Clear Fork Travels to Pleasant Friday Night

Last week the Colts got back to their winning ways, earning their third win of the season against the Ontario Warriors. It was a wild, sloppy-at-times game for both teams. When it mattered the most, though, Clear Fork’s defense stepped up huge in the 14-10 victory in Week 4.

This Friday night will mark the halfway point of the regular season, and the Colts will take on Marion Pleasant on the road. The Spartans are coming off a tough loss to River Valley, 14-7.

The scouting report shows that Pleasant is a run-first and play-defense-based team— the Iowa effect, if you will. After a Week 1 win, 16-13, over North Union, the Spartans have hit a snag, dropping three in a row. A close loss to a solid Hopewell-Loudon team in Week 2 makes this matchup closer than it seems.

Pleasant defensively has three out of the top five tacklers in the conference. Avery Hamper and Ryan Conway lead the Spartan defense with over 50 tackles each.

From the offensive side of the ball, Pleasant once again is a run-first offense led by Weston Shaffer, who has 233 yards rushing and one touchdown on the year.

Looking back at last week, the Colts defense was able to turn over the Warriors a remarkable 6 times last Friday. Five of those were interceptions by a secondary that clearly has established itself as a no-fly zone unit this season. From Clear Fork’s fierce pass rush to their tough linebacking corps, this defense has found its identity, and we are not even halfway through the season yet. It seemed like anytime Ontario wanted to get creative or find a glimpse of hope, it was shot down immediately.

Offensively, the Colts were able to score on a 48-yard jet sweep by Devyn Oswalt, who has turned into a scoring machine this year. Oswalt scored his fifth overall touchdown last week and his 3rd rushing touchdown. Opposing teams have yet to have an answer for him. Oswalt also leads the team in yards per rush at a whopping eleven yards.

The second offensive and go-ahead score came in the 4th quarter when Porter Schmidt found the end zone for the first time this season. Schmidt had been struggling to find a rhythm in the early part of the season, but showed on Friday that he is a speed threat that can help the offense elevate its game as the season progresses.

The final Warrior drive came down to a couple of big conversions by Ontario quarterback Trey Remy. Driving right down the field, Ontario was shifting the momentum until the Clear Fork secondary stepped up to save the day. Junior Trey Sellers played underneath Remy’s deep throw and picked the ball off on the one-yard line. The athletic ability of not only Sellers but the entire defense makes this team even more dangerous moving forward in league play.

One could say we could be in for another low-scoring defensive battle Friday night under the lights in Marion. Clear Fork looks to improve to 2-0 in the MOAC and remain in first place.

You can catch Friday’s game on our airwaves at vsbnradio.com. Coverage starts at 6:40 PM.