Clayberg too much for West Delaware

CEDAR FALLS - Someone, somewhere is getting a heck of a player in Noah Clayberg.

The Pella senior probably isn't a quarterback at the college level. He's a solid 200 pounds, though only 5-foot-11, not QB size by any stretch.

But the kid can play the game of football. He had a direct hand in all six of his team's touchdowns in a 45-26 win over West Delaware in a Class 3A playoff semifinal Thursday night at the UNI-Dome.

Pella (13-0) can go back to back next week by matching a regular-season result against district-mate Norwalk. The Dutch have won 27 consecutive games.

Clayberg was a significant spark in just about all of them. He had virtually identical season rushing and passing numbers coming in (over 1,300 each) and finished here with an other-worldly 413 yards: 284 rushing and 129 passing.

He ran for four TDs (including scores of 67 and 80 yards), threw for one and blocked a punt that resulted in yet another. West Delaware (12-1) hoped to contain him, but there was no containing here.

The kid has no FBS offers, by the way, and only one FCS offer (South Dakota State). He is looked at as a probable safety in colllege.

'There is a reason they are on this run. They've got a phenomenal quarterback, are well coached and have a lot of things going for them,” said West Delaware Coach Doug Winkowitsch. 'I think we went into this game knowing if we gave up two or three big plays, it was going to be a shootout. (Clayberg) is just so explosive. You think you've got him, and the next thing you know, he's heading down the sideline. Just an absolutely phenomenal player. When we watched him on film, he did things we hadn't seen kids do.”

Coy Roussell completed his outstanding career with 167 yards rushing and two touchdowns for WD. Quarterback Max Ridenour passed for 257 yards and two TDs: one of 59 yards to John Nagel and another of 67 yards to Sam Maloney.

Nagel, a 6-foot-6 junior, caught six passes for 154 yards. The Hawks finished with over 500 yards of offense (502) ... and lost by 19.

'We kind of stalled out down there offensively a couple of times, they hit a couple of big plays and kind of got the momentum,” Roussell said. 'I felt like we could just keep driving it down the field. We just lost it a couple of times.”

'Right now, I'm not really thinking about Clayberg,” said Maloney, through tears. 'I'm thinking about this senior group and the season we had. Just how thankful I am to be a part of this team.”

West Delaware actually outgained Pella in the first half but found itself down, 24-7. How frustrating is that?

Ridenour ran for nine yards on the first play from scrimmage but was intercepted by Pella's Nick Finney at the Dutch 40 on the second play. Four plays into Pella's initial drive, Clayberg dropped back and threw a perfect bomb down the sideline to Will Warner for a 45-yard touchdown.

'It was physically and mentally challenging tonight,” Clayberg said. 'West Delaware is a great team, the best team I've played in high school thus far. They were solid all around, very disciplined players ... They gave us some challenges. But I think we were able to step up and show our heart and show what we're really made of when it came down to the wire.”

Clayberg continued to wreak havoc on Pella's first drive of the second quarter, converting a pair of 3rd-and-longs with clutch passes and running for 40 yards. The Dutch had a 1st-and-goal at the 8, but West Delaware's defense stiffened, forcing Warner to come on for a 21-yard field goal that made it a 10-0 game. The three-point drive took almost eight minutes off the clock.

False-start penalties offensively were a bane for WD in the first half, as they had four of them. One of the four short-circuited the Hawks on the ensuing possession, forcing a Ridenour punt from the West Delaware 33.

But Clayberg deftly looped around a teammate on fourth down and blocked the kick, with Payson Vande Lune picking up a bouncing football at the 1 and taking a step to the end zone for a Pella touchdown that made it a 17-0 game.

'That's the first one I've ever gotten,” Clayberg said. 'Ever since my freshman year, I've been the designated punt-block guy, but never got one until tonight. I was ecstatic, that was great. It was Payson and I, actually. We decided I was going to take (the blocker's) inside shoulder, Payson was going to take his outside shoulder ... He kind of took half of each of us, and I was able to slip right through, kind of laid out there at the very end and caught it on my arm.”

Ridenour ran for 15 yards on WD's next play, then found 6-foot-6 tight end Nagel open over the top for a 59-yard TD that gave the Hawks much-needed points with 1:33 left in the half. But Clayberg, of course, negated every ounce of West Delaware momentum by taking a shotgun snap 80 yards on the very next play for another TD and a 24-7 Pella lead at the break.

A Clayberg 8-yard touchdown run capped a Dutch scoring drive to begin the second half. His 44-yard strike to Vande Lune set up the score.

West Delaware rallied for back-to-back touchdowns after that to cut its deficit to 31-20. Roussell had touchdown runs of 26 and 17 yards, respectively, with the extra-point try failing after the second score.

But Pella snuffed out any hopes of a massive Hawks comeback with a 73-yard scoring drive that was capped by a Clayberg 3-yard TD run off a sweep right.

'When the game was on the line, number three (Clayberg) just took the football,” Winkowitsch said. 'We knew that. When we got it to 11, he just took it on that next drive. When he decides to just take over the game, he's really good.”

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