by Story written by Brandon Miller
Columbia Station OH- The Clearview Clippers traveled to Columbia Station to take on the Columbia Raiders in a huge Lorain County 8 clash on Columbia`s homecoming night. The Clippers are led by head coach Mike Collier and they came into this contest with a 6-1 record with their only loss coming back in week two at the hands of the Lakewood Rangers in a really close matchup. The Raiders are led by head coach Jason Ward and having been clicking on all cylinders as they have yet to be defeated on the year. Both squads are averaging over 30 points a game on the year. The Columbia Raiders got by the Clearview Clippers by a score of 20 to 13.
The Clippers controlled the first quarter of this game as it was a defensive battle throughout. On their first drive which lasted over 7 minutes, the Clippers tried to come out of the gates strong, but the Raiders defense had other ideas as it resulted in a failed conversion on fourth down as the defense stood tall. The Raiders did not waste any time on offense as they got into great field position when senior quarterback Ethan Meier connected with his classmate wide receiver Jacob Sanders for a big 20-yard gain to put the Raiders great field position. On the next play, Meier found senior tight end Gavin Tollett for another big gainer to put his team in the red zone. The first quarter ended all squared at 0.
To start the second quarter, the scoring started when Meier found senior running back Marco Cirigliano from five yards out to strike first and after a successful kick by senior Nolan Hunt, the Raiders were up 7 to 0. After multiple punts from both sides, the Clippers got the ball rolling on offense when sophomore quarterback Cy Christianson found senior wide receiver Malcom Lane to put the clippers into enemy territory. On the next play, senior running back Ethan Lorenzana found paint from 21 yards out and after a successful extra point by sophomore kicker Ty Pinto we were all squared at 7. This took us to halftime in a back and forth first half.
The defensive battle continued into the second half as we opened with back to back punts. This defensive effort lasted all through the third quarter until the Raiders broke the tie when Cirigliano found paint again from 5 yards out and after an extra point by Hunt, Columbia led 14 to 7. This would lead us to the final quarter of play.
The fourth quarter opened with a bang when Christianson found Lane for a big gain of 31 yards. The Clippers capitalized on this big play when Lorenzana found paint from 5 yards out but unfortunately the extra point was no good, so Columbia held a 14 to 13 lead just a couple minutes into the final quarter. After a couple of empty possessions by both squads, the Raiders increased their lead when Cirigliano found paint for his third touchdown of the game from 6 yards out but the point after attempt was blocked and the Raiders led 20 to 13. The Clippers had one last shot with all three timeouts to try and force overtime or even win this big game, but a fourth down conversion try failed and the game ended.
The players of the game are senior running back Ethan Lorenzana for the Clearview Clippers as he had both scores and the player of the game for the Columbia Raiders is senior running back Marco Cirigliano as he was responsible for all his teams points and completed the hat trick.
The Clippers fall to 6 and 2 with a date at home with the Black River Pirates. The Raiders of Columbia look to continue their undefeated season when they host the Brookside Cardinals on senior night.
