Bulldogs make history at Clear Lake

CLEAR LAKE – The Bulldog football team put a stamp on the 2020 season by posting their first road win against Clear Lake in 30 years.

Coach Andy Bruemmer’s team got out of town with a 7-6 win over the Lions, the first over Clear Lake since the 2016 playoff team, but the first time the Bulldogs have escaped Clear Lake with a win since 1990.

“Absolutely exciting,” Bruemmer said of the victory. “Great to see excitement and energy. It was fantastic.

“It was a full, great team win. We struggled a little with our offense, but our defense stepped up and played a great game. (Assistant coach) Jeromy Keehn, made a critical adjustment.”

The difference was a missed point-after attempt by the Lions in the first quarter. The Bulldogs clung to the lead the rest of the way despite several threats by coach Jared DeVries’ team.

“They mishandled the snap and we were able to get in and tackle the kicker, who picked the ball up,” Bruemmer said. “Every point counts, and that was a big one that they didn’t get.”

Cal Heeren was 6-of-16 passing for 65 yards and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tate Schmitt early in the first quarter after a turnover. Jordan Severs’ kick was the difference that sealed it for the Bulldogs. Initially, Bruemmer said that Heeren was going to attempt the kick, but he ended up doing the holding for Severs.

“We’ll have a discussion on it,” Bruemmer said, “but I’m happy that we got the point.”

Severs also picked off Clear Lake quarterback PJ Feuerbach twice, returning each for a total of 49 yards. Schmitt and Payton McNealy also recovered fumbles as the Bulldogs won the turnover battled 4-1.

Schmitt also led the Bulldogs in tackles with 9.5 total, including five solo stops and three tackles for loss. Logan Pfeffer and David Cornejo each added seven.

One of the biggest stops was on fourth-and-one at midfield with under five minutes to play and another turnover on downs with under two minutes to go.

With the win, the Bulldogs have shaken up the Class 2A District 3 picture, improving to 2-3 overall, 1-2 in the district. Clear Lake is 1-4 overall and 0-3 in district play for the first time in recent memory. The Lions were playing without their regular starting quarterback Carson Toebe.

“This win, moving forward, a lot of confidence, but we focus on Roland-Story, we can look back after the season,” Bruemmer said. “We need to look forward and prepare for the Norsemen.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is a road game at Roland-Story, which hasn’t played a game the previous two weeks because of exposure to COVID-19. It is expected the Bulldogs will play the Norse (0-4).

‘They should be back this week,” Bruemmer said of the Norse. “They had three or four kids out from exposure, but are expected out of quarantine by Tuesday.”

Bulldogs 7

Clear Lake 6

H-D              7       0       0       0        -       7

Cl. Lake     6       0       0       0        -       6

Scoring summary

First quarter

H-D — Tate Schmitt 23 pass from Cal Heeren. (Jordan Severs kick).

CL — Andrew Crane 3 run. (kick fail)

Rushing (Att-Tot-TD) — H-D (Logan Pfeffer 13-32-0, Bryan Flores 6-13-0, Cal Heeren 13-(36)-0). CL (Jaden O’Brien-Green 6-31-0, Sam Nelson 3-29-0, Andrew Crane 10-25-1, PJ Feuerbach 6-24-0, Tyres Green 7-13-0).

Passing (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) — H-D (Cal Heeren 6-16-65-1-1). CL (Feuerbach 4-8-70-0-2, Green 1-1-12-0-0).

Receiving (Catch-Yds-TD) — H-D (Tate Schmitt 2-27-1, Pfeffer 2-18-0, Marco Guerrero 1-11-0, Jordan Severs 1-9-0).

Tackles (Solo-Tot-TFL) — H-D (Schmitt 5-9.5-3, Pfeffer 5-7-1, David Cornejo 2-7-3, Braden Hansen 2-6-0, Elias Cortez 0-5-0, Guerrero 3-4-0). CL (Thomas Gansen 10-11.5-9, Caden Jones 5-6-0, Tucker Jones 3-5-2, Nelson 2-3.5-0, Crane 1-3.5-1, Josh Blaha 2-3-0).

Sacks — H-D, None. CL (Gansen 2, T. Jones, Nathan Lollar).

Fumble recoveries — H-D (Payton McNealy, Schmitt). CL, None.

Interceptions — H-D (Severs 2). CL (Austin Warnke).

Kick returns — H-D (Guerrero 1-12). CL (Green, 1-0, Blaha 1-0).

Punt returns — H-D (Guerrero 1-8). CL, None.

Kickoffs — H-D (Heeren 2-78). CL (Eric Ritter 2-116).

Punting — H-D (Severs 7-254). CL (Ritter 2-80).