Dakota Clark does it all as Lisbon rolls to a 49-6 win over Columbus Community

LISBON — Dakota Clark did it all.

The Lisbon senior quarterback ran for a touchdown, threw for two more and even returned a punt 40 yards for a score. And that was just the first half.

Clark added a third touchdown toss in the third quarter as the Class A eighth-ranked Lions routed Columbus Community, 49-6, in a District 5 prep football game Friday night at Walmer Field.

“Just really trusting my guys,” Clark said. “Knowing that they are going to do their job. My linemen are going to block me for me up front, give me time to do what me and (senior tailback) Tiernan (Boots) need to do. Really just trusting them and trusting our offensive plan to get the ball where it needs to go.”

Early on, the game had the look of a shootout to match last season’s 34-28 Lisbon win at Columbus. On the first drive of the night, Columbus drove the length of the field and claimed a 6-0 advantage on a 5-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Riley Kaalberg.

“It definitely hit us,” Clark said. “We knew they were going to do stuff on us defensively. You have to stay calm and collected there. Trust what our D (defensive)-coordinator has got for us.”

After softening up the Columbus defense with handoffs and pitches to Boots, Lisbon broke through on a 55-yard quarterback keeper by Clark late in the first quarter.

“That fake to Tiernan really just helped pull those (line)backers over,” Clark said. “I saw that hole and I just hit it hard. Put a little move on one guy to miss and off to the races.”

After Lisbon blocked a punt, Clark threw the first of his three touchdown passes to senior receiver Quinn Coleman early in the second frame. Clark’s punt return touchdown and a short TD toss to senior receiver Gage Holub with 25 seconds left until halftime extended the Lions’ lead to 28-6.

“He kind of started last year as a junior for us and was trying to figure out our offense,” second-year Lisbon Coach Dylan Hastings said of Clark. “He's the type of kid that you put the ball in his hands and something special is going to happen.”

After halftime, the Lisbon defense allowed just 26 total yards and three first downs to Columbus. The Wildcats finished the game with negative passing yards (minus-1).

“We really just locked in,” Lisbon senior linebacker Jacob Walerius said. “We had to focus in and stop the ball. … See and open lane and fill it.”

Lisbon (3-0, 2-0 District 5) has allowed just six total points through three games.

“Physicality,” Walerius said. “Physicality and we’re fast. And we tackle. We just swarm and defend.”

Lisbon senior Grayson Wollum intercepted a pass on defense and collected a touchdown reception from Clark in the third quarter. Boots finished with 239 rushing yards and second-half touchdowns of 61 and 40 yards to ice the game.

“Started off slow first half,” Boots said. “Linemen went back to the drawing board at halftime. Picked up a couple things. Linemen starting opening it up and then straight shot to the end zone.”

Kaalberg finished with 114 yards – but just 9 in the second half – for Columbus (1-2, 1-1).

Lisbon visits Highland next week.

“We’re going to go to the drawing board,” Hastings said. “We're going to watch film and figure out the things that we need to clean up because there are always things we need to clean up. We really focus on being 1-0 on the week, so we got we got that taken care of this week. … We have got to prep for a good Highland team that is making some strides.”

Lisbon 49, Columbus Community 6

AT LISBON

CC LIS

First Downs 8 10

Rushes-yards 42-193 25-305

Comp-Att-Int 2-5-1 12-15-0

Passing yards -1 133

Total yards 192 438

Punts-avg. 6-31.3 2-33.0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 3-15 1-10

Columbus Community 6 0 0 0—6

Lisbon 7 21 21 0—49

CC – Riley Kaalberg 5 run (kick blocked)

LIS – Dakota Clark 55 run (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Quinn Coleman 16 pass from Dakota Clark (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Dakota Clark 40 punt return (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Gage Holub 3 pass from Dakota Clark (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Grayson Wollum 16 pass from Dakota Clark (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Tiernan Boots 61 run (Gage Holub kick)

LIS – Tiernan Boots 40 run (Gage Holub kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Columbus Community: Angel Venzor 4-17, Riley Kaalberg 25-114, Trevor Phillips 2-7, Tyson Kaalberg 3-28, Fritz Figaro 8-27; Lisbon: Tiernan Boots 19-239, Dakota Clark 2-61, Quinn Coleman 3-6, Ryder Meeks 1-(-1).

PASSING – Columbus Community: Trevor Phillips 2-5-1-(-1); Lisbon: Dakota Clark 9-12-0-123, Ryder Meeks 3-3-0-10.

RECEIVING – Columbus Community: Angel Venzor 2-(-1); Lisbon: Tiernan Boots 1-7, Grayson Wollum 3-48, Quinn Coleman 4-53, Gage Holub 3-19, Kaden Martin 1-6.