Lots of squats and leg presses…
Wyatt Krenik said that was the routine he followed to increase his vertical during the off season.
The work paid off on Saturday when the junior sailed high over the intended Martin County West receiver and picked off a pass in the end zone to seal a 14-6 Clipper victory in the second round of the section playoffs.
The win in Trimont avenges an 11-day-old loss to the Mavericks the Clippers suffered on the same field in their regular season finale.
“I was just thinking I had to come down with it but couldn’t get pass interference,” said Krenik, who, earlier in the game, caught one of two Carson Lyons touchdown passes.
Now, the Clippers are headed to the section championship: a rematch against Mayer Lutheran in New Prague on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Head coach Erik Hermanson said Krenik’s work in the weight room was representative of the entire Clipper team, and that has gotten them to where they are: one game away from the state tournament.
“We have gotten tougher and more mature not only because of our experience but also because of the offseason weightlifting. It paid off right here. It was a good athletic Cleveland team at the end. We had them run right down the field on us, but we put up a fight when we needed to and made a big play to finish it.”
Unlike when the Clippers played in Trimont 11 days earlier, they got off to a good start on Saturday. Tony Hollerich returned the opening kickoff 27 yards to the Clipper 41, and the Clippers drove the rest of the way for a score.
The campaign featured a Jack Mons catch and run for 13 yards (above), a Lyons keeper for 14 yards and a screen pass to Tanner Simonette for 13 yards that landed the Clippers on their 18.
From there, Lyons kept the ball for 6 yards, passed to Braeden Smith for 3 more and kept the ball again for 4 more yards and a first down on the 5-yard line before he connected with Krenik in the end zone for the touchdown.
Kiptyn Coon’s PAT kick gave the Clippers a 7-0 lead with 5:20 left in the first quarter.
“Our senior captains made the decision that if we won the toss, we were going to take the ball because they wanted to go down the field and put those guys in desperation mode right away,” Hermanson said.
The Mavericks responded quickly though. Starting off on their 24, they ran seven plays before scoring on a 50-yard pass. The Clippers stopped the PAT run to the outside though to preserve the lead with 1:34 left in the first quarter.
“They’re super tough,” Hermanson said. “A lot of wrestlers, not necessarily spectacular at one thing but just good at playing football.”
The Clippers turned the ball over on downs on their ensuing possession. After, the Mavericks punted, the Clippers punted, and the Mavericks punted again to set up the Clippers on their 44 with 2:39 left to the break. The Clippers used the time wisely, driving 56 yards to add a 7-point cushion.
After a short Hollerich gain on the ground, Lyons went to the air to Smith down the middle for a 28-yard reception and then kept the ball for a 16-yard gainer. Lyons’ next throw fell incomplete, but on second-and-10, he found Simonette cutting up field for the touchdown. Coon’s all-important point-after boot again went through the uprights, and the Clippers stretched their lead to 14-6 with a minute left to the intermission.
Neither team would score again. After the punt, the Mavericks made it to the Clipper 35, but time ran out on the drive. They moved the ball after the second-half kickoff too, but on a fourth-and-3 at the Clipper 26, Smith intercepted a pass in the end zone to prevent the touchdown.
A holding penalty put a dagger in the Clippers’ next drive, and they faced a fourth-and-long on their 28. But Coon’s punt took a Clipper roll to the MCW 8.
With a 9-yard pass and a 9-yard quarterback keeper, the Mavericks were on the move, but a holding penalty set them back. They gained 10 ground yards on the next play, but Smith stepped in front of another pass and returned it to the Maverick 9.
With the turnover, the Clippers had a chance to seal the victory as it was near midway through the final frame. Hollerich ran the ball to the left for 7 yards, and Lyons gained another yard, but smoking out back-to-back Lyons runs, the Mavericks, rattled but undaunted, came up with a goal line stance and took over on their 2 with about 6 minutes left.
“It was a frustrating missed opportunity,” Hermanson said. “Tony made a great run to get us down there.”
Mostly on run plays, the Mavericks carved up the Clipper defense to go all the way to the Clipper 28, where, after a pair of incomplete passes, they completed a 10-yard throw on forth-and-8 and 1:44 remaining. But after giving up no yards on a running play, the Clippers sacked the quarterback, their second sack during the series, for a 4-yard loss before Krenik snared the third-and-14 pass from the Cleveland 22.
