A 24-0 Clipper win in St. James on Friday sets up a district showdown on Friday when Mayer Lutheran comes to town for the Clippers’ homecoming game.
Both teams are 5-0.
It was the fewest points the Clippers scored this season. A couple of turnovers and lots of yellow laundry on the field didn’t help, but the Saints, succumbing to the Clipper defense, coughed the ball up four times, so the Clippers did get a couple extra offensive opportunities.
“It was definitely a wake-up game for us,” said junior offensive lineman Zander Hoechst. “Along with better athletes in the trenches, they brought out a defensive front we hadn't really seen before, playing three-down and consistently bringing additional pressure to one side. It really made communication between our line and additional blockers key that whole game, and that started improving more after halftime. This week is our anticipated hardest have of the regular season, and hopefully we'll work better.”
The Saints went three and out in the opening series. The Clippers did too, but Kiptyn Coon's booming punt put the Saints on their own 3. The Clippers held them to 7 yards from there, and Carson Lyons returned the punt to the SJA 41.
Tanner Simonette had gainers of 2 and then 10 yards on the ground to start the drive, and an encroachment penalty added another 5 yards before Braeden Smith found an opening for 21 yards that put the Clippers on the Saint 3. From there, Lyons rolled right and across the goal line. Coon’s points-after-touchdown kick slid wide left, but the Clippers led 6-0 with 5:29 left in Q1.
St. James punted again, and the Clippers took over on the Saint 48. Wyatt Krenik hauled in a 7-yards Lyons throw, and Smith caught a 14-yard pass. A holding penalty set the Clippers 10 yards back, but Simonette rattled off a 5-yard run, and Lyons kept the ball for runs of 12 and then 11 yards. Simonette ran for 7 and then 1 yard before Lyons dove the final yard for the TD.
Simonette had an open left side lane on the PAT for a 2-point conversion, and the Clippers were in front 14-0 with 10:47 left before the break.
Later in the second half, the Clippers took over on downs at their 37, but after the Clippers advanced to the SJA 7, the Saints picked off a Lyons pass in the end zone.
“We knew they’d be super scrappy,” said head coach Erik Hermanson. “They have way more players than we do. They’re a Class 2A school. It’s their homecoming game, and their coach said he had it circled on his calendar since we beat them last year. We knew it would be four quarters of starters playing as hard as they could. But we finally had the conditioning to do it.”
But the Clippers got the ball back when the Saints’ fourth-and-14 snap sailed over the punter. They got the ball out of the end zone but had a holding penalty tacked on, and the Clippers got the ball back on the SJA 2.
After a couple of incomplete passes, it was déjà vu again with Lyons running the 2 yards for the TD. This time, Coon nailed the PAT kick, and the Clippers were in front 21-0 with 50 seconds until the intermission.
The Clippers took the second-half kickoff their 29. After a 5-yard loss on a penalty, Krenik caught an 11-yard pass, but the Saints stopped the third-and-4 run for no gain. But once again, Coon booted a beauty, this time to the SJA 15.
With a runs of 12, 5 and another 12 yards, the Saints were moving the ball, but a turnover fumble put a dagger in the drive, and the Clippers took over on the SJA 47. But penalties put a lid on the drive.
The Saints took over on their 30 after the punt, and took the ball down to the Clipper 37 before turning the ball over on downs.
Aided by an interference call and a Smith catch for 16 yards, the Clippers were on the SJA 20, but the Saints snared another Lyons pass and took over on their 9.
But three four plays later, they fumbled again. Jackson Shouler was there to pounce on it to set up Clippers just 10 yards away from the goal line. Simonette ran for four yards, but he next two passes fell incomplete, and the Clippers turned to Coon, who sent the 22-yard field goal attempt between the uprights for a 24-0 advantage with 8:08 left in the game.
The Saints were driving again after the kickoff and got all the way to the Clipper 15, but a fumble on a sac ended that campaign. After a Clipper punt, they got the ball back again, had runs of 6, 10 and 8 yards but lost 7 on a reverse, and the Clippers held on for the shutout.
