Clear Falls ready for more success

It had been eight days shy of an entire calendar year since Clear Falls last won a football game. The Knights returned to the positive side of the final score in style with the first shutout in school history last week against Baytown Sterling.

Now Clear Falls’ task is to make sure it doesn’t go another year before it wins again. The Knights beat Dobie in a stirring come-from-behind victory last season to improve to 2-1. They didn’t win again in 2012.

Coach Mike Zierlein said his team is better fit to deal with success this season. Simply put, the players have more experience. “These guys understand now that one week has absolutely nothing to do with another week,” Zierlein said.

Clear Falls’ defense has been strong this season, but it will face a different kind of test Friday night at Pasadena ISD’s Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns have an athletic quarterback and a pair of running backs who keep offenses honest.

Though they lost their first game against Rosenberg Terry, the Knights have fared well on defense in both outings this season. They’ve done it with a bigger and faster group than they had last year.

Nik Kelly has two interceptions, and safety Ethan Crocker has been in on a bunch of tackles. The linebacker group of Marcus Foster, David Orr and Blake Sutton have been wrapping up ball carriers behind the line of scrimmage.

Though the final score of 29-0 over Sterling looks dominant it was anything but that in the first half. Clear Falls didn’t score before halftime. Even though the defense was playing well, Sterling was one big play away from taking control.

That never happened, and even Clear Falls’ second string defense helped keep Sterling off the scoreboard by stopping it on a 4th-and-1 from inside the 10-yard line in the closing minutes.

“The shutout is a big deal,” Zierlein said. “This day in age with the offenses the way they are, those don’t come often.”