By the second half of Cleveland vs. Martin County West in Trimont on Tuesday, the Clippers were playing their brand of football, but, trailing the entire game after the Mavericks returned the Clippers’ opening possession punt for a for a touchdown—and missing a late fourth-quarter go-ahead opportunity—they fell in their final regular-season game 28-25.
But there is a likely chance the 7-1 Clippers will have another shot at the Mavericks, this time for bigger stakes.
Third ranked in the section, the Clippers host Lester Prairie on Tuesday. The winner of that game takes on second-seeded MCW versus Madelia at the high seed on Halloween at 2:00 p.m.
“It’s hard when you’ve been so successful that not every game is going to be easy,” said head coach Erik Hermanson. “Sometimes you are going to be in a dogfight, but it was great we learned that today instead of in our first playoff game like we did last year. Don’t worry. You haven’t heard the last of us.”
The Mavericks are building a new stadium in Sherburn, complete with artificial turf, but the one they used in Trimont has portable lights. That made for some dark red zones, but both teams seemed to be affected by the dimness.
“It’s a tough environment,” said Hermanson. “No excuses, but it’s a tough place to play.”
MCW punt return sets tone early
Tanner Simonette ran the opening kickoff to the Clipper 35, but after a sack for a 9-yard loss and a false start infraction sent them backwards, the Clippers had to punt, and, catching the punting team off guard, the Mavericks returned it for a touchdown.
Their 2-point conversion pass was successful, and the Clippers trailed 8-0 with 9:38 remaining in Q1.
Mixing up their offense after Tony Hollerich returned the kickoff to their 37, the Clippers got as far as the MCW 30, but after an illegal receiver penalty shoved them back 5 yards, the Mavericks snared a Carson Lyons pass on their 5.
But after two short runs, linebacker Jackson Shouler stepped in front of a Mavericks pass and sprinted 11 yards to the end zone for his second defensive TD of the year. With the Kiptyn Coon PAT kick, the Clippers trailed by a point with four minutes left in Q1.
It didn’t take the Mavericks long to extend their lead though as, after the kickoff, they assembled an 80-yard campaign—with all the yards coming on the ground—to the end zone with the TD coming on a pitch from 2-yards out.
Before the score though, it looked like the Clippers stopped the drive on their 17, but a roughing-the-passer penalty set up the Mavericks on the Cleveland 8. The Clipper stopped the PAT pass but trailed 14-7 with 4 minutes left until the break.
After the kickoff, the Mavericks held the Clippers to minus a yard, and after the punt, they cruised 58 yards downfield before scoring on a 6-yard run. The Clippers stopped the PAT run but were behind 20-7 with 24.6 seconds until the break.
Garrett Heldberg caught a 28-yard pass (above) that put the Clippers on the MCW 40, but the next two throws fell incomplete, and time ran out on the drive.
It really didn’t look good for the Clippers when the Mavericks returned the second-half kickoff to the Clipper 31, picked up another big chunk of Cleveland real estate on a 24-yard run, and eventually scored on a 2-yard run. This time, their PAT run crossed the goal line for a comfortable 28-7 advantage with 9:19 left in Q3.
But the Clippers quickly went to work. On the Clipper 29 after the kickoff, Lyons completed five of six throws: to Wyatt Krenik for 9 yards, to Simonette for 18, to Krenik again for 14 and to Braeden Smith in back-to-back passes for 15 and 11 yards. Simonette ran the final 4 yards for the touchdown. Coon’s PAT kick missed, and the Clippers trailed 28-13 with 7:31 left in Q3.
With the defense stepping up, the Mavericks turned the ball over on downs on the Cleveland 18, and the Clippers went right back to the air with Lyons competing passes to Smith for 19 yards, to Krenik for 9 more and to Sam Ternes for a dozen.
A pass interference advanced the Clippers to the MCW 22. Lyons hooked up with Krenik again, this time for 21 yards before he scored on a keeper. The PAT pass was incomplete, but the Clippers were back in business, only trailing by 9, 28-19 with 11:34 left in the final frame.
