The Iowa Sports Connection has named three Lions to their teams.

1stTeam

Zach Lindquist - Offensive Lineman

Second Team

Lukas Matheson - Running Back

Ethan Tindall - Lnebacker

Did you know that from 1919-1931 Clear Lake and Garner played a year-ending game on Thanksgiving day?  Often times the field was covered in snow and was shoveled off in order to play the game.  Fans and players would travel by train to and from the game.

1920's Passenger Train - Similar To What Was Used

Lion Selections For The Globe Gazette All-Area Football Team

For complete lists click on the “2008 All-Area Team” Link under the “LINKS” column.

Defensive Player of The Year - Ethan Tindall

Ethan Tindall (LB) - 185 Tackles - 4 Interceptions (3 for TD)

Jake Kopriva (Sec.) - 4 INTs - 2 Fumble Recoveries - 3 Special Teams TDs

Lukas Matheson (RB) - 1186 Yards Rushing - 173 Yards Receiving - 18 TDs

Zach Lindquist (Offensive Lineman)

Tindall joins former Lion Linebacker Thomas Gruis (2005 and 2006) as the Globe Gazette Defensive Player of the year.

For Complete List (All-Classes) Click On “2008 INA All-State” Link under “LINKS” Column

Clear Lake Selections

1st Team Offense

Zach Lindquist - Lineman

!st Team Defense

Ethan Tindall - Linebacker

2nd Team Defense

Jake Kopriva - Secondary

Clear Lake Lions selected to the Des Moines Register Class 3A All-State Teams:

For complete list click on page above in gold heading

2nd Team Offense

Zach Lindquist - Lineman

Lukas Matheson - Back

2nd Team Defense

Patrick Kolker - Lineman

Click on the first link under the “LINK” column to view entire lists

Clear Lake players selected:

1st Team Offense:

Josh Carlson - Running Back

Lukas Matheson - Running Back

Zach Lindquist - Offensive Line

Paul Dorseth - Offensive Line

D.J. Wilhelm - Punter

1st Team Defense

Jake Kopriva - Defensive Back

Ethan Tindall - Inside Linebacker

Steve Scarrow - Outside Linebacker

Patrick Kolker - Interior Defensive Lineman

Joe Bieber - Utility (Defensive Back)

Zach Mueller - Utility (Split End)

2nd Team All-District

Drew Dickson - Running Back

Ryan Wilcke - Defensive Line

Jake Plagge - Quarterback

Coach of the Year :  Fred Wieck

All-Academic

Zach Mueller

Alex Uhlenhopp

Drew Dickson

Levi Kellogg

Zach Lindquist

Ethan Tindall

Ryan Emerson

There is a reason Sioux City Heelan’s (#1)(13-0) Brandon Wegher is going to play college football at the Division I level.  He is simply that good.  He was by far the best running back the Lions have faced all year and the Lions could flat out not stop him.  Wegher, who has indicated he will be in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform next fall, rushed for 252 yards on 34 carries and had 3 touchdowns.  He also started the 2nd quarter with a 43 yard field goal.  He was just too much for the Lions to handle.  And, if Wegher wasn’t enough to worry about, the Crusader defense put the clamps on the Lion offensive attack limiting it to a season low 110 rushing yards.  The Lions had only 2 first downs in the first half and struggled all night to move the ball.

The Crusaders took a 27-0 halftime lead into the locker room but were held scoreless in the second half.  The Lions capitalized late in the 4th quarter and finally put some points on the scoreboard with a 28 yard pass completion from Jake Plagge to Steve Scarrow.  D.J. Wilhelm came in and booted the PAT making the score 27-7 Crusaders.  The final score would be 27-7 Sioux City Heelan.  Heelan was the better team tonight and it will take a great effort by Decorah (who beat Pella Monday night) next Saturday in the championship game to knock the Crusaders off.  My thoughts are the Lions played the eventual state champions tonight.

The Lions (#2) finish the season with an impressive 12-1 record.  The Lions have qualified for the playoffs for 11 consecutive years.  A huge Lion crowd was on hand in the UNI-Dome tonight to cheer on and support the Lions.  Actually every game had a great Lion following this year.  The Lions have much to be proud of.  They were District 2 Champions, undefeated in the regular season, and made an 11th straight playoff appearance.  Congratulations on a great year!

