Clare football erases early hole, tops Whitehall 48-22 in season debut

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

They may be young, but they were ready on Friday. The Clare football team, hosting Whitehall in their season opener, was able to erase an early two possession deficit to largely control things down the stretch, in what was a 48-22 victory.

“For our first game of the season, and for many their first varsity game, I thought we played extremely well,” head coach Steven Spranger said. “There were very few miscues, and I thought our physicality was there. Overall, this was a very good starting point for us.”

And while there’s plenty of football to be played, getting week one to go in their favor certainly helps things going forward.

“Getting that first one is always huge, but with being so young it should help tremendously throughout the season, especially against a quality program like Whitehall,” Spranger said.

Whitehall scored on an early 11-yard touchdown pass for an 8-0 lead, though Clare answered with a two-yard scoring run from Dane Alexander. Brayden Humphrey boomed in the extra point to make it 8-7.

The Vikings scored again, this time on a short run early in the second quarter, extending their lead to 16-7. Clare took control of things from here though, scoring four times before the game got to halftime.

Alexander tossed touchdown passes of 40 and two yards to Jayden Nemetz and Marcus Haynak, and Alexander ran in for scores of his own on rushes of five and 41-yards; and Clare led 35-16 at the half.

Whitehall scored the only touchdown in the third quarter to pull within 35-22, but Clare wrapped things up with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth. Mason Heintz rushed in from four yards out and Dalton Kruskamp found paydirt from five yards away.

“I thought our defensive interior really set the tone for the game,” Spranger said. “They completely erased their inside run game, which forced them to do some things they may not have wanted to do. Offensively, our offensive line did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage allowing us to rush for 285 yards.”

Alexander had a great offensive night, going six-15 passing for 116 yards and two touchdowns and he rushed for another 178 yards and three touchdowns on 16 attempts, Heintz rushed for 72 yards and a score on 14 tries, Kruskamp ran nine times for 48 yards and a touchdown and Donavan Hoogerhyde ran four times for 24 yards and he had three receptions for 42 yards. Nemetz had one grab for a 40-yard reception and Heintz had one reception for 32 yards.

For the defense, Nemetz had 10 tackles, William Tait and Judah Woods both had seven and Heintz and Marek Michalski both had six. Nemetz and Trent Francisco tracked down one interception each and Marcus Haynak scooped up a fumble.

“Dane Alexander had a monster night for us, which we've become accustomed to, but I also thought that Jayden Nemetz, William Tait and Bryce Mills all really shined in their roles throughout the game,” Spranger said. “Then Trent Francisco made the biggest play of the night with a massive interception that really was a back breaker for them. They were on the cusp of making it a one score game with momentum, and he flipped that on its head.”

Clare (1-0 overall) hosts Sparta (1-0) today (Thursday) for another non-conference match-up. Sparta is coming off an opening week victory of their own, when they took down Grant, 43-27.

“Sparta is a much bigger team than us so we will have to make sure that we continue to limit mistakes and dictate the tempo to the speed that we want it to be,” Spranger said. “As always, controlling the line of scrimmage and limiting mistakes will be huge for us.”