The kickoff didn’t go very far, and the Mavericks took over on the Clipper 48, but a couple false starts, a bad snap for a 7-yard loss and a Clipper tackle behind the scrimmage line set them back 19 yards and forced a punt.
Taking over on their 37, Lyons hooked up with Ternes for 5 yards and with Hollerich for a catch and run that netted 19 yards. Later in the drive, it looked like Heldberg scored on a 33-yard catch and run, but a block-in-the-back penalty negated the touchdown. The spot foul was just a delay though as Lyons found Jack Mons in the end zone on the next play.
The Clippers suffered a 5-yard false start penalty on the point after kick, and a MCW defender crashed through the line for the block, but the Clippers narrowed their deficit to three, 28-25 with 7:27 to go.
But the Clippers did get a big break after their kickoff to the Maverick 35. On the first snap of the series, Simonette forced a fumble, and Garet Peterson recovered, and the Clippers had the ball back on the 38.
Simonette took a handoff 2 yards and Hollerich ran for 4 more. On fourth-and-3, Lyons gained 9 yards. Under pressure, Lyons threw his next pass away, connected for Krenik for 8 yards and threw an incomplete pass for fourth-and-2. It looked like he got the needed yardage on a keeper but a holding penalty on the play set the Clippers back 10 yards.
A key-to-the-game sack on the next play ended the Clippers’ opportunity to go ahead, and, taking over on downs, the Mavericks wound the clock down for the victory.
Stats
Each team made 14 first downs. MCW got penalized five times for 38.5 total yards while the Clippers committed nine infractions and lost 65 yards on them. MCW turned the ball over on a fumble and again on an interception while the Clippers only had one turnover: an interception.
Lyons completed half of his 38 pass attempts for 250 yards and a TD. Krenik caught six passes for 70 total yards. Smith grabbed five passes for 55 total yards. Ternes pulled in four passes for 40 total yards. Heldberg had two catches for 30 yards. Hollerich had one catch for 29 yards and a TD.
The Clippers didn’t get much of a ground game going. Simonette carried the ball four times for 19 total yards and a TD. Lyons had six carries but only gained a net 2 yards on them. He scored two TDs though. Hollerich had one carry for 4 yards.
Coon made one of three extra point attempts. He punted twice with his longest traveling 39 yards. Hollerich returned two MCW kick offs, one for 18 yards and one for 14 yards. Simonette returned one kickoff and gained 15 yards. Gauge Bock returned one kickoff and picked up 4 yards, and Owen Lloyd fielded one for no yards.
With seven solos and five assists, including a pair of tackles on MCW’s side of the scrimmage line, Coon led the Clipper defense. Smith made five solo tackles and assisted on an additional five. Ternes made four solos and three assists. Peterson had four solos and five assists and recovered a fumble. Shouler made four solos and three assists with one tackle behind the scrimmage line and a pick six. Lyons had four solos and four assists with one tackle behind the line and one pass deflection. Simonette had two solos and five assists and forced a fumble. Heldberg had one solo and six assists with a pair of tackles behind the line. Mons made one solo tackle. Adam Rain assisted on four tackles. Krenik and Lloyd each made a solo tackle.
Elsewhere in the district last week, Mayer Lutheran defeated host Lester Prairie 42-18, host St. James area topped Madelia 33-6, and visiting Springfield rolled over GFW 64-0.
The Clippers’ crossover opponents both lost: USC (1-7 in the regular season) to visiting NRHEG 40-8 and winless Lewiston-Altura 51-20 to host Southland. Their records didn’t help the Clippers’ QRF, a score used for seeding.
On the other side of section bracket, Mayer Lutheran, a team the Clipper beat decisively but had beat MCW, is the top seed and has a round-one bye. Fourth-seeded St. James is hosting fifth-ranked GFW. The section Championship is in New Prague on November 6.
Tanner Simonette only rushed four times.
Tony Hollerich cuts around defenders on a kickoff return.
Carson Lyons dug in in the second half and ultimately completed 19 of 38 passes.
Braeden Smith pushes away a defender after a catch for big yards.
The end zones were not well lit. Here, the bib girls do jumping jacks in the dark after one of the four Clipper touchdowns.