A football shouldn’t even be classified as a ball.
If someone were to ask you to imagine a ball, would you first think of a football? No way. It would probably be a volleyball, a basketball or a baseball.
Balls are spherical…predictable, obedient. A football is a wonky shape…erratic, capricious, two-faced. It behaves like a toddler. A football will betray you in a heartbeat. If a football is a ball, then so is an egg, and so is a lemon.
And so it was for the Clippers in the Section 2A championship game in New Prague on Friday when, after avenging a loss to Martin County West six days earlier, their stellar season came to an abrupt and bitter end with a 49-14 defeat at the hands of Mayer Lutheran, a team they dominated 35-7 in the regular season.
While turnovers—six of the to be precise—plagued the Clippers from early on, career-ending injuries, starting with all-around player Tanner Simonette, kept them from any chance of a comeback.
“It happens. That’s why they play the game,” said head coach Erik Hermanson. “Obviously losing Tanner right away…The last time we played here in a state tournament game (in 2015, when the Clippers lost 52-14 to Grand Meadow), Gavin Wenker, our running back, went down the same way. All of a sudden you don’t have that guy, and it throws everybody off. Tanner is not only just a good running back, he’s a great leader. Jackson Shouler already hurt his ankle in the Lewiston game (game three). He’s been taping up and playing hard all year. It went out again tonight, and that was tough too when a middle linebacker can’t run.”
The Clippers were moving the ball adequately after receiving the opening kickoff, but a fumble on the snap cost them 8-yards, and two plays later they were forced to punt. The Crusaders partially blocked it and took over on the Cleveland 45.
But the Clipper defense stepped up, and Mayer punted too. The Clippers lost 6 yards on their following series though. Kiptyn Coon’s punt made its way down field, but the Clippers missed a tackle on the return, setting up the Crusaders on the Clipper 35.
After picking up 5 free yards on an encroachment infraction, a Crusader runner weaved the rest of the way to the end zone. With a successful PAT kick, they took a lead with 5:36 left in Q1 they would never relinquish.
Braeden Smith caught an 8-yard Carson Lyons pass after the kickoff, but that was all the distance the Clippers could gain, and they punted again. Two plays later, a 5-yard run and a 67-yard sprint to the house, the Raiders, after the PAT kick, were suddenly up 14-0 with 3:39 left in Q1.
The Clippers needed to score quickly and did when Tony Hollerich returned the kickoff 75 yards for the score. Coon’s PAT kick was good, and they only trailed by 7.
The Clipper defense rose to the occasion again after the kickoff, limiting the Crusaders to just 5 yards, but they couldn’t get a handle on the punt, and Mayer recovered it on the Clipper 34.
On a screen pass, the Crusaders gained 12 yards, but Smith stuffed the QB on the next play for a 5-yard loss, and after two running plays didn’t go anywhere and a fourth-and-4 pass fell incomplete, the Clippers got the ball back on downs on their 26.
But once again, the football didn’t bounce the Clippers’ way when it came off a receiver’s hands and into those of a Mayer defender coming in to make the tackle. Never slowing down, he ran the remaining 30 yards to the goal line, and, with another good PAT kick, the Crusaders led 21-7 with 9:50 left until halftime.
Simonette returned the kickoff 29 yards to midfield. The Clippers suffered three incomplete passes from there but got a break when the Crusaders roughed Coon on the punt. Simonette burst for 4 yards, and Lyons scrambled for 7 more before his pass in the end zone fell incomplete.
The Clippers got another break when a Mayer hands-to-the-face penalty set them up on the 6, but once again the football took a dubious path, and they turned the ball over on a fumble for an opportunity lost.
Aided by a holding penalty, the Clipper defense forced the Crusaders to a three-and-out after and took over after the punt on their 50. A pair of running plays both went backwards, but Lyons found Wyatt Krenik on the sidelines for a 39 catch that put the Clippers on the Crusader 23.
From there, Lyons hooked up with Smith for 16 yards, and after an incomplete pass, it looked like he found Smith again in the end zone, but the refs said he didn’t keep a foot in, and on the next play, the Clippers fumbled the snap. Lyons managed to get a pass off, but the Crusaders batted it down to get the ball back on downs.
Mayer turned the ball over on downs at the Clipper 20, and the Lyons-Smith combo coupled for 21 yards. In what would be the last play in a stellar career as a Clipper, Simonette caught an 11-yard pass, but he needed help off the field and never returned. Later, Jack Mons caught a 21-yard pass, but time ran out on the drive, and the Clippers trailed 21-7 at the break.
Simonette runs, catches and pass and run blocks for Lyons. As a 6-2, 190 lb linebacker he is instrumental to the Clipper defense, and he is the team's vocal leader too. The Crusaders capitalized on his absence when, after they turned the ball over on downs, picked off a pass behind the line of scrimmage and returned it 35 yards to the end zone. With the PAT kick, the Clippers trailed 28-7.
Things went from bad to worse for the Clippers when, after returning the kickoff to their 40, they fumbled the exchange on the following play, and Mayer got the ball back on the Cleveland 36. Eight plays later, the Crusaders ran 4 yards for the touchdown and with the PAT kick were way up front, 35-7 with 3:27 left in Q3.
Showing what they are capable of, the Clippers drove 70 yards after the kickoff. Smith had a 21-yard catch in the drive, and Krenik caught a pass for 22 yards and another for 8, before Lyons legged the ball to the Mayer 9. From there, Lyons found Smith in the middle of the end zone. Coon’s PAT kick was good, but with 2:18 left in Q3, it was all too little too late.
Center and linebacker Jackson Shouler went out with an injury in the first play after the kickoff, and the Crusaders smashed their way 65 yards for the score with the TD coming on a 6-yard run with 8:40 left in the game. The PAT kick put them up 42-14.
After the kickoff, the Crusaders snared a Lyons pass, returned it to the Cleveland 35 and drove the rest of the way with the TD coming on a 2-yard run with 1:06 remaining. Another PAT kick made for the 49-14 final.
Please check back for game statistics.
It was the last game in a Clipper uniform for seniors Lyons, Simonette, Smith, Shouler, Sam Ternes, Henry Boelter and Garet Peterson, who also was out by the end of the game with an injury.
“This doesn’t take away from the career those guys had,” Hermanson said. “They had a great run, and I hope they have fond memories of Cleveland football.”
Mayer Lutheran will go on to play Section 4A champion Minneota in Marshall on Friday.
Above: Tanner Simonette cuts to avoid a Crusader defender.
Carson Lyons runs around a Tanner Simonette block.
Jack Mons, Kiptyn Coon and Garet Peterson close in on a shifty Mayer Lutheran ball carrier.
Tony Hollerich looks for an opening.
The Clippers had too many turnovers to win. Here, Mayer recovers a fumble. Trying to get to it is Kiptyn Coon.
Sam Ternes reaches out to stop a Mayer runner…
and eventually made the tackle. Assisting is Jackson Shouler.
Jack Mons turns up field after a catch.
Carson Lyons releases a pass.
Braeden Smith gets wrestled by a Mayer Lutheran defender after a catch.
Henry Boelter gets held while closing in on a Mayer ball carrier.
Jake Mueller, Sam Ternes and Adam Rain bring down a Crusader ball carrier.
The bib girls didn’t have a lot to cheer about.