It’s all top-ranked Clear Lake in a 43-0 win over No. 5 Independence

INDEPENDENCE - Number one in Class 3A. Yeah, that’s about right.

There wasn’t much that wasn’t top ranked, top shelf Friday night for the Clear Lake football team. The Lions were that way on offense, on defense, even scored two points via special teams.

A 43-0 win over No. 5 Independence at Lyle Leinbaugh Field was, in a word, dominant. OK, the rest of you teams in 3A, this is the standard in which you are shooting.

“We played pretty well,” said Clear Lake quarterback Jaxson McIntire, who threw for 216 yards and four touchdowns. “We did what we needed to do. We came out and executed, and that’s all you can do. We came in prepared and executed.”

Independence (4-1) rolled in its first four games this season, the closest of its non-district calls being 18 points. But the Mustangs never really had much of a chance here.

Indee went three and out offensively to start the game, Clear Lake (5-0) took over at its 42 and ran the ball six times to account for those 58 yards and a touchdown: a Sam Dodge 7-yarder. Then came the safety, after a high snap didn’t allow Indee’s punter to get off a kick from his end zone.

Clear Lake got a very good punt return on the ensuing free kick, taking over at the Mustangs 30. Running back Dodge scored again, this time on a 6-yarder.

That made it 16-0. McIntire’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Kolby Hodnefield (a quick pass to the outside that Hodnefield broke down the sideline) made it 23-0 at the break.

McIntire threw three TD passes in the second half, all to different guys, completing 19 of 23 passes with an interception. This CL team has some size up front but an absolute ton of athletes around those guys.

That’s a great combo.

“They’re really athletic,” Independence Coach Justin Putz said. “McIntire is an outstanding player, but they fly to the ball, and they really force everything to be contested. I thought we had some chances to make some plays ... but we didn’t make the catch.”

Indee could not get anything substantively going offensively, limited to 65 total yards. Clear Lake completely bottled up Mustangs quarterback Christopher Meyer (who had 1,487 combined rushing and passing yards and 16 TDs coming in.

The Lions held Forest City to minus-10 yards in their opener, Humboldt to 116 yards in their second game, Webster City to 156 in their third and Nevada to 145 last week.

Meyer tried to go over the top with passes but Clear Lake defenders didn’t allow that to happen, either. When there was a pitch and catch that looked like it was going for chunk yardage, the ball was dropped by a receiver.

“Number one is we have tremendous speed, and we’re athletic everywhere,” Clear Lake Coach Aaron Stensland said. “We’re willing to give up some size up front to be athletic and fast. As long as people aren’t toe to toe, with monsters up there and just want to drive it three yards and a cloud of dust, we think we have a chance because we’re fast and we’re athletic. We get 11 hats to the ball a lot.”

Independence needs to get over this beat down quickly, considering it’s equally strong teams the next two weeks in top-10 West Delaware and a good Benton Community team.

“In all the years you do this, you turn on the film Saturday, and it’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad as you think it is,” Putz said. “Quite frankly, no one in our district is going to feel sorry for (us). I know West Delaware isn’t going to feel sorry for us. You don’t have a choice but to go back to work, find a way to correct some things and move forward.”

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Clear Lake 43, Independence 0

(At Clear Lake)

Clear Lake 9 14 13 7-43

Independence 0 0 0 0-0

Team Statistics

First Downs - Clear Lake 19, Independence 6. Rushes-Yards - Clear Lake 32-138, Independence 18-49. Passing - Clear Lake 19-23-1-216, Independence 6-18-1-16. Total Yards - Clear Lake 354, Independence 65. Punts-Average - Clear Lake 1-36.0, Independence 5-34.8. Penalties-Yards - Clear Lake 7-80, Independence 3-25. Fumbles-Lost - Clear Lake 0-0, Independence 1-1.

Individual Statistics

Clear Lake - Rushing: Jaxson McIntire 12-52, Sam Dodge 11-47, Kolby Hodnefield 6-43, Dwight Jones 1-0, Team 2-(minus) 4. Passing: Jaxson McIntire 19-23-1-216. Receiving: Kolby Hodnefield 6-60, Trevor Theobald 2-51, Carson Riser 3-30, Coby Orte 3-29, Drake Thomsen 2-28, Sam Dodge 4-18.

Independence - Rushing: Christopher Meyer 12-22, Moses Toe 3-20, Nicholas Mostek 2-8, Bryce Christian 1-(minus) 1. Passing: Christopher Meyuer 6-18-1-16. Receiving: Blayne Mergen 1-7, Cael Troutman 1-7, Dawson Fuelling 1-3, Bryce Christian 2-0, Mikey Bailey 1-(minus) 1.

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