The Freshman team beat Hampton 43-20 Friday evening.  The Lions got things going late in the first quarter.  Pete Swenson would recover a fumble and minutes later Alex Gonzalez would run in from 7 yards out for the first score of the game.  Gonzalez ran in the two point conversion making the score 8-0.  Hampton would score a minute later and their two point conversion failed so this made the score 8-6.  Clear Lake would score 20 points in the second quarter.  Gonzalez would find the endzone on a run at the 7:52 mark of the second quarter and two point conversion failed making the score 14-6.  On the kickoff Logan Kracht’s onside kick was successful when Chris Bowden recovered.  The Lions wasted no time to score another touchdown.  The next play Chase Lester tossed a 45 yard touchdown pass to Gonzalez.  Gonzalez ran in the two point conversion making the score 22-6.  Clear Lake scored again in the second on a 5 yard run by Jack Abbas.  Two point conversion failed and Lions led 28-6 at halftime.  Clear Lake scored in the third quarter on a 2 yard run by Carter Hand.  The extra point try was good off the foot of Abbas and the Lions led 35-6.  In the fourth quarter the Lions had a trick play up their sleeve.  Lester would intentionally bounce a pass to Abbas and he then passed it to Alex Webb for a 55 yard touchdown pass.  Gonzalez ran in the two point conversion making the score  43-6.  Hampton would score twice in the fourth quarter and convert a two point conversion.  This made the final score Clear Lake 43 and Hampton 20.  Coach Mike Lester said, “It was a well played game from start to fininsh.  The boys started off strong and played hard all game to get a nice 43-20 win on the road.  We are looking to finish strong at our last game of the year against Boone this Friday.”  Clear Lake had 405 yards of offense for the game.  Lester had 166 yards rushing.  Lester was 3-7 passing for 65 yards and one touchdown pass.  Gonzalez had 57 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns.  Gonzalez also had a 45 yard touchdown catch.  Abbas had 23 yards rushing with one rushing touchdown and was 1-1 passing with a 55 yard touchdown pass.  Abbas also had a 20 yard catch.  Hand had 23 yards rushing and one rushing touchdown.  Webb had a 55 yard touchdown catch.  On defense Pete Swenson had 3 solo tackles, 6 assists and a fumble recovery.  Lester had 3 solo tackles and 2 assists.  Abbas had 6 assists.  Connor Nosbisch, Blake Kelso, and Mitchell Jordan all had 3 assists.  Freshman record is now 5-2.  The Freshman finish the season at home on Friday against Boone at 4:45

It was a tale of two halves Friday night as the Lions used a strong second half to defeat the Hampton-Dumont Bulldogs by a score of 48-12.  With the win the Lions secured the Class 3A, district 3 title.  It was the 25th straight district game win for the team, and they will try for a 3rd straight undefeated regular season in a home game versus a tough Boone squad.

The game tonight was evenly contested in the first half.  Paxton Farmer continued his stellar play, providing a 14 yard TD run and a 15 yard TD reception from Ozzie Adams which accounted for all of the first half scoring.  With the score 13-12 at half time, the Lions clamped down both offensively and defensively.  The 3rd quarter proved to be pivotal with the Lions defense forcing 5 turnovers alone in the period.  The offense took advantage by scoring 28 3rd quarter points to put the game out of reach.  “We all knew we had to step up in the second half,” Farmer said. “We were embarassed.  “That’s not what Clear Lake football is usually like. We had to step up and it happened.”  The lions got 3rd quarter scores from Brent Tarr (2 TD runs), Paxton Farmer (run TD), and a 25 yard TD reception by Elliot Neuberger from Ozzie Adams.  The scoring was capped off in the 4th quarter with a 29 yard TD reception by Nick Kruger from Adams.  The 2 TD’s by Tarr pushed him up to 6th place in Lion history on the TD list.  “Every year you have to win the district,” said Clear Lake coach Fred Wieck, whose team moved to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the district. “Now, we get to play the No. 4 team from the northeast Iowa district.  “Next week, we get to figure out for fun who that could be and I think it could be about five teams. We have to beat Boone next week and that’s the No. 1 goal.”

