Fast start not enough for PCM football in playoff loss to Clear Lake

MONROE — PCM’s football team couldn’t have started Friday night’s Class 2A playoff game against Clear Lake any better.

But the opening few minutes of the third quarter couldn’t have gone much worse for the Mustangs.

The Lions rallied from two separate double-digit deficits with a big second half and eliminated PCM with a 28-27 road victory.

The Mustangs led 13-0 and 27-14 in the game but were held scoreless in the second half.

“I really don’t know. I will have to talk to the coaches and evaluate things,” PCM head football coach Greg Bonnett said about the second half. “We gave up a big play and that rattled us to the point where we couldn’t recover from it.

“It wasn’t our night. It was bad luck. We were just an unlucky team tonight I think.”

The big play Bonnett is referencing was a pick-six by Clear Lake’s Ezekiel Nelson.

The Mustangs got put into third and long after a negative running play and a false start. The interception return by Nelson covered 25 yards and it trimmed PCM’s lead to 27-21 with 9:54 to play in the third.

“It was huge. I knew at that point it was big because we were up 13 and not 14,” Bonnett said. “I would have felt much better about it if we were up by two touchdowns. The extra point that was blocked was in the back of my mind and it manifested itself.”

The Mustangs forced Clear Lake (5-4) into a three-and-out on its opening possession.

PCM’s offense then marched 57 yards in six plays. A 33-yard pass from August Stock to Gavin Fenton set up Stock’s 12-yard touchdown run. That put the Mustangs on the board, but the Lions blocked the extra point to keep it at 6-0.

Clear Lake turned the ball over on downs on its side of the field after a fake punt on fourth and four resulted in an incomplete pass.

The Mustangs started their second drive in Lions’ territory and they drove 43 yards in nine plays. All nine plays came on the ground and Gavin Van Gorp capped the possession with an 11-yard TD run.

The Lions cut into the deficit on their next drive. The possession started at the Clear Lake 24-yard line. A 45-yard pass from Cael Stephany to Ben Loge set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Titan Schmitt.

“We gave up too many big plays on defense. It just wasn’t our night overall,” Bonnett said.

After a PCM three-and-out, Clear Lake went 80 yards in 11 plays. Ten of those 11 plays were on the ground. Schmitt gained a pair of first downs on 12-yard runs and eventually scored on a 10-yard TD run.

Schmitt finished with 144 rushing yards and three scores on 28 carries. The Lions rushed for 167 yards in the game.

A big play highlighted PCM’s next possession. The Mustangs went back in front after Stock connected with a wide open Jacob Wendt in the middle of the field. The catch-and-run play covered 45 yards and the drive also included an 11-yard run by Stock.

The Mustangs’ senior quarterback finished with 91 rushing yards and a TD on 21 carries and he was 3-for-3 through the air for 88 yards and another score.

Adrien Robbins gave PCM prime field position when he snagged an interception from Stephany.

That gave the Mustangs a short field and they took advantage with a 33-yard, three-play scoring drive that included a Stock 1-yard TD plunge.

The Mustangs led 27-14 at halftime. But the pick-six early in the third and a 75-yard scoring drive late in the period pushed the Lions back in front.

PCM’s first drive of the second half ended on the Nelson interception and touchdown. The second drive finished with a punt and included five runs by Van Gorp.

The Lions’ 75-yard drive featured 11 plays. Clear Lake converted a third and six with a 34-yard pass play from Stephany to Nelson and then picked up a fourth and five with an eight-yard passing play from Stephany to Loge.

Schmitt capped the drive with a 4-yard TD run, but he also had runs of 11 and 13 on the possession.

The Mustangs (5-4) had three possessions after losing the lead. The first one ended in a turnover on downs after 12 plays.

The drive featured 11 runs and back-to-back false-start penalties halted momentum. PCM had a fourth and two from around the 20-yard line but threw an incompletion on fourth and 12 after the two penalties.

The officials also flagged PCM multiple times for ineligible men downfield.

“They were not penalties. They were called by the other sideline,” Bonnett said. “Then they called illegal man downfield when we had a 900 drop back protection? There is no way. There was some stuff going on tonight.

“I don’t know if someone was star-struck because Jared DeVries was over there or what. I know one thing, you need to have a backbone if you are going to be a side official. How many calls came from that side of the field? A lot. How many came from our side? Not very many.”

The next three possessions ended in punts. That gave the ball back to PCM one final time with the margin still at 28-27.

The drive started at the PCM 20-yard line with 2:33 to play in the game. Van Gorp connected with Robbins for 10 yards on the first play, but an illegal-man-downfield penalty pushed the Mustangs back five yards.

Four plays later, a tipped pass on fourth and six led to a game-clinching interception by Schmitt.

PCM lost the game despite outgaining Clear Lake 294-266 in total yards.

“I do believe there absolutely was some bad officiating. I think it’s important to note that,” Bonnett said. “I’m not blaming it all on that. I will watch the film and look again. The bottom line is we just didn’t play well.”

William Vanderpool rushed for 39 yards on seven carries, Robbins rushed for 20 yards and hauled in one pass for 10 yards and Wendt and Fenton had catches of 45 and 33 yards, respectively.

Van Gorp rushed for 52 yards and a TD on 12 carries but was 1-of-6 through the air for four yards and two picks.

PCM rotated Stock and Van Gorp at quarterback throughout the game. The coaching staff even changed QBs in the middle of drives.

“When we’re in a situation where there’s a decision to be made on the play we would rather have Van Gorp in there,” Bonnett said. “When we know we are going to run the ball or we have a single route called, we like to have Auggie in there.”

Trenner Van Dyke led the defense with 5.5 tackles, while Donovan Nickelson registered five tackles. Finn Wilson tallied 4.5 tackles, Ayden Camu tallied four tackles and Gavin Van Baale and Kaden Clark each collected 3.5 tackles.

Griffin Olson, Vanderpool and Robbins each had three tackles and Robbins snagged an interception.