Tigers battle Clarinda in homecoming game; three fourth quarter touchdowns give Cardinals 33-13 win
In a game that started Friday night but ended Saturday afternoon, the Clarinda Tigers scored three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat Red Oak 33-13.
After a day filled with traditional Homecoming activities such as the parade, a pep rally and coronation, when the Tigers (2-4 overall, 2-2 in district) took the field Friday night at Russ Benda Field, the excitement was electric.
Unfortunately, soon after kickoff, lightning from a nearby storm generated some real electricity, forcing a postponement until Saturday afternoon.
Play resumed with 7:24 left in the first quarter and neither team mounted much offense until Hayden Van Meter broke loose with a 23-yard run on third down on the final play of the first 12 minutes.
But three plays later, the Tiger drive stalled when Evan Mellott was stopped on fourth down about half-a-yard shy of the first.
Clarinda wouldn’t pick up a first down until midway through the second quarter when the Cardinals put together a 67-yard drive capped by a J.J. Clark 6-yard touchdown run. After the PAT, Clarinda led 7-0 with just under four minutes to play in the half.
Red Oak fought back before halftime when Brock Isaacson scored on a five-yard run with just 43 seconds left on the clock.
Isaacson had a key 10-yard run on fourth and three earlier to keep the drive alive, which was also extended by a 15-yard Clarinda facemask penalty.
With a successful point after kick, the Tigers headed into the locker room feeling good with a 7-7 tie.
Clarinda started the second half with the ball on their own 42-yard line and continued to run quick hits to their sideline, mixing in the occasional counter and quarterback keeper.
On the 11th play of the drive, quarterback Blake Luna kept the ball and ran right up the middle for a 6-yard score. After a missed point after attempt, Clarinda led 13-7.
Again though, Red Oak would battle back and tie the score with an impressive 13-play 80-yard drive that included two fourth down conversions and three costly Clarinda penalties.
After picking up nine yards on the first three plays of the drive, Red Oak again faced a fourth and one at its own 29.
Coach Barry Bower, whose team failed earlier in the game on a short fourth down conversion at its own 42, pulled the trigger again and left the Tiger offense on the field.
This time, quarterback Nick Leininger picked up just enough to get the first down and extending the Tiger drive.
Clarinda started to lose its focus later in the drive with a pair of 15-yard unsportsman like conduct penalties. The second gave Red Oak a first down at the Cardinal 15-yard line instead of a third and long at the 30.
A holding penalty a few plays later cost Red Oak a first and goal and instead, the Tigers were backed up with a fourth and long and faced to go for it again.
Van Meter threw a halfback pass that was intercepted in the end zone, but Clarinda was penalized again, this time for pass interference. With another chance at a first down, Red Oak converted a second fourth down attempt with a 6-yard run from Isaacson.
On the next play, Leininger dove past the left guard on a 1-yard score. The kick sailed wide left, but Red Oak had tied the game at 13-13 with 2:43 left in the third quarter.
“I thought it was a heck of a ball game, two teams battling back and forth, especially when it was 13-13 going into the fourth quarter,” Red Oak Head Coach Barry Bower said. “Sometimes the chips don’t fall where you think they will.”
The back-and-forth continued, as Clarinda started a drive at their 42 again and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Luke Strong ran 20 yards on a third and long to give the Cardinals a first down at the Tiger 13. A few plays later, Luna scored again on a one-yard run.
Trailing 20-13, Red Oak took over inside its own 20, but started moving the ball effectively again when Isaacson ripped through a big hole on the right side of the line.
However, the tailback who finished the game with a team-high 131 yards on 30carries, lost a fumble that was recovered by Dusty Swindler. Swindler returned the fumble to the Tiger 15 with 8:41 left in the game.
Two plays later, Luna scored his third TD of the game on another short keeper up the middle, giving the Cardinals a 26-13 lead.
Clarinda tacked on another touchdown in the final minute after a 62-yard run gave them a first down near the Tiger end zone.
While disappointed with the loss, Bower was pleased with the effort and fortitude the Tigers displayed.
“I thought that for the first couple of drives, I thought that we were ready to play, we were ready to go. Our kids were focused and they understood the impact. But things happen,” he said. “The score is not indicative of what that ballgame was all about. That score does not reflect what that ballgame was all about. The people that were at the ball game will also tell you that.”
Paced by Isaacson’s 131 yards, the Tigers ran the ball 53 times for 235 yards in the game.
Earlier in the season, Isaacson had been splitting carries with Evan Mellott and Hayden VanMeter, who finished with 36 and 38 yards respectively. But this week, Isaacson played more of a feature back role with his 30 carries.
“I think he’s been a tremendous influence on what we try to do and we’ve got to remember Brock is only a sophomore. We’ve got two more years with him and I think he’s definitely going to be a real asset to us in the future,” Bower said of the sophomore tailback.
On defense, Evan Mellot led the Tigers with 15 tackles, followed by Austin Streicher with 13. VanMeter, Colin Bruce and Phillip Decker added 12, 11 and 10, respectively. VanMeter also recovered a fumble for the Tigers.
Red Oak travels to Council Bluffs Friday to take on district leader St. Albert (6-0, 4-0). Bower recognizes the state-ranked St. Albert team will present a challenge for the Tigers.
“We’ve got to make sure we come to play every single time that we strap on that helmet. I’ll be honest, I thought our kids did a good job as far as battling for four quarters of football. It’s just that sometimes the ball bounces the other team’s way and it just happened to bounce their way on Saturday,” he said. “There’s always a tomorrow. I think that’s one of the things we have to take away is it’s in the past, we can’t get it back, but we can always work harder tomorrow. You can control tomorrow, you can’t control what happens in the past, but you can control what happens in the future.”