Second half surge lifts Clare over Standish, 27-26

By Ben Murphy

Cleaver Sportswriter

Wins are certainly hard to come by when two quality teams in the Jack Pine Conference Division 1 meet up. There’s no need to remind Clare head football coach Steven Spranger of that; as he witnessed that very thing firsthand Friday, when he witnessed his Pioneer squad rally from a two score deficit at Standish-Sterling. The ninth ranked Pioneers finished off the rally with a five-yard touchdown run by Jayden Arthur with just 2:10 left to play, allowing them to survive with a hard-fought 27-26 victory.

“It's hard to win in this league, especially on the road when you've found yourselves down two scores,” Spranger said. “Standish is extremely physical, and extremely well coached. We didn't play our best to start the game, so to still come out with the win was huge.”

Clare scored the only points of the first quarter, getting an 11-yard touchdown run from Conan Weeks. A Dane Kruskamp extra point made it 7-0 early on.

The Panthers responded with touchdown runs of two and seven yards in the second quarter, putting them in front 13-7. Arthur flipped a pass to Jacob Halicek that he turned into a three-yard touchdown, and a Kruskamp kick later made it a 14-13 Clare lead at the half.

Standish controlled the early stages of the third quarter. They connected on a pair of touchdown passes; one from 25 yards out and the other from 23 and they were able to pull ahead 26-14.

The Pioneers began their comeback bid late in the third quarter, with Ryan Louch hauling in a 46-yard touchdown pass from Arthur; with the Kruskamp extra point added in to pull them within 26-21.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Clare had a defensive stop, giving them the ball back on their own 20-yard line. With the game on the line, the Pioneers were able to convert a pair of fourth down conversions to keep the drive alive. Then they had a key run by sophomore Mason Heintz. Heintz broke free for a 51-yard rush, giving them a first-and-goal.

Arthur cashed in on the opportunity, finding the endzone from five yards out. Clare attempted for the two-point conversion, but did not convert, leaving their lead 27-26.

On Standish’s ensuing possession, facing a fourth-and-four, Clare had Chase Randall and Heintz team up to make a tackle short of first down yardage, thus giving the Pioneers the ball back, and allowing them to run out the clock.

“In the first half, they were really having success running the ball,” Spranger said. “In the second half, we did a much better job against the run which allowed us to stay in the game. Ryan Louch had another incredible offensive and defensive game. Mason Heintz is really starting to become comfortable with varsity football as a sophomore.”

Arthur finished his night 14-of-27 passing for 163 yards, to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran 10 times for 43 yards and a score. Heintz ran twice for 47 yards, Aiden Van bonn rushed 10 times for 43 yards and Louch added 19 yards on the ground. Weeks ran twice for 13 yards and a touchdown. Louch shined catching the ball, hauling in eight passes for 117 yards and one touchdown and Halicek caught four passes for 36 yards and a touchdown. Dane Alexander hauled in a pass for nine yards.

The defense had Joey Bouchey lead the way with 13 tackles, one for a loss. Heintz and Chase Randall each took down 12, Louch tracked down nine tackles and with eight apiece was Van bonn, Brody Allen (one sack) and Triston Gauthier. Alexander and Ethan Reeves contributed with six tackles apiece.

Clare (5-1 overall, 3-1 JPC Division 1) makes the trip down to Shepherd (1-5, 0-4) on Friday. The Blue Jays are struggling a bit this fall. They won their season opener 20-13 over Alma, but have since dropped five in a row; including last week’s contest with Gladwin, 56-20. Spranger isn’t about to let his team overlook them though.

“Shepherd is a young team, that is only going to get better as the season goes on,” he said. “We need to get back to fundamentals and focus on how were starting the game, we cannot afford to get behind teams by multiple scores.”

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