Clare Football Pulls Off Thrilling Victory At Gladwin

By BEN MURPHY Cleaver Sportswriter Friday’s battle between two of the best teams in the Jack Pine Conference certainly lived up to its billing. A late 10-yard touchdown run by Aiden Van bohn put Clare in front, capping off an improbable scoring drive and giving them just enough for the 26-21 victory.

“That was just a tremendous high school football game,” head coach Steven Spranger said. “The weather delay didn't really affect either team all that much, and the atmosphere was great; as expected. Our guys showed a lot of resolve to pull out the win. We've been in situations the past couple of years where we've given up late leads in the fourth quarter and ended up losing games.”

The Flying G’s scored on a 10-yard run of their own to take a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers were tasked with attempting a game-winning drive that began on their own one yard line, but somehow they found a way to get it done; with Van bohn’s score clinching it.

“We were forced to drive 99 yards for the game winning score,” Spranger said. “Great play calling by our offensive coordinator Rob Wise, and great execution by the entire offense.”

Gladwin opened up the scoring in the contest with a 15-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. The Pioneers were able to tie the game up 7-7 before the end of the frame though, getting a seven-yard touchdown run from Jayden Arthur and an extra point by Dane Kruskamp.

The Pioneers scored the only touchdown of the third quarter, when Arthur connected with Ryan Louch for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Another Kruskamp extra point made it 14-7 at the half.

It looked momentarily in the third that Clare might be able to pull away for the win. Van bonn broke free for a 56-yard scoring jaunt in the third, and a missed extra point left them ahead 20-7.

Gladwin fought back though, getting a five-yard touchdown pass late in the third to pull within 20-14. Then, they took the lead in the fourth with their 10-yard run, but that only set up Clare’s game winner that came with just 53 seconds remaining.

With time running out and facing a fourth down, Gladwin attempted to a pass; however, that was intercepted by Conan Weeks. Clare took a knee to run out the rest of the time on the hard-fought victory.

Arther finished his busy game passing by going 13-of-21 for 174 yards and one touchdown, and he also rushed 11 times for 92 yards and another score. Van bonn finished with 118 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and Louch ran seven times for 34 yards. Weeks led the receivers with 58 yards on four catches, while Louch had five grabs for 55 yards and a score. Jacob Halicek hauled in a pair of passes for 43 yards.

On defense, Van bonn had a combined 15 tackles and Louch took down 14. Mason Heintz had seven, Porter Harsh took down six and with four tackles each was Halicek and Ethan Reeves.

Clare (4-0 overall) takes on a quality Ogemaw Heights (4-0) squad, who will come to visit for a crucial league game on Friday. The Falcons toppled Shepherd last week, 54-12.