Freshman “A” Team
Clear Creek
VS
Clear Lake
10.07.04
The Clear Lake Falcons Freshman “A” Team was at home this week to play the Clear Creek Wildcats. The game was played in horrendous conditions as it had rained all day, and continued to rain throughout the game.
The game began with CL kicking off to the Wildcats and Sean Starling running the ball carrier out of bounds at the CC 48 yard line. On 1st down the Creek QB fumbled the wet snap but recovered it loosing 4 yards. On 2nd and 14 Creek pitched out to the right and the Creek runner picked up 6 before being brought down by middle linebacker, Eric Alsop. On 3rd and long a handoff to the right took the ball down to the Falcon 40 and a Creek 1st down. On the 1st down play Alsop and strong safety Tyler David had good pursuit on a counter to the right halfback stopping him for no gain. On 2nd and 10, a play action pass was completed down field but was called back because of a CC holding penalty. The next play was another fumbled snap but this time recovered by Falcon linebacker Trevor Riser at the Creek 48 yard line.
The 1st play from scrimmage for Lake was an option pitch to halfback Michael Grant for a 5 yard pick up. A dive up the middle by fullback Nathan Knight gained 5 more and a 1st down. A give to Grant up the middle for 5, followed by another dive up the middle by Knight for 3 more made it 3rd and 2. QB Drew Decker kept on the option picking up enough for a CL 1st down. On 1st down halfback Spencer Hayes took a pitch on the option around right end for 9. On 2nd and 1 the Falcons showed us a new play called the “Blast Option” where the motion back starts in motion one way then reverses direction and the play follows him with Decker pitching to the trailing back. The new play worked as designed with Grant taking the ball down to the Creek 9 yard line. On the 1st down play offensive linemen Scott Fritz and Ryan Barton opened a hole for Spencer Hayes to take a counter to the right down to the 2 yard line. QB Drew Decker kept on a QB sneak taking it in for the first score of the game. With the hard rain and bad footing, Lake elected to go for two on a pitch out on the option to Grant but was stopped behind the line making the score Falcons 6 Wildcats 0.
CL had a good kickoff by Crouch down to the CC 30, but a good return brought the ball all the way back to the CL 30 before being caught from behind by Cody Worthen. On 1st down Aaron Martinez with help from Alsop stopped the CC runner at the line for no gain. The next play went for 5 before Michael Casavecchia and Trevor Riser brought the Creek runner down. On 3rd and 5 CC ran up the middle for 4 more before being brought down by Nick Adams and Riser. In spite of good defense on the part of Evan Beasley, Martinez, Alsop, and Riser plugging up the middle, the Creek QB was able to sneak for enough to pick up a 1st down. On 1st down from the CL 20 a blitzing Eric Alsop hit the Creek QB just as he handed off to his halfback who was met by Nick Adams for very little gain. Another blitz, this time by Trevor Riser, hit the Creek halfback behind the line slowing him down for Casavecchia, Fritz and Sean Starling to bring him down for a loss of 3. On 3rd and 11, the Wildcat QB broke through the hands of several CL defenders making his way down to the Falcon 1 yard line. That is when the Falcons demonstrated their determination to stop Creek from scoring. On 1st and goal from the 1, Eric Alsop shot through the CC line hitting the Creek halfback just as he received the hand off, dropping him for a 2 yard loss. That play was followed by a fumbled pitch recovered by Creek for an additional yard loss, now making it 3rd and goal from the 5. On the 3rd down play the Creek QB dropped back to pass but never had a chance as he was hit 10 yards behind the line by blitzing Spencer Hayes. On 4th and goal from the 15 Creek attempted another pass to the right flats that the Wildcat receiver couldn’t hold on too.
With the ball going over to Lake on downs, Spencer Hayes picked up 1 on a pitch from Decker, followed by three consecutive QB keepers by Decker that picked up 3 and 8, along with a 1st down, then 5 more on the 1st down play. On 2nd and 5, Decker dropped back and through a long pass down field but was intercepted by Creek at their own 35 yard line.
As time was running down in the half, CC tried a pass to the left sideline that was almost picked off by Jordan Shivers. A draw play on 2nd down was stopped when Nick Adams turned the Creek runner back to the inside where he was thrown down hard by Alsop for a yard loss. A counter on 3rd down went nowhere being stopped by Martinez, forcing Creek to punt.
