempts and two touchdowns powered the team.  Adams, the pilot of the ship, steered it in the right direction with 70-yards in the air and 44 on the ground and two touchdowns of his own.

Also adding to the Lions’ ground game was Ernie Miszewski with 44-yards on seven carries and Tamarik Lee with 31-yards on six attempts.

Adams’ 70-yards passing on four completions in seven attempts. Completed passes were thrown to Miszewski, whose two catches were good for 59-yards, Diercks, with one catch for seven yards and T.J. Hauser, whose one catch merited four yards. 

The Go-Hawk offense was lead by Jake Velky, whose 35 pass attempts resulted in 157-yards. Ryan Sprain had one pass and one completion for 48-yards. 

The Go-Hawk run game was kept to a walk. Their leading rusher was Riley Steckelberg who ran for 48-yards on 13 carries and Ryan Sprain with 44-yards on 14 carries. Jake Velky evened out the rushing with 32-yards on seven carries and the lone touchdown.

The Lions’ defensive efforts were lead by MaKean Bang with 10.5 tackles and a sack. Justin Sholly was close behind with eight and one half tackles, while Tavian Coleman added six. Also contributing was Zach Zwiefel and Diercks with four apiece, Mitchell Keeran contributed three and one half and Zach Tatum and Logan Wilcke each had three tackles.

Adding to the defensive efforts was Keeran and Dustin King with a fumble recovery apiece. 

“The front seven have been doing a good job all year. They are getting better every week,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Fred Wieck. “They are a young group of guys and are beginning to gel as a unit.”

The Lions will resume district action this Friday in a home game against the Forest City Indians (2-4, 1-3).