Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Mount Pleasant’s mountain-man line was just about impossible to scale Friday night for Clear Creek Amana, as the Panthers prevailed 42-20 in the season-opener for both teams.

“I think it was won in the trenches,” Clipper coach Gabe Bakker said. “I think they took it to us there on offense and on defense. We didn’t really recover from that first quarter. They hit us in the mouth, and they kind of rode that for the entire game.”

“A lot of teams don’t think we’re going to be much this year because we’re pretty much new,” Mount Pleasant junior running back Jack Johnson said. “All of our seniors graduated, and that was like our whole team last year. Our line is just so big and they’ve been so good to us, it’s real nice running behind them.”

Statistically the teams weren’t that far removed from one another, but the naked eye told a completely different story.

The first half found the Clippers in miserable field position and stymied without a first down until 3:54 was left in the half.

“In the first quarter there were three or four three-and-outs, and that’s not how you set the tone of the game,” Bakker said. “That happened last year to us against them, but tonight we weren’t able to overcome it.”

The Panthers led 7-0 when Bakker rolled the dice and tried to convert a fourth-and-one at the CCA 22-yard line in the second quarter.

The Panthers’ Johnson shot through and stopped Cole Pfister in his tracks.

“They only had one tight end on that side, so I thought they’d run it to the other side,” Johnson said. “I thought I’d blitz this side in case, and there it was. It was a weak-side run, and I just stuffed it. It was huge; it was a momentum changer.”

Six plays later Johnson converted that opportunity into a four-yard TD run, and the Panthers had a 14-0 lead.

The Clippers finally mounted an offensive drive late in the half, but the drive stalled after a fumble and CCA missed a 27-yard field goal.

The Clippers had life early in the second half after converting a Panther fumble into a seven-play, 31-yard touchdown drive.

The point after was blocked, but the Clippers were within 14-6 with 8 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Panthers took control thereafter, scoring touchdowns on their next three drives of 47, 61 and 46 yards for a 35-6 lead with 28 seconds left in the third quarter.

“Last year we were up seven at halftime and we laid an egg and lost the game,” Johnson said. “We wanted it to be different this year.”

“They did a very good job of getting four or five years a pop running the ball or on short passes,” Bakker said. “We couldn’t get to the quarterback, and that’s one of our strengths. But then they hit a couple hitches-and-go for long ones that got us.”

The Clippers scored a couple times late, both on long passes, but the outcome was never in doubt.

CCA used two quarterbacks, junior Ryan Navara and sophomore Ben Swails.

“We planned on rotating both quarterbacks, maybe not evenly but having them play throughout the game,” Bakker said. “I think both guys have strengths and some weaknesses, and they showed that. I think it’s still unsettled, but we’re going to have to make a decision at some point.”

The Panthers ran most of their plays behind 6-foot-6, 335-pound Henry Lutovsky, who has D-I offers from Iowa State, Nebraska and Missouri; 6-1, 290-pound senior Cooper Pullis; and center Christian Herod, who is a mere 6-5, 220.

 “He’s a pretty darn good player,” Bakker said of Lutovsky. “There’s a reason why he has a lot of looks.”

Yet the Panthers gained only 84 yards net rushing. They lost 35 yards, largely on fumbles. And they never had to put together really long drives because they always had better field position.

Johnson and Logan Bass carried 35 times for 119 yards. Quarterback Brody Bender threw for another 146 yards.

The Clippers had trouble throughout with field position and sustaining any kind of running game.

Bakker was frank about what this game might mean for his team.

“It’s a challenge for our guys,” he said. “The season can go one of two ways now. We can let this define our season or we can say, ‘Hey, this is game one. Let’s flip the script.’ I’m hoping our senior leaders come out and make the change in practice. I’m not a big talker, but I had a little more to say tonight. Hopefully it got through to them.”

Clear Creek Amana plays at Fairfield next Friday.

                                                MP                CCA

First downs                              14                  15

Rushing-yards                          41-84            27-62

Comp-att-int                             8-13-0          16-32-0

Passing-yards                          146              162

Punts-avg.                                4-37              6-26.6

Fumbles-lost                             3-1                1-0

Penalties-yards                         3-35             2-21

Mount Pleasant         7  7  21  7   –  42

Clear Creek Amana  0  0   6  14  –  20

MP – Jack Johnson 1 run (Khang Truong kick)

MP – Jack Johnson 4 run (Truong kick)

CCA – Gage Freeman 1 run (Kick blocked)

MP – Logan Bass 1 run (Truong kick)

MP – Rylan Seberg 59 pass from Brody Bender (Truong kick)

MP – Bass 43 run (Truong kick)

CCA – Gabe Jenn 25 pass from Ben Swails (T.J. Bollers pass from Swails)

MP – Chase Williamson 33 pass from Bender (Truong kick)

CCA – Harrison Rosenberg 35 pass from Ryan Navara (Kick failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: MP – Logan Bass 16-60, Jack Johnson 19-59. CCA: Alex Figueroa 17-38, Cole Pfister 4-17, Gage Freeman 4-8, TJ Bollers 1-1, Ryan Navara 1-(-2).

PASSING: MP: Brody Bender 8-13-0-146. CCA: Ryan Navara 7-14-0-90, Ben Swails 9-18-0-72.

RECEIVING – MP: Rylan Seberg 4-98, Chase Williamson 3-45, Jack Johnson 1-3. CCA: Tom Johnson 5-57, Harrison Rosenberg 3-43, Gabe Jenn 3-33, Brock Reade 3-23, Alex Figueroa 1-9, TJ Bollers 1-2, Cole Pfister 1-(-5).

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