Assistant coach Kyle Atherton said the Clipper defensive secondary played too off for most of the game, letting the Mavericks convert long passing third downs, but they stepped up when they needed to.
“They (the Mavericks) were in a passing mode, and they’re not a passing team; they’re not a pass blocking team. We have better athletes across the board when it comes to passing. When we get them in the passing mode, we win.”
The Clippers came in averaging almost 38 points a game, four fewer points than the Mavericks averaged, but each team only allowed an average of about 7 points a game as well, so a defensive battle was no surprise.
The Mavericks made 22 first downs, seven more than the Clippers. The Clipper defense bent but didn’t break though, and their three interceptions loomed large as did their three sacks. The Clippers were penalized three times for 20 total yards. MCW lost 36 yards on their four penalties.
Lyons completed 13 of 23 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Smith pocketed four catches for 37 yards. Krenik made two catches for 14 total yards and a TD. Simonette caught two throws for 29 yards and a TD. Sam Ternes hauled in three catches for 19 total yards. Hollerich grabbed a 1-yard pass. Mons caught a 13-yard pass.
But the line was the unsung hero of the passing game, Hermanson said.
“Every single guy protecting Carson, and then those receivers came up with some clutch catches.”
In his 14 keepers, Lyons totaled 48 yards, but other than that, MCW did a good job shutting down the Clipper run game. Hollerich took two handoffs for 23 total yards while Simonette rushed six times for just 11 yards.
Coon was two-for-two in PAT kicks. He punted twice, one for 69 yards and the other for 29 yards. Hollerich returned the opening kickoff 27 yards, and Owen Lloyd returned the kickoff after the MCW score 14 yards.
With seven solo tackles and two assists, including two sacks and also a pass deflection, Garet Peterson has grown into a certified weapon. Jack Shouler and Garrett Heldberg each wrestled three solo tackles and had five assists. Lyons had four solos and three assists and deflected two passes. Krenik had one solo tackle, one assist, one pass deflection and one interception. Smith had four solos and four assists and two picks.
Ternes had three solos and one assist. Coon made one solo tackle and one assisted tackle. Simonette made two solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Adam Rain had one solo tackle and two assists and assisted on a sack. Mons made four solo tackles and one two assisted tackles and deflected a pass. Carsyn Ryg had three solo tackles and two assists and one tackle behind the line. He also assisted Rain with the sack. Hollerich had two solo tackles. Jake Mueller assisted a tackle.
Atherton said when the Clippers lost to the Mavericks on October 20, they came out a little overconfident since Mayer Lutheran, a team they beat 35-7 easily beat MCW 41-14. The early return of the Clipper punt for a touchdown didn’t help.
While the rematch could have gone either way, Lyons felt the best team won.
“They were a good, strong, tough team,” Lyons said, “but we dug our heels in.”
It will be the first time the Clippers have reached the section championship since 2017, when they, as a nine-man team, lost a heartbreaker to Spring Grove. The year before, the Clippers were state runner-up. Over the next six seasons as they transitioned into 11-man, they were playoff one and done. In 2024, they beat St. James Area in the first round of the playoffs before falling to USC in a 16-10 nailbiter.
Last year, the Clippers, 8-0 in the district, had a first round of the sections bye, but GFW avenged an earlier season loss to win round two. This year, the Clippers, despite the victory over top-ranked Mayer, were the three seed, but that may have played in their favor as they kept sharp with a first-round win at home against Lester Prairie.
Tony Hollerich’s 27-yard kickoff return set a positive tone on the very first play.
The Mavericks didn’t allow much on the ground for running back Tanner Simonette.
A Maverick defender makes a dive at Braeden Smith.
Garrett Heldberg wraps up a Maverick ball carrier.
Garet Peterson brings down a Maverick runner. There to help is Jackson Shouler.
Carson Lyons looks down field for an open receiver.
Wyatt Krenik celebrates his interception.
These future Clippers got to see a fantastic 48 minutes of hard-nosed football.
The Bib Girls only celebrated two touchdowns, but they still had plenty to cheer about.
The Lyons brothers: Pierce, Blake (CHS 2025) and Carson.
The Clippers celebrate the win.