The CC punt went down to the CL 24 yard line where Michael Grant picked it up on a bounce but was brought down immediately. With a few seconds on the clock the Falcons ran what they call the “Dippsy Doodle”. The play started with Jake Runte at QB pitching out to Drew Decker running from the halfback position, who then pitched to Grant trailing the play. Unfortunately, the Dippsy didn’t Doodle, with the second pitch falling to the ground for a 10 yard loss. The last play of the half was a pitch to Worthen for no gain…the score at halftime was CL 6 - CC 0.
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Michael Grant started the second half with a 25 yard kickoff return to the Lake 48 yard line. The Creek defense made some adjustments on defense during halftime as they stopped the Falcon offense allowing 1 yard to Knight up the middle, Decker was hit at the line for no gain, followed by the Blast Option to Grant for eight, before Decker was hit behind the line on 4th and 2 causing him to fumble the wet ball turning it over on downs.
Clear Lake made some defensive adjustments of their own as Martinez and Riser teamed up to stop Creek for no gain on 1st down. A counter to the Creek halfback off tackle was stopped by Alsop, Riser, and Hayes. And then on 3rd and 6, a fake counter to the halfback didn’t fool Tyler David, as he was in perfect position to meet the QB head-on taking him down for a 6 yard sack forcing a Creek punt. The punt rolled dead at the Lake 35 yard line.
On the 1st down play Decker pitched to halfback Cody Worthen who took it around the left end and down the sideline for 16 yards and a 1st down. Running the same play, but with Spencer Hayes at halfback, gained 3 plus 10 more tacked on after the play for un-sportsman-like conduct on Creek. A handoff to Knight up the middle picked up 4 followed by option pitch to Hayes took it down to the Creek 20. On the 1st down play, the exchange between Decker and his fullback was fumbled but Decker was able to recover. On second and 12, Decker threw a pass to receiver Tyler David who took it to the 15 before being knocked out of bounds. A counter to Worthen, followed by an option pitch again to Worthen, got the ball down inside the 1 yard line as the 3rd quarter ended with the score still CL 6 – CC 0.
On 3rd and goal from the 1 the Creek defense dug in to start the 4th quarter as they stopped Grant for a 1 yard loss, followed by a 4 yard loss on 4th down, turning the ball over on downs.
Creek made 3 consecutive 1st downs in spite of some good hits on defense by Jake Runte, Grant, Alsop, and Hayes. Then Nick Adams shot the gap on a 1st down play hitting the Creek QB as he pitched out to his halfback causing the ball to fall to the ground where Austin Kirby and Alsop dove towards the fumble, but the Creek back was able to fall on the ball to keep possession. A dive up the middle was stopped hard by Kirby and Scot Fritz. A 3rd down incompletion put Creek in a would be punting situation. However the Wildcats elected to fake a punt and throw a pass down field that should have been caught but was dropped by the Creek receiver turning the ball over to the Falcons.
Other than a 3 yard gain by Nathan Knight, the next series saw QB Drew Decker keep the ball on 4 plays taking the ball into the end zone for his second TD of the game. The extra point was no good as Lake again went for 2 and was stopped behind the line on the option pitch.
A squib kick by Crouch was picked up at the Creek 40 and brought down immediately by Worthen and Hayes. On 1st down Creek tried a “Flea Flicker” pass to the left side. After completing the pass the CC receiver immediately pitched out to a trailing back who fumbled the pitch and Trevor Riser jumped on it for his 2nd fumble recovery of the game.
Clear Lake ran 3 plays with only 3 yards gained, bringing up 4th and 7 with very little time on the clock. On the 4th down play Decker kept on the option and took it all the way down to the Creek 38 and a 1st down where CL was able to take a knee and run out the clock with the score Lake 12 – Creek 0.
The Falcons played a good game in some nasty weather. But the biggest difference seemed to be the intensity level they at which they played. It was very apparent that the team was extremely pumped up for the game against their cross-town rival. You could see from the start that they were not going to give this game away. If they take that same attitude and enthusiasm into the remaining 3 games, I would expect them to end the season 5-5.
By Tom Worthen
QB Club Staff