Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Just call them the Cardiac Clippers.

Three times this season, the Clear Creek Amana prep football team has faced fourth-quarter deficits on the road.

In all three instances, the Clippers sprinted to the team bus as one-point victors.

“It shows you how much we fight,” Clear Creek Amana senior quarterback Ben Swails said after the Class 4A 10th-ranked Clippers edged Cedar Rapids Washington, 20-19, in a District 4 game Thursday night at Kingston Stadium. “We come from behind a lot. It shows you how much we stay into the game and stay locked in and stay true to our abilities and just fight.”

The win – the fourth in a row overall for Clear Creek Amana (5-1, 2-0 District 4) – was earned by overcoming a couple heavy doses of adversity.

First, a sluggish Cedar Rapids Washington offense found a stunning spark with a game-tying hook-and-lateral that covered 85 yards in the second quarter.

In the second half, a safety ignited a 12-point flurry of Washington points that had the Clippers trailing 19-14 with a little over eight minutes to go.

In both instances, CCA settled itself and responded.

“We talk about, almost daily, ‘How are we going to handle adversity?’” first-year Clear Creek Amana Coach Matt Haddy said. “Because adversity comes in multiple different ways. It came in the form of the game with that and it came in the form of we lost a couple of guys that got dinged up. We always talk about we want to handle adversity three ways. We want to handle it by playing physical football. We want to handle it by being disciplined and we want to handle it together.”

Haddy and the Clippers stuck with a ground game that was unable to find much footing for the first three quarters, but came alive in the fourth.

CCA gained 52 of its 56 yards on its final two drives of consequence.

The first was a six-play, 67-yard surge that resulted in a three-yard touchdown plunge by senior tailback Gage Freeman that gave the Clippers their 20-19 advantage with 5:47 left in the game.

“Offensive line really stepped up,” Swails said. “The first half they weren’t the greatest, to be honest. But they stepped up, they believed that we could do this together and we just did what we did.”

After standout CCA senior receiver/defensive back Harrison Rosenberg gave his offense the ball back with a crucial interception two plays later, the Clippers’ running attack churned out another 35 yards, forced the Warriors to burn all of their times out and bled all but 101 seconds of the remaining time.

“Just a testament to the line and our kids staying with it when something really wasn’t giving us what we wanted early in the game,” Haddy said.

Washington managed just 15 yards in its last-gasp attempt to get into field goal range.

“We were just tough and as Haddy always says, ‘We were disciplined,’” CCA senior linebacker Bryce Mougin said. “That is what we go through in practice. That is what we were taught. And honestly, looking back when this district came out, I would not have guessed we would be 5-1 and on top of the district right now. That is what Haddy has done for us.”

Swails and Rosenberg combined for a pair of touchdown connections.

With 2:53 left in the first quarter, Rosenberg caught a slant pass from Swails and raced 90 yards for the game’s opening score.

“I saw so much grass,” Rosenberg said. “I was like, ‘I am going to take this guy outside and bring it back inside, make the safety miss and just turn on the jets.”

Rosenberg collected his second touchdown reception on the first drive of the second half, a 16-yard haul that gave the Clippers a 14-7 lead.

With a game-high five receptions for 159 yards and the two scores, Rosenberg and Swails punished whichever Washington defender was assigned to cover Rosenberg one-on-one on a given play.

“Oh, it’s glorious,” Rosenberg said. “I love it. I’m like, ‘You’re coming up on me? I mean, sure. Keep doing it.’ Teams keep doing it, I do not know why, but I love it.”

Swails threw for 247 yards, Freeman ran for 48 and the CCA offense did not commit a turnover.

Senior Grant Kruse and junior Marcus Lang joined Rosenberg with interceptions for the CCA defense.

Junior speedster Watts McBride – who already holds a scholarship offer from Nebraska – scored a pair of touchdowns for Washington (2-4, 0-2).

CCA’s road mettle will be given another stern test Oct. 8 with a district showdown at No. 4 Cedar Rapids Xavier.

“It’s going to give us a lot of momentum and it’s going to give us a lot of heart to beat those guys,” Mougin said. “I think this will be a year that we can take them on.”

                                    CCA               CRW

First downs                 11                    9

Rushes-yards              38-56               33-181

Comp-Att-Int              9-19-0             9-21-3

Passing yards              247                  126

Total yards                  303                  307

Punts-avg.                   6-38.5              5-30

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   1-0

Penalties-yards           3-15                 5-51

Clear Creek Amana                  7   0   7   6  –  20

Cedar Rapids Washington    0   7   9   3  –  19

CCA – Harrison Rosenberg 90 pass from Ben Swails (Grant Kruse kick)

CRW – Reid Ortiz pass to Miles Thompson for 10 yards, lateral to Watts McBride for 75 yards (Zach Novak kick)

CCA – Rosenberg 16 pass from Swails (Kruse kick)

CRW – Safety, Swails tackled in own end zone

CRW – Watts McBride 7 run (Novak kick)

CRW – Novak 27 Field Goal

CCA – Gage Freeman 2 run (Run failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Clear Creek Amana: Gage Freeman 17-48, Ben Swails 11-(-10), Xavier Williams 9-17, Jackson Schmidt 1-1. Cedar Rapids Washington: Miles Thompson 11-63, Jaden Harris 1-2, Reid Ortiz 12-28, Michael Blank 3-2, Watts McBride 6-86.

PASSING – Clear Creek Amana: Ben Swails 9-19-0 247; Cedar Rapids Washington: Reid Ortiz 9-20-2 126, Michael Blank 0-1-1 0.

RECEIVING – Clear Creek Amana: Gage Freeman 2-47, Harrison Rosenberg 5-159, Xavier Wiliams 1-16, Jackson Stevens 1-25. Cedar Rapids Washington: Miles Thompson 1-10, Jaden Harris 2-14, Michael Blank 3-16, Watts McBride 2-80, Brisahn Fields 1-6.

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