Second half propels W-SR past the Lions

Missed opportunities haunted the Clear Lake Lions in the second half of Friday’s district football matchup with Waverly-Shell Rock. The Lions’ 7-0 halftime lead could have been as much as 21-0, if not for some timely Go-Hawk defense. Instead, W-SR made some critical adjustments at the half and rattled off 21 fourth quarter points for a 21-7 victory.

The loss gets the Lions off to a rare 0-2 start at home, but at 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the district, Clear Lake Head Coach Fred Wieck says he feels the season is far from over.
“We made too many mistakes in the first half and should have had a couple of touchdowns,” said Wieck. “All we can do is try to win the next game and get a little momentum going. I don’t think W-SR is going to go undefeated through the district-- maybe nobody is. We might have to get into the (playoffs) through the back door.”
The Lions join three other teams in the district at 1-1. Two teams, W-SR and New Hampton are off to a 2-0 start. Two other teams, Decorah and Clear Lake’s foe this Friday, Forest City, are 0-2.
The Go-Hawks denied the Lions scores on a few drives in the first half. Most notably, the Lions were stood up on the W-SR one yard line in the second quarter. Kicker DJ Wilhelm also missed on a pair of fieldgoal attempts in the half. Clear Lake got its first touchdown with 1:02 left in the first half when Drew Dickson ran the ball in from one yard out. Wilhelm’s kick was good for a 7-0 lead.
Early in the fourth quarter W-SR knotted the score when they took the ball 68 yards on 11 plays for a touchdown. Midway through the period they struck again. Quarterback Dane Larson got loose for a 29 yard run into the endzone. The PAT was good again for a 14-7 lead.
The Lions were never ready to fold and they fought to the end. But a Justin Uhlenhopp interception killed a threat. The Go-Hawks tacked on a late touchdown for the final score.
Uhlenhopp completed five of 14 pass attempts in the game for 62 yards. Jared Sholly had three receptions, including one for 29 yards. Charlie Peterson and Zach Mueller grabbed the others.
Clear Lake’s ground game was paced by Josh Carlson, who had 89 yards on 17 carries. Uhlenhopp finished with 40 yards on five carries and Drew Dickson had 27 yards on seven touches. Lucas Matheson gained 12 yards on three carries and Jared Sholly had six yards on four rushes.
The Go-Hawks had 16 first downs, compared to 10 for the Lions. W-SR also prevailed in fourth downs, going three-for-three. The Lions were not successful in two fourth down tries. W-SR compiled 294 yards of offense, while the Lions had 236.
Defensively, Ethan Tindall topped the Lions in tackles with eight. He was also credited with three assists. Rudy Wieck had seven tackles and an assist, and Ryan Brattrud, Austin Sabin, Jared Sholly, Drew Bieber and Lukas Matheson each had six. Zach Mueller got in the books with five tackles and four assists. Joe Bieber and Zach Kruger had three tackles apiece, Ryan Williamson two and Josh Carlson one. Williamson was also credited with a fumble recovery.
The Lions are one the road this week to Forest City (1-3). The district game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.