The Lions will return to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls to play in the semi-finals for the 5th time in school history.  The Lions have played in the semi-finals in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and now in 2008.  The 2000 and 2006 teams played for the state championship with the 2000 team claiming top honors.

Bishop Heelan (Sioux City) (#1) (12-0) will be the Lion opponent.  The Crusaders have held the #1 ranking since the first week of the season.  They are the Class 3A state runner-up from a year ago losing to Keokuk in the championship game.  This semi-final game pitts the #1 Crusaders against the #2 Clear Lake Lions (12-0) so it will have all the implications of a championship game.  Both teams are undefeated and both teams have solid defenses and run oriented offensive attacks.

The Lions will have to find a way to stop, or at least slow down, University of Iowa recruit Brandon Wegher.  Wegher has rushed for 2743 yards this year with 44 touchdowns.  Against Harlan, Wegher rushed for 178 yards on 39 carries and 4 touchdowns which was a season low in game yardage but a season high in number of carries per game.  The Crusaders will need to find ways to stop or slow down the multiple threat offense the Lions have.

This should prove to be a very exciting game in the confines of the beautiful UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.  Game time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Monday Novemeber 17th.

The snow fell the entire game but that didn’t seem to bother the Clear Lake Lions (#2) (12-0).  The Lions defeated previously undefeated Carrroll (#8) (11-1) 27-12 Friday night at Lion’s Field.  The snow probably favored the Lion running attack much more than the Carroll passing attack.  The Lion defense held the Tiger offense to 119 total yards with 98 yards of that total coming through the air according to KRIB’s Bob Fishers statistics.

The Lions put points on the scoreboard first with a Lukas Matheson 2 yard run.  D.J. Wilhelm connected on the PAT kick and the Lions led 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.  Lukas Matheson would again find the end zone early into the 2nd quarter this time on a 13 yard scamper.  Wilhelm’s PAT kick was good again and the Lions silenced the Carroll crowd leading 14-0.  Carroll finally put some points on the board with 4:04 left in the half making the score 14-6 Clear Lake.  The Lions used their timeouts effectively and added one more score with :28 left in the half with a Josh Carlson 2 yard plunge up the middle.  Wilhelm again split the uprights sending the Lions into the halftime break leading 21-6.  The Lions extended their lead early into the 3rd quarter when Lukas Matheson cut loose for a 37 yard race to the end zone.  Wilhelm’s kick was just outside the uprights this time breaking a string of 20 consecutive PAT kicks.  (However, Wilhelm did break the 33 year old school record for consecutive PAT kicks tonight.  The previous record was 18 consecutive PAT kicks held by Erling Halle a foreign exchange student on the 1975 team.) The Lions now led the Tigers 27-6.  Late in the 4th quarter the Tigers would put one final score up with a 5 yard pass completion on 4th and goal.  The game would end with a 27-12 Lion victory.

The Lion defense would hold the potent Tiger offense to 119 total yards and only 8 first downs.  The Tigers had been averaging 395 yards per game.  Tiger standout Quarterback Blake Haluska was 12-22 -1 for 98 of those 119 yards.  The Tigers simply could not get things going.  The Lion defense put pressure on all night virtually shutting the Tigers down.

The Lion game plan stayed on course, as it has all year, with a ball control, ground oriented attack.  The Lions racked up 363 total yards of offense with all but 2 of those yards coming from the ground attack.  Lukas Matheson led the Lion rushing attack with 111 yards on 12 carries and 3 touchdowns.  Josh Carlson also topped the 100 yard mark with 109 yards on 21 carries and 1 touchdown.  Quarterback Jake Plagge added 56 yards on 6 attempts.  Plagge was 1-2-1 for the 2 yards of passing and Zach Mueller had the 1 catch for 2 yards for the Lions.

The Lions will advance to the Class 3A semi-final game on November 17th at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.  The opponent will be Bishop Heelan Crusaders game time is 4:30 p.m.

(Click on first link under “LINK” column for updated Class 3A bracket)

Quarterfinal Game Results

Bishop Heelan  38  Harlan  21

Clear Lake 27  Carroll  12

Decorah 21  Crestwood (Cresco)  7

Pella  19  Mt. Pleasant  5