The final game of the 7th grade football season ended on a positive note as the young Lions racked up a 42-8 win against the Iowa Falls/Alden Cadets.  Leading the way on the ground for the Lions was Carter Garrington who had a total of 230 yards for the game.  Garrington scored three touchdowns for the game.  His longest came on a 84 yard interception returned for the score.  Zach Tatum had 6 carries for a total of 79 yards including a 29 yard rumble to the endzone while breaking several tackles for the score.  Tatum also chipped in 3, 2 point conversions for the game.  Fullback Justin Sholly had 2 carries for a total of 60 yard, breaking away for a 61 yard touchdown run on his second carry.  Nick Holtz hauled in a pass from quarterback Sam Jones one handed and raced to the endzone for a score.  The offensive line did a nice job of blocking up front to creat holes for the backs to run.  Those on the offensive line included: Evan Applegate, Devon Reckner, Nick Piscopo, Trapper Wubben, Lucas Kirchhoff, and Ace Walton.  The defense did a nice job of stopping the Cadets during the game.  Defensively we were led by Ace Walton with 9 tackles, followed by Sholly with 8, Garrington with 8, Reese Barracks with 6, and Evan Applegate with 5.  Nick Piscopo recovered a fumble for the Lions.

On Monday night October 11th the Lions J.V. team defeated Webster City 34-14 at Lions field.  The Lions got on the board early with a nice opening drive capped off by Brice Wilcke’s one yard plunge.  Brandon Lo added the PAT and it was 7-0 Lions.  The Lions were stopped deep in Webster City territory on their second possession and it was 7-0 at the end of 1.  Hunter Bruns got his first of 2 interceptions to start the 2nd quarter to stop a Lynx drive.  Chase Lester took a quarterback keep 80 yards to a score and it was 13-0 Lions.  Webster City came right back with a big pass play to cut it to 13-7.  Zack Huey would close out the first half on a nice cut back run and Cody Maulsby got the two point conversion to end the half 21-7 Lions.  Maulsby would get in the end zone in the third quarter and Wilcke would score in the fourth for the final of 34-14.  Wilcke led the rushers for the night 74 yards on 13 carries and 2 touchdowns.  Defensively the Lions were led by Steven Akers who had 8 tackles and a sack from his linebacker position.  The Lions are now 5-2 on the season and will travel to Boone on Thursday night October 21st to take on the toreadors.  Game time is 5:30.  Coach Feuerbach and Puttman were very pleased with all of the kids efforts on both sides of the ball against Webster City.  We hope to finish on a positive note against Boone.

The Lions got down by a large margin in the first half and it was too much to overcome.  They lost to Webster City 46-26.  Webster City scored the first five touchdowns of the game and converted all of their two point conversions to lead 40-0 at halftime.  Clear Lake came out ready to play in the second half.  Moments into the third quarter the Lions would score their first touchdown on a 55 yard pass from Chase Lester to Alex Webb.  The two point conversion failed.  The defense would create a turnover on the next Webster City possesion with Alex Gonzalez picking off a pass.  The Lions would capitalize on the turnover and score on a 11 yard touchdown pass from Lester to Gonzalez.  Two point conversion failed.  The Lions would score one more in the third quarter on a 1 yard run by Carter Hand.  Lester ran in the two point conversion making the score 40-20.  On the next play an onside kick attempt off of the foot of Logan Kracht was successful when recoverd by Chris Bowden.  The teams would exchange possesions a few times during the fourth quarter.  The Lions also forced another turnover with Davis Dieken knocking the ball loose and recovering.  Clear Lake would find the endzone again with 1:43 remaining in the game on a 9 yard pass from Lester to Webb.  Two point conversion failed making the score 40-26.  On the next play Kracht would have another successful onside kick as Lester came up with the football.  With 1:12 left Webster City intercepted a pass by Lester.  Webster City would score with :03 left in the fourth quarter to make the final score 46-26.  The freshman record is now 4-2.  They play next at Hampton Dumont on Friday October 15 at 4:45.

