Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – From his spot in the secondary Clear Creek Amana senior Quentin Gisleson watched the play unfold.

When Gisleson saw Fairfield receiver Jackson Weaton haul in a pass near the goal line in the waning seconds of the first half he was sure he was watching a play that would flip the momentum and change the game.

“I saw the receiver catch the out and I thought he was going to take it for a touchdown,” Gisleson explained. “For a second I was down because we didn’t want them to get that momentum going into the half.”

The play definitely changed the game just not in the way that Gisleson initially feared.

Rather than a touchdown that would cut into a 10-0 Clipper lead Weaton lost control of the ball before crossing the goal line and Gisleson recovered in the end zone with 18 seconds left in the first half.

Instead of surrendering the momentum Clear Creek Amana (2-0) built on it scoring third-quarter touchdowns in a 29-0 win over Fairfield (1-1) in its home opener at Clipper Field.

“It’s huge getting a stop on the goal line,” Clear Creek Amana coach Gabe Bakker said. “If they punch that in they are down three points maybe two points and they get the ball again and if they get the momentum our kids might start wondering. That was a huge turning point in this football game.”

Alex Figueroa rushed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass and Andrew Rohret ran for 96 yards and two scores as Clear Creek Amana opened the season 2-0 for the second time in the past 13 seasons.

It was a touchdown that wasn’t scored that changed the game.

Clear Creek Amana led 10-0 late in the first half when Fairfield put together it’s best drive of the game.

The Trojans marched 79 yards on 13 plays to the Clipper 1-yard line.

An illegal procedure penalty on third and goal from the one pushed Fairfield back and on the next play senior quarterback Carson Crile rolled right and found Weaton all alone in the flat.

It looked like the Trojans would seize the momentum going into the half but Zach Kabbage jarred the ball loose from Weaton near the goal line and Gisleson pounced on the fumble in the end zone to end the threat.

“They had a little momentum going toward the end of the half, they were driving down the field and he was at the half yard line and Zach Kabbage popped it out and all I had to do was fall on it,” Gisleson said. “For a second I was worried and the next thing I see the ball on the ground and everything was good.”

With a 10-0 lead and the momentum the Clippers needed less than 12 minutes in the second half to put the game away.

Andrew Swails recovered a fumble on the second half kick off and five plays later Rohret scored on a 7-yard touchdown scramble to put the Clippers up 16-0.

Rohret accounted for 209 yards of offense and three touchdowns in his second career start.

The senior quarterback threw for 113 yards and a score and ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s played quarterback for four years but he’s only played varsity quarterback for two games now so he is still getting accustomed to the speed of the game,” Bakker said. “We like what he gives us running the ball, je was a fullback growing up and he has a linebacker mentality when he is playing quarterback.”

Figueroa capped a 10-play, 68-yard touchdown drive with a 12-yard touchdown jaunt up the middle to put Clear Creek Amana up 22-0 with 1:05 left in the third quarter.

The Clippers recovered their third fumble of the game on the first play of the ensuing Fairfield drive and two plays later Rohret broke three tackles on his way to a 13-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 29-0.

“We talked about it a lot this week that we had to come out ready because if we get rolling good things happen,” Figueroa said. “The play to end the half was big. It just got all of our confidence up and got us the momentum and we were rolling after that and we steamrolled through the rest of the game.”

Clear Creek Amana finished with a 308-184 edge in total yards with nearly half of the Trojans’ total yardage coming on its final drive of the first half that ended with the fumble in the end zone.

After allowing a touchdown on the second series of the game in a season-opening win over Mount Pleasant last week Clear Creek Amana hasn’t allowed a point over the previous seven quarter.

Figueroa rushed for 54 yards and junior receiver Sam Stevens came up with several big plays in the passing game for the second week in a row.

Stevens had three receptions for 63 yards and his 45-yarder in the second quarter set up a 31-yard Mitch Evans field goal that made it 10-0.

“It feels awesome being 2-0,” Stevens said. “We had a rough year last year and we came back and worked every day and we have each other’s backs and good things have happened.”

After allowing a touchdown on the second series of last week’s season-opening win over Mount Pleasant the Clippers have gone seven straight quarters without giving up a point.

“I think we are playing with a lot of confidence,” Gisleson said. “We are really a confident defense and we are ready to take on anybody.”

                                    CCA               Fairfield

First Downs               16                    14

Rushes-yards             47-167             40-80

Comp-Att-Int             10-18-0            10-21-0

Passing yards             141                  104

Total yards                308                  184

Punts-Avg.                 5-31.2              3-28.7

Fumbles-lost               1-0                   5-3                  

Penalties-yards          5-57                 7-55

Clear Creek Amana             7  3  19  0  –  29

Fairfield                             0  0   0   0  –   0

CCA – Alex Figueroa 24 pass from Andrew Rohret (Mitch Evans kick)

CCA – Evans 31 field goal

CCA – Rohret 7 run (Kick failed)

CCA – Figueroa 12 run (Kick failed)

CCA – Rohret 13 run (Evans kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – CCA: Andrew Rohret 18-96, Alex Figueroa 14-54, Zach Kabbage 5-21, Harrison Cory 2-9, Jacob Curtin 4-(-3), Zane Cunningham 3-(-2), Sam Stevens 1-(-8). FAIR: Leone Gichure 22-59, Tristin Waugh 12-44, Ethan Waugh 1-4, Brittan Bowman 3-(-6), Team 1-(-21).

PASSING – CCA: Andrew Rohret 7-14-0 113, Ryan Navara 3-3-0 28, Blake Malli 0-1-0 0. FAIR: Carson Crile 6-11-0 42, Brittan Bowman 4-10-0 62.

RECEIVING – CCA: Sam Stevens 3-63, Alex Figueroa 2-34, Nolan Schwarting 2-16, Brock Reade 2-9, Tom Johnson 1-19. FAIR: Landon Kooiker 4-42, Carter Ferrel 3-48, Jackson Weaton 2-12, Tristin Waugh 1-2.