Flipping around an old idiom, by the time the second half rolled around in host Norwood Young America 68, Cleveland 20 on Friday, the Clippers’ goal was to not add injury to insult.
The Raiders are ranked seventh in the state in Class AA.
“This is the biggest team and the biggest school that we will probably ever play,” said head coach Erik Hermanson. “They’ll be moving up to 3A next year, and we’re at the small end of A, so that’s a hard matchup. Once the score got away from us, we wanted to make sure no one got hurt because we have a great chance to make a playoff run, and there is no sense wasting it on this game that got out of hand.”
The next 10 days will be critical for 3-3 Cleveland as they not only determine if the Clippers will have a winning regular season but also will set the stage for the playoffs. On Thursday, the Clippers travel to Winthrop to take on GFW. The following Wednesday, they host Lester Prairie.
“In our mind, our attitude and our effort level, the playoffs start this week,” Hermanson said.
On a short field, after each team punted twice, the Raiders capped a 53-yard drive with a 20-yard run that, with the PAT kick, lit up the scoreboard with 4 minutes left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, the Clippers matched the score when Carson Lyons stepped in front of a Raider pass for an interception before finding Brennan Kortuem streaking down the left side for a 62-yard catch and run, that, with the Caleb Possin boot, stalemated the game 7-7.
But in the first play after the kickoff, the Raiders struck for the first of three long passes for TDs they would have, this time a 60 yarder, and with the PAT kick, they went up 14-7.
Aided by a roughing the punter infraction and a 20-yard Lyons-to-Kale Kelley pass, the Clippers made their way to the NYA 30 but turned the ball over on downs from there. After one snap, the Raiders were back in the Clipper end zone, this time on a 70-yard catch and run. A bad snap messed up the PAT kick, but they were in front 20-7.
“Number one (who caught both of the long TD passes) is one of the fastest kids who we will ever play against,” Hermanson said. “He is in for 20 plays a game, and Carson or someone has to guard him, and Carson plays 125 plays, so that’s a hard matchup for anyone.”
Hoping to catch the Clippers napping after the TD, the Raiders went with an onside, but Garet Peterson corralled the bouncing kick to put the Clippers on the NYA 47.
After the Clippers advanced 15 yards on a pass interference and 15 more on a Braeden Smith run, Lyons connected with Kortuem for a 17-yard pass for a touchdown. With Possin’s kick, the Clippers narrowed their deficit to 6, 20-14 with four minutes left to intermission.
“It doesn’t mean that we can’t try to get better and do what we do all year; hate to lose, set the tone and never give up, and we showed that,” Hermanson said. “We were just outmatched.”
But it looked like a rewind when, on the first play after the kickoff, the Raiders scored on a 75-yard throw. With the PAT kick, they were suddenly in front 27-14 and then scored again after a Clipper punt, this time from their 42 and with six-straight passes with the touchdown throw from 17 yards out. With the PAT kick, they had a comfortable 33-14 halftime advantage.
Continuing where they left off, the Raiders put up for more touchdowns in the third quarter, one on a 6-yard pass with a two-point PAT run, one on a 39-yard run with a PAT kick, one on a 74-yard run with a PAT kick and one on a 41-yard run with a PAT kick.
Meanwhile, the Clippers went with a conservative offense, mostly running the ball despite the yards needed.
Kortuem returned the kickoff after the second of the four for 88 yards and a TD. Possin’s kick missed. The Raiders ran 33 yards for their final score in the fourth quarter to bag and tag the triumph.
“I think we can bounce back,” said 240-lb senior lineman Nick Simonette. “It’s actual fair games that we play. In this game we were off a little bit, but next game, we’re going to get it done.”
Lyons completed 12 of 25 pass attempts for 149 yards and a pair of TDs. Sam Ternes completed three of three passes for 19 yards.
Kortuem hauled in two passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Tanner Simonette had three catches for 9 yards. Bode Bartell had one catch for 3 yards. Smith had one catch for 15 yards. Kelley had four catches for 33 yards. Possin had one catch for 10 yards. Alex Kortuem caught two Ternes passes for a total of six yards, and Garrett Heldberg caught one Ternes throw for 13 yards.
The Raiders limited the Clippers to 23 rushing yards in 24 carries. Kelley carried the ball eight times for 11 yards. Lyons picked up a 5 total yards on two keepers. Possin had eight carries for 3 total yards. Ternes kept the ball three times for 5 total yards. Kiptyn Coon had two carries for 2 yards. Owen Lloyd took one handoff, but the Raider tackled him in the backfield.
Possin punted nine times for 305 yards. His longest punt was 41 yards. Brennan Kortuem ran four kickoffs for 127 total yards and one TD. Alex Kortuem ran three kickoffs for 44 yards, Kelley ran one for 9 yards, and Peterson ran one for 1 yard.
Possin grappled seven solo tackles. Jack Shouler had one solo tackle. Lyons had five solos, one assist with one tackle behind the line, one interception and one pass deflection. Nick Simonette had one solo tackle and one assist. Kelley had one solo and one assist. Mason Kluntz had two solos and one assist. Smith had one assist. Tanner Simonette had one solo and four assists. Owen Lloyd had one solo tackle, and it was behind the scrimmage line. David Draheim had one solo and three assists. Brennan Kortuem had three solos and deflected two passes. Bartell had two solos, one assist and one pass deflection. Alex Kortuem had one solo tackle. Peterson had three solo tackles with one of them in the Raider backfield. Heldberg had two solo tackles.
After falling in Randolph 47-6 on Friday, GFW is 2-4 with wins over Medford (50-19) and JWP (14-7). Their last game is at NYA.
Lester Prairie has just one loss: 48-7 to NYA. They topped Mayer Lutheran 23-6 on Friday and host Randolph on Thursday.
Also in the district on Friday, St. Clair/Loyola beat host Medford 34-6, NRHEG fell to WEM 28-12, and JWP topped visiting USC 18-0.
Above: Brennan Kortuem lands on the turf after deflecting a Raider pass.