The 7th grade Lions Football Team ran into a tough opponent in the Hampton-Dumont Bulldogs.  Carter Garrington led the Lions on offense with a total of 276 all purpose yards including a 60 kickoff returned for a touchdown.  Garrington had a total of 4 touchdowns on the night.  Fullback Justin Sholly chipped in with 66 yards rushing on 10 attempts.  Zach Tatum gained 80 yards on 9 attempts and scored a pair of 2 point conversions.  Defensively the Lions were led by Garringtion and Jarod Anderson with 4 tackles each followed by Spencer Orr who had 3.  Zach Tatum, Reese Barracks, Chase Bacon, and Ace Walton each had 2 tackels for the game.  The Bulldogs ran the ball well during the game that the Lions had a tough time stopping.  Hampton scored 46 points in the first half which included a fumble returned for a touchdown and a kickoff returned for a touchdown.  The final score for the first game was 60-28 in favor of Hampton. In the second game the Lions were lead on offense by Nick Holtz.  Holtz had 155 yards of all purpose yards including a 40 yard catch for a touchdown.  Also adding yards on the ground for the Lions was Jeremiah Colon who had 27 yards on 4 carries and Conrado Dominguez who had 14 yards on 4 carries.  The Holtz scored 2 touchdowns on the evening and Dominguez added one 2 point conversion.  Defensively we Dalton Roll had 4 tackels on the night followed by Zeke Branstad with 3, Jarod Anderson had 2, and Colon added 2 as well.  Ben Hillyer, Ryan Faught, Austin Kobes, Devon Recknor, Mason Rapien, and Zack Harnish each had one tackle defesively for the Lions.  In the second game the Lions posted the win of 20-0. Comments: As coaches we thought our effort could have been a little better in the first half.  That half proved too much to overcome the rest of the game.  In the second half we gave up 14 points.  The second half we played a little better and scored some points so that gave us some confidence.  In the second game we thought our kids played very well.  We connected on pass plays that set up scores for us.  On the defensive side of the ball the kids tackled well and made some good plays.  We were happy to come away with a win there.

Another Friday night, another convincing victory for the Clear Lake Lions varsity football squad.  The #3 Lions took down the Webster City Lynx 35-0 on the road to move to 7-0 overall, and 5-0 in the district.  The Lions offense started clicking early, with a 40 yard pass in the first quarter from Ozzie Adams to Drew Sorenson.  Paxton Farmer capped off the drive with a 26 yard TD run.  The ensuing Lynx drive ended promptly with an interception by Michael Keeran on a 3rd and 10.  That played spurred on stellar defensive play the remainder of the evening with physical play from Brady Horner, Logan Kellogg, and Jordan Kruger, among others.   Quarter two saw scores from Ozzie Adams (8 yard TD run), Nick Kruger (40 yard TD catch from Adams) and Brent Tarr (1 yard TD rush).  The first half saw tremendous defensive pressure on the quarterback resulting in 3 Lion sacks.  The scoring was capped off by Adams in the 4th quarter with a 19 yard TD run.  The Lions, which have won 24 straight district games, return to action next Friday at Hampton-Dumont and wrap up the regular season at home against Boone Oct. 22.  “We just need to keep playing the way we’ve been playing,” Adams said.

The freshman team used a strong running game and stingy defense to beat Ballard 30-12 Friday evening.  The Lions got things started on the opening kickoff when Alex Gonzalez returned the kick into Ballard territory.  A few plays later Clear Lake scored on a 28 yard touchdown run by Chase Lester.  Gonzalez ran in the 2 point conversion making score 8-0.  At the five minute mark of the second quarter Lorin Jones came up with a sack to help stop a Ballard drive.  Moments later Clear Lake would score on a 61 yard touchdown run by Lester.  Gonzalez ran in the two point conversion making the score 16-0.  Ballard would find the endzone just before the half and their two point conversion failed making the halftime score 16-6.  Clear Lake would create two turnovers in the third quarter.  Alex Webb intercepted a pass and Carter Hand would come up with a fumble recovery for the Lions.  Clear Lake would make the most of the extra possesions and put two scores on the board in the third.  At the 4:03 mark Lester would find the endzone again on a 41 yard run.  Two point conversion failed to make the score 22-6.  Just before the end of the third quarter Lester would run in from 62 yards out for the Lions final score.  Gonzalez ran in the two point conversion to put Clear Lake up 30-6.  Ballard would score again with less than two minutes left in the game and failed on their two point conversion.  This made the final score 30-12.  Coach Mike Lester said,”Offensively we moved the ball well.  Offensive line did a nice job up front.  The offensive line stayed on blocks which gave Chase Lester the opportunity to spring a few long touchdown runs!”  The offense had 340 yards of total offense.  Lester had 216 yards rushing and 4 rushing touchdowns.  Lester also was 3-6 passing for 51 yards and 1 interception.  Gonzalez had 47 yards rushing.  Hand had 36 yards rushing and 2 receptions for 31 yards.  Webb had 1 reception for 20 yards.  On defense Coach Lester said,”Defense made some big stops to keep Ballard out of the game.  They had a solid running back which our defense was able to contain.”  Pete Swenson had 4 solo tackles, 7 assists and 1 interception.  Lester had 3 solo tackles and 5 assists.  Jack Abbas had 1 solo tackle and 11 assists.  The Lions freshman are now 4-1.  Their next opponent Webster City is 5-0.  They will travel to Webster City to play on Friday October 8th at 4:45.

