Until a minute left in the fourth quarter, whenever the Clippers created any kind of spark against visiting United South Central, it quickly fizzled, and the Rebels downed the Clippers 24-8 on Friday.
Cleveland’s lone touchdown came on an 85-yard Henry Strobel kickoff return and, as a positive for the Clippers, represented an overall good effort by the special teams, said head coach Erik Hermanson.
“Henry also had four great punts. Our kickoffs were excellent. But most of all, (coaches) Brady (Hahn) and Larry (Walechka) worked very hard all week installing a wall kickoff return on our sideling and it worked to perfection. It was so great to see the kids pick up on it and have great success with it during the game. Henry's kickoff return was a result of awesome planning and a week's worth of practice.”
“I had Gabe Sullivan blocking for me, and it was beautiful, and I took it, so I thank Gabe for that,” said Strobel (on a run above), who was clearly leaving it all on the field for the entire game.
“I just want to put it everything out there for this team. I love playing for this team. I don’t want to walk off this field knowing that I didn’t give 100 percent. But it was a hard loss. We worked a lot in practice, and I really wanted to get this win, but not everything goes our way, and we have to make the best of what we have.”
Aided by a couple of pass interference calls—neither which the USC coach agreed with and got a 15-yard penalty for letting the refs know—the Clippers too the ball the way to the Rebel 11 after the game-opening kickoff.
But the Clippers had four motion penalties on the series—four times the number of penalties they had all last week—including one when they were inside the 13. The drive, which seemed to set the tone for most of the game, ended with a USC interception.
“Every positive we took out of last week, we regressed on tonight,” said Hermanson. “I think maybe a little bit of nerves. The penalties came back out. Were too excited and too young. We just have to trust that we’re talented enough. We practiced so great all week. We look so polished, but then we put ourselves in a hole. You don’t make those mistakes against a team I know we can compete with.”
The Rebels, although starting out on their own 6, capitalized, driving the field and scoring on a 46-yard halfback pass. The Clippers stopped the 2-point conversion.
The Rebels scored again just before the break. Again, the Clippers held up the point-after run, but USC got the ball right back on an onside kick, spoiling any chance for the Clippers to score in the first half.
Scoring after the second-half kickoff, the Rebels led 18-0 early in the third quarter and scored again with 53 seconds left before Strobel’s run to the house late and a Blake Lyons toss to Kale Kelley for a 2-point conversion.
Lyons completed nine of 22 throws for 42 yards. Carson Lyons caught three of his brother’s passes for a total of 35 yards. Kelley had four catches for 9 yards. Braeden Hastings had one catch for 5 yards, and Tanner Simonette had one catch for 3 yards.
Jaxon Libby rushed four ties for 13 yards. Hastings carried the ball three times for 7 yards. Blake Lyons kept the ball five times for 11 yards. Strobel had four carries for 9 yards.
Strobel punted four times for a total of 140 yards. Kelley had three punt returns for a total of 20 yards with 15 of them on one return.
Blake Lyons had two solo tackles and four assists. Sullivan had four solo tackles and nine assists. Strobel had four solos and two assists. Jacob Rohlfing had two solos and six assists. Tanner Simonette had three solos and six assists. Nick Simonette had seven assists. Kelley had one assist. Carter Barto had five solos and seven assists. Carson Lyons had one solo. Hasting had one solo and two assists. Brady Bostic had one solo and seven assists. Munya Kuvaoga had one solo and three assists. Blake Gibbs had one solo. Braeden Smith and Jack Voit each had one assist.
“It’s easy to forget that Kale, and Blake and Nick are in 10th grade. They are our leaders and they play so hard and we expect the world from them and the eighth graders too, Carson and Tanner."
The Clippers were flagged a dozen times for 88 yards.
The Clippers take host JWP for their homecoming on Friday. The Bulldogs beat NRHEG but lost to Fillmore Central, St. Clair/Loyola, Mayer Lutheran and Lester Prairie (43-6) on Friday.
Blake Lyons on the run.
Kale Kelley gets corralled by a USC defender.
Braeden Hastings cuts right.
The Clippers recognized parents before the game.
Lexy Waldron on the flute in the Pep Band.