Lance Pedersen wins his debut as Clear Creek Amana football coach, 28-3 over Marion

MARION — He claimed he didn’t know.

The result of his first game as head football coach at Wilton? Lance Pedersen said he doesn’t know if it was a win or a loss.

His first game as head football coach at Mount Vernon a few years later? Same thing, he’s got no idea.

But his first game leading Clear Creek Amana? Yeah, that was a win.

A really convincing 28-3 win Friday night at Marion. Not too shabby of a way to start his era with the Clippers.

“Not to be cliche, but the wins aren’t as important to me as the kids and the fun that you have with everybody,” Pedersen said. “That’s the most important thing. You know, I don’t even know my career record unless someone tells me. Although I was told tonight was 150. I did remember that because it’s kind of special.”

For certain, 150 victories is a nice round little number. Pedersen should accumulate a few more if the Clippers play as they did in this season opener for both teams.

OK, there were a ton of penalties: 12 of them for 150 yards. Some unnecessary personal-foul stuff included in there.

But the offense looked really good, and the defense picked off Marion quarterback Kaleb Diers four times. Owen Rosenberg had two of those interceptions, the last one he was able to return 89 yards for the final points in this game.

“The first half started out a little slow,” said Rosenberg, who also had a TD reception. “We really didn’t get the ball in the end zone as much as we wanted to. Coach Pedersen made a point about that. But we came into the half thinking it was still 0-0. We want to punish these guys, we want to put them down, put their moral down. We just wanted to finish it.”

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Photos: Clear Creek Amana at Marion high school football

Finish it, they did. The Clippers drove for a touchdown on their first possession of the second half for a 14-3 lead.

It came from Conlan Poynton, who split time at quarterback with Wyatt Key. Both were effective, but Poynton more so with his legs than his arm.

He ran 22 times for 107 yards, though he did throw that aforementioned touchdown pass in the third quarter to Rosenberg. Poynton was Solon’s leading rusher last season as a running back but transferred to CCA.

“I’ve got a lot of experience at running back, so I’ve had experience running the ball,” he said. “But I’ve always been a quarterback, too. It was a healthy competition, and we have both been uplifting each other. It’s healthy, and, obviously, it was a great outcome with both of us going at it.”

Clear Creek Amana’s read-option offense produced 253 rushing yards and 321 overall. For Marion, it was a tough night offensively, as the Wolves couldn’t get any consistent rushing going (78 yards on 28 attempts).

Add the interceptions, and just not good enough. Freshman kicker Landon Tilkes’ 25-yard field goal in the first quarter opened the game’s scoring.

“Credit to their team,” Marion Coach Michael Joyner said. “They forced us into mistakes. But we were making some uncharacteristic mistakes out there. That’s gotta be better preparation as coaches, plain and simple. We’ve got to put those guys in better positions to make plays and execute.”

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Clear Creek-Amana 28, Marion 3

(At Thomas Park)

Clear Creek-Amana 0 7 14 7-28

Marion 3 0 0 0-3

Team Stats

First Downs - Clear Creek-Amana 15, Marion 13. Rushes-Yards - Clear Creek-Amana 42-253, Marion 28-78. Passing - Clear Creek-Amana 8-14-0-68, Marion 15-38-4-138. Total Yards - Clear Creek-Amana 321, Marion 216. Fumbles-Lost - Clear Creek-Amana 3-1, Marion 1-0. Penalties-Yards - Clear Creek-Amana 12-115, Marion 4-36. Punts-Average - Clear Creek-Amana 6-31.3, Marion 6-32.5.

Individual Stats

Rushing - Clear Creek-Amana: Conlan Poynton 22-107, Ethan Vice 10-98, Wyatt Key 2-19, Tay Seals 1-16, Noah Collis 3-8, Avery Sorensen 1-6, Cale Nash 1-0, Joey Dains 2-(minus) 1. Marion: Kaleb Diers 10-35, Aden Nicholls 13-31, Creighton Wheeler 5-12.

Passing - Clear Creek-Amana: Wyatt Key 4-9-0-24, Conlan Poynton 4-5-0-44. Marion: Kaleb Diers 15-38-4-138.

Receiving - Clear Creek-Amana: Owen Rosenberg 3-49, Ethan Vice 1-8, Aren Schlemme 1-6, Cale Nash 2-5, Noah Collis 1-(minus) 1. Marion: Daegon Michaels 6-54, Aiden Baley 3-48, Lucas Stearns 2-13, Aden Nicholls 1-11, Myles Gatrelle 1-8, Matt Danninger 2-5.

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