On Monday night September 27 the Lion J.V. Football team headed to Humboldt and took their first defeat of the year 20-8 to the Wildcats.  Some big play runs led to Humboldt jumping out to an early 14-0 first quarter lead.  The Lions had a nice drive of their own deep into Humboldt territory but the drive stalled and they turned the ball over on downs.  The lion defense played well and got the ball back for the offense.  The Humboldt defense came up strong, forced the Lions to punt and it was blocked and taken into the end zone for a touch down, 20-0 Wildcats.  The second half was a defensive struggle and both teams had a hard time moving the ball.  The Lions would score late in the fourth on a 31 yard touchdown pass from Luke Monson to Gavin Sheakley.  Brice Wilcke would take in the 2 point conversion for the final score of 20-8 Humboldt.  ”We came out a little flat and unfortunately some mental errors hurt us early.”  ”I’m proud of the way we battled back and shut them out the second half.”  ”If we can get that for a full 4 quarters we’ll be in good shape.” commented Coach A.J. Feuerbach.  The Lions will take their 4-1 record on the road again Monday October 4th at Ballard of Huxley.

After giving up double digit points the week before against Humboldt, the #3 ranked Lions were back to their defensive best in shutting out the Ballard Bombers 35-0.  The shutout was the 4th of the season for the varsity squad.  The action opened with teams exchanging punts on consecutive possessions.  The scoring opened toward the end of the first quarter with a Paxton Farmer 5 yard TD carry off right tackle.  Elliot Neuberger did much of the heavy lifting on the drive with some nice runs.  After stopping the Bombers on the next possession, Ozzie Adams opened the 2nd quarter with a nice swing pass to Brent Tarr to keep the defense off balance.  The Lions brought it to Ballard’s 37 yard line and on a 4th and 1 Brent Tarr provided the highlight of the night.  Adams handed the ball to Tarr up the middle and he appeared to be stopped short of the first down.  Tarr kept churning and escaped the pile, sprinted to the right flat and scrambled 37 yards for a TD to the delight of home crowd.  The Lions defense shut down the Bombers the rest of the half with Tanner Tusha, Brady Horner, and Logan Kellogg playing well all night shutting down Ballard runners.  Tusha and Josh Brood also chipped in defending the pass, both providing an interception on the evening.   Tarr even got in the act defensively with 4 tackles for loss on only a handful of plays.  “You got a little look at Tarr at defensive end,” Wieck said.  “He did a nice  job coming in there spot-playing and you’ll see some of that when we get into the tough ball games.”

The 2nd half was more of the same, the Lions ground game dominating and defense shutting down Ballard runners and passers.  The wind and rain also became factors as well, as Ballard struggled with their punts against the wind, setting up the Lions with excellent field position for multiple drives.  Tarr and Farmer provided running TD’s in the 3rd quarter to put the Lions up 28-0.  Farmer capped off his excellent evening with another running TD in the 4th quarter to bring the final score to 35-0.

The Lions travel to Webster City next Friday to take on the Lynx in an important district match up.  Both squads are 6-0, so first place in the district is on the line.