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Tomball's Ryan
Fontenot is brought down by Clear Lake's Anthony Zamora (on
turf) and falls on Lake's Cole Mueller (8) after a Falcon
kickoff. -- Citizen photo by Kar Hlava |
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Falcons rally in second half to down Tomball
With a successful debut of its 'new' football team, Clear Lake is
preparing to entertain La Porte in District Stadium on Friday.
Game time is 7 p.m.
The Falcons defeated Tomball 15-6 last week before a District
Stadium crowd in a game that wasn't decided until the last few
minutes of play.
La Porte is highly touted in 23-5A, with nine starters coming back
on offense from its 5-6 team. Four starters return on defense for
the Bulldogs. This will be La Porte's first game of the season. Last
year Lake downed La Porte 35-17.
Clear Lake lost nine starters from each side of the ball from it's
2004 state semifinal team, and it hopes to be jellyn' in the next
couple of weeks.
Despite the Falcons' high-scoring success in 2004, last season's
opener at Tomball wasn't exactly a picnic either. Lake prevailed by
a 21-3 count and only scored one touchdown in the first half.
Last week's contest wasn't that much different. As a matter of fact,
Tomball held the Falcons scoreless the entire first half. But Lake
helped a little with miscues in that first half shutout as the
Cougars took a 6-0 lead into the locker room.
But the Falcons changed things up a little after the break. Fullback
Geno Blow evened things up at 6-6 only 43 seconds into the third
period when he bolted past everyone for a 63-yard touchdown scamper.
The extra-point try was wide and it stayed tied for another five
minutes.
"We came out with a different defensive front," head coach Troy
Aduddell said of Lake's second half strategy. "Offensively, we used
some different plays."
This year's Cougars were sort of a mystery for the Lake coaching
staff since the teams didn't trade scrimmage tapes.
Tomball did some things offensively and defensively that Aduddell,
offensive coordinator Paul Lanier and defensive coordinator Dwayne
Lane didn't really expect. So they changed things up at halftime.
"We just reviewed last year's game and that's basically what we went
with," Aduddell said. "But they (Cougars) weren't in last year's
defense."
But Clear Lake had things figured out by the time the second half
started.
Passing up a field goal attempt Clear Lake took the lead for good
when quarterback Jonathan Gilmer plunged in from the one on fourth
down halfway through the third quarter. Armando Badillo's kick was
good and the Falcons had their first lead, 13-6. The touchdown was
set up by a fumble recovery at the Cougar 27 and then on a couple of
good runs from Lake junior halfback Joe Clark.
After taking that 13-6 lead, the Falcons kept up their advantage in
the second half, but a couple of untimely fumbles stopped them in
their tracks. However, the defense bailed them out eventually.
Tomball's passing netted only seven years in the contest, thanks
mainly to Lake senior defense back Anthony Zamora who picked off
Cougar quarterback Bryson Janacek initial attempt early in the game.
Zamora did it to him again with a little over a minute remaining in
the game.
Janacek put the Cougars on the board first, capping a 45-yard march
with an 11-yard run with only 1:10 left in the half.
That second theft by Zamora at the Tomball 20 with 1:18 left in the
fourth period almost led to a Falcon touchdown. Lake drove inside
the Cougar 10 but junior halfback Ronnie Feaster paused as he made
his cut inside, was tackled and fumbled the ball back to the Cougars
on the 9 with 23 seconds remaining on the clock.
Tomball attempted a do or die drive and a flanker reverse didn't
fool Falcon defensive end Blake Sledge, who burst through the line
and leveled Janacek in the end zone for a safety with 17 seconds
left. That made it 15-6 and ended any Cougar comeback hopes.
"That was a typical zero week football game," Aduddell said of the
contest. "Everyone is learning their positions. You have to be
satisfied, especially getting the first game into the win column."
Blow led all rushers with 116 of Lake's 202 ground yards. He carried
the ball a dozen times. Clark and Feaster contributed nicely with
their outside runs for yardage. Gilmer's only passing attempt of the
night was on target but the ball was wrestled away from the receiver
by the Tomball defender.
The Cougars had 219 yards on the ground with Daunte Taylor getting
77 of those.
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