LAKEPORT — The streak is over.
Clear Lake High School quarterback Jameson Holder ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more on Friday night as the Cardinals snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Middletown Mustangs with a 26-7 victory at Don Owens Stadium.
The undefeated Cardinals (4-0) came within 18.8 seconds of handing the Mustangs (1-3) their second straight shutout loss, but quarterback Matt Outen found teammate Travis Taylor alone in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play.
Clear Lake scored the first two times it touched to ball to open up a 12-0 lead. Holder completed an 11-yard pass to Noel McCormack, who was cutting across the middle, early in the first quarter to make it 6-0. The pass capped what had been up to that point an all-run drive.
Middletown answered with a long drive of its own, twice converting fourth-down plays as it moved down the field. But on a fourth-and-four play from the Clear Lake 12, Outen overthrew wide receiver Dylan Galusha in the corner of the end zone and the Cardinals took over on downs.
Clear Lake covered the 88 yards in nine running plays and a key 35-yard Holder-to-Erik Jameson completion on a third-and-six play late in the drive. That set up Holder”s 2-yard sneak on the next play for the touchdown and a 12-0 Clear Lake lead.
Again the Mustangs looked like they might make things interesting as they drove from their own 27 to the Clear Lake 14, where a Zack Peterson fumble recovered by Chaz Ballew stopped Middletown”s building momentum.
“The defense bent a lot,” Clear Lake coach Milo Meyer said. “They went up and down the field but they didn”t get into the end zone. Yards don”t count.”
“We”re close, we”re close,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said of his team”s ability to drive the ball against a stout Clear Lake defense. “We just didn”t get that break to get us into the end zone. Those are the things we”re trying to correct before league starts.”
Clear Lake never gave Middletown a chance to get back into the game in the second half. Just as in the first half, the Cardinals scored on their first two possessions. Holder connected with Jameson on a 7-yard touchdown to cap a 12-play, 59-yard drive with 2:59 left in the third quarter, and McCormack scored on the conversion run to make it 20-0.
The Cardinals recovered an unintentional onside kick seconds later — a low kick ricocheted off a Middletown player and Ballew recovered his second fumble of the night. Clear Lake scored a little more than two minutes later on Holder”s 11-yard run.
Clear Lake”s defense forced a punt (the only punt of the game) and intercepted a pass on Middletown”s first two series of the second half.
The Cardinals were driving again when Zach Strickler intercepted a Clear Lake pass at the Middletown 10. The Mustangs then drove 90 yards for their only touchdown, the Cardinal defense all too willing to exchange small chunks of yardage for time off the clock.
“Clear Lake just beat us tonight, they outplayed us,” Foltmer said “And as the game went on, they wore us down.”
“Near the end we pooped them out,” Meyer said. “We kept giving the ball to Collin (Coddington) and he was moving the pile pretty well.”
Coddington, Clear Lake”s powerful fullback, finished with 70 yards on 11 carries. Mike Zimmerman led the Cardinals with 79 yards on 12 carries.
Eric Tomko was the workhorse for Middletown”s backfield, carrying the ball 24 times for 101 yards.
Colby Butcher had three of Clear Lake”s five quarterback sacks.