The Saints picked up 23 first downs, six more than the Clippers, but their four fumbles, all resulting turnovers, made a difference. Meanwhile, the Clippers gave up a pair of interceptions and were flagged nine times for 70 total yards compared to nine penalties for 40 yards total for SJA.
“Some of the penalties were on things we haven’t changed all year, but tonight they decided those were penalties, so that was frustrating,” Hermanson said. “But the great thing is we kept our cool, and on a drive where we had multiple penalties, we still put it in.”
Lyons completed 13 of 27 throws for 147 yards. Smith hauled in six of them for 90 total yards. Krenik grasped three for 44 yards. Sam Ternes gripped two catches for 5 yards, and Simonette pulled down two catches for 7 yards.
Simonette hammered out 19 runs for 45 total yards. Tony Hollerich took seven handoffs for 27 yards. Lyons kept the ball after 10 snaps for 39 yards.
With one of two PAT kicks through the uprights and a 22-yard field goal, Coon’s foot was good for 4 points. He also booted four punts with the longest traveling 48 yards, That punt and another landed inside the St. James 20.
“Kiptyn had a great game,” Hermanson said. “Not only did he punt really well, helping us win the field position battle, he had incredible kick coverage after his directional kicks. He had multiple tackles on his kickoffs.”
Lyons returned three punts for a total of 24 yards with the longest return 13 yards. Simonette returned the Saint’s second-half kickoff 14 yards.
Garet Peterson made three solo tackles and assisted on five more with four tackles behind the line. He also recovered a fumble. Shouler made two solo tackles and assisted six more with a pair of tackles behind the line. He forced one fumble and recovered two. Coon made seven solo tackles and assisted six with two tackles behind the line. Adam Rain had two solo tackles. Gauge Block assisted on a pair of tackles. Austen Tarkey made one tackle.
Ternes assisted one tackle, recovered a fumble and knocked a Saints pass to the turf. Lyons had three solo tackles and a pair of assists. Garrett Heldberg had three solo tackles and one assist with two tackles behind the line. He forced one fumble. Simonette made two solo tackles and two assists and deflected a Saint pass. Krenik had seven solo tackles. Hollerich had three solo tackles. Smith made one solo tackle and assisted two more with one tackle behind the line. He forced a fumble and deflected a pass.
“The defense was great in that they didn’t worry about stats and didn’t get too deep in their sacks,” Hermanson said. “They were just disciplined enough to do that shows we’re growing up and a team and not just individuals.”
Mayer is coming off a 47-27 home win over district crossover and now 4-2 Sleepy Eye United (Public plus SESM). Hermanson said the hard-fought win on the St. James field was good preparation.
“It’s good that we had to play an entire game where we had to be on point the whole game, and that will be good for next week where we won’t be done at halftime. Mayer’s a great team, and we’re going to have to play great to beat them.”
In other Mid-South (Gold) District games, Lester Prairie, the Clippers’ week seven opponent, blanked visiting Madelia 37-0. Martin County West, the Clippers’ final regular season opponent, shut out GFW 38-0.
Above: Kiptyn Coon puts the foot in Clipper football. He had a great day at St. James with a field goal, an extra point and towering punts and kicks as well as coverage of his own boots included in his seven solo tackles and six tackle assists.
Tanner Simonette runs through a Saint defender. In the third quarter, he twisted his ankle, and that limited the Clipper offense a bit.
Carson Lyons runs in one of three TDS he would score.
Tony Hollerich dodges a Saint defender.
Some of Carson Lyons’ ground yards were air yards too.
Braeden Smith wraps up a SJA ball carrier.
Jackson Shouler sets up to tackle a Saint ball carrier.
Carson Lyons drops back for a pass.
The bib girls had four jumping jack sessions.
Bib girls Kendra Schipper, Kaitlyn Flowers, unidentified, Kiya Sohn, Ava Kluntz, Taylor Wolf, Liviana Lee and Neenah Lassiter.