Week Nine Showcase Match-Up: Clifton-Clyde at Little River

First round of the playoffs are generally filled with ballgames that one would find generally less than desirable match-up wise due to seeding. Every once and awhile you'll find a legit game between two very good ball clubs. This was definitely the case between the (7-1) Little River Redskins and the (6-2) Clifton-Clyde Eagles.   Little River came into this contest with their only loss coming to another top 5 team in 8-Man I in Ell-Saline, 22-20 earlier this season in district play. Clifton-Clyde was just coming off of a big 48-44 victory over previously undefeated Lincoln. Their two losses this season came against (8-0) Hanover who is the top ranked team in 8-Man II and another top 5 team in 8-Man I in (7-1) Sylvan-Lucas.   The Redskins have a roster that is built for a deep playoff run and very possibly state championship aspirations lead by head coach Kevin Ayers. Offensively their backfield leads the way and it is a very deep and balanced one (four different ball carries over 400 yards rushing). Little River loves rotating their skill position players around between different positions. They play multiple quarterbacks throughout the game. Defensively they may not be the biggest unit but they have plenty of length and athletic ability to disrupt any offense.   Leading the way is junior fullback/quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1613461' first='Jaren' last='Garrison'] (6-foot-0, 190-pounds) who has rushed for 549 yards, passed for 384 yards and has had 16 total touchdowns on the season. Defensively he has pitched in 55 tackles from his linebacker position. The main quarterback is senior Jaxson Konen (6-foot-1, 170-pounds) who has passed for 654 yards, rushed for 420 yards and has 22 overall touchdowns. The other two main ball carries are junior Jhet Ewertt (5-foot-10, 150-pounds) who has rushed for 412 yards and 12 touchdowns and junior Logan Schubert (6-foot-0, 160-pounds) who has rushed for 420 yards, 168 yards receiving and 12 overall touchdowns.   Other Redskins to keep an eye on are senior Tristan Bristow (6-foot-0, 170-pounds), junior Blayne Baldetti (6-foot-3, 180-pounds), senior Ty Janette (6-foot-2, 180-pounds) and senior Kelby Rice (6-foot-1, 195-pounds).   As for Clifton-Clyde they have plenty of talent themselves and is a team that is historically always fairly physically developed under head coach Russ Steinbrock. Leading the offense is junior quarterback Kyzler Damman (5-foot-9, 170-pounds) who is definitely their predominant ball carrier and had himself quite the night overall. He is a very similar type of quarterback to other Twin Valley League signal callers in [player_tooltip player_id='1613456' first='Wyatt' last='Detweiler'] (Axtell) and Kadrick Cohorst (Hanover).   Other talented Eagles are senior Joseph Fahey (5-foot-9, 170-pounds), senior Gage LeClair (5-foot-10, 160-pounds), sophomore Emitt Tiemeyer (6-foot-1, 205-pounds), senior Luke Nobert (6-foot-2, 200-pounds), sophomore Ryan LeClair (6-foot-1, 205-pounds), and junior Trenton Benne (185-pounds).   As for the game itself, for one half it was a definite battle and the Eagles were holding strong against the Redskins but overall the explosiveness of Little River was just too much for Clifton-Clyde in the second half.   We started of the night with a 23-yard touchdown run by Jhet Ewertt and that came 7:08 in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion was good and our score was 8-0 Little River.   The Eagles answered right back with a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kyzler Damman with 2:11 in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful and our score was now 8-6 Little River.   Ewertt struck again with a 1-yard plunge on 4th down with 11:14 in the second quarter. Once against the 2-point conversion was good for the Redskins and our score was now 16-6 Little River.   Clifton-Clyde got back on the scoreboard once again when Damman found the endzone with a 6-yard touchdown run with 8:15 remaining in the second quarter. For the second time of the night the Eagles came up empty on the 2-point conversion attempt and our score was 16-12 Little River.   After a good return by the Redskins, they scored quickly with a 46-yard touchdown run by [player_tooltip player_id='1613461' first='Jaren' last='Garrison'] with 8:01 left in the second quarter. For the first time in the night, Little River failed to convert their 2-point conversion. The score was now 28-12 Little River.   With 2:58 in the second quarter Little River forced a turnover on downs and had the ball at their own 36 when the Eagles were driving. Clifton-Clyde came up big defensively with a 3-and-out.   The Redskins had one more opportunity right before half but no blood and we go into half with the score 28-12 in favor of Little River. Up to this point Clifton-Clyde showed they belonged and were hanging tough against the home favored team.   Once the second half begun, all of the Eagles hopes were shattered pretty quickly when Logan Schubert took the opening kick-off of the second half back 70-yards for a touchdown with 11:48 in the third quarter. 2-point conversion was successful and our score was 36-12 Little River.   With 10:16 in the third quarter things went from bad to worse for the Eagles when they fumbled and Little River recovered at the Eagles 32-yard line.   Little River capitalized off the turnover with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaxson Konen with 6:20 left in the third quarter. 2-point conversion was good and our score was now 44-12 Little River.   For the third time of the night, Damman found paydirt and this time it was a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:10 left in the third quarter. One of the stories of the night was the Eagles failure in converting 2-point conversions. Our score was now 44-18 Little River.   For the final score of the night Konen struck with a big 36-yard touchdown run on 4th down with 1:26 left in the third quarter. 2-point conversion was no good and our score sat at 50-18 Little River.   Clifton-Clyde tried to get in one last time where they had first and goal inside of the 10 but back-to-back sacks by Kelby Rice moved the Eagles from the Redskins 8-yard line to the 24-yard line. Little River was able to turn the Eagles over on downs with 5:10 remaining. Little River was able to move the ball down the field and waste the remaining time out and left victories with a final score of 50-18.   Clifton-Clyde finishes the season (6-3) after reaching the state semifinals the year prior. Little River (8-1) moves on to the second round where they face a very good Madison Tigers (8-0) squad. Madison is led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='1115794' first='James' last='Marcotte'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='1610779' first='Josh' last='Vignery'].   As for myself I'll be headed for Hill City to see the Hill City Ringnecks (8-1) host the Oxford Wildcats (7-1). Hill City is lead by senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1466491' first='Tate' last='Balthazor'] who has passed for 1007 yards and rushed for 918 yards and also running back Tyler Ashbaugh who has rushed for 944 yards on the season. As for Oxford they are led by junior running back [player_tooltip player_id='1597293' first='Logan' last='Gaither'] who has rushed for 1184 yards on the season.

First round of the playoffs are generally filled with ballgames that one would find generally less than desirable match-up wise due to seeding. Every once and awhile you'll find a legit game between two very good ball clubs. This was definitely the case between the (7-1) Little River Redskins and the (6-2) Clifton-Clyde Eagles.