Clippers respond to coach's challenge, hold off East Butler

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By RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

MALCOLM — Coach Scott Amen challenged his Malcolm football team Friday after the Clippers surrendered an East Butler touchdown late in the third quarter.

Amen had to be happy about how they responded.

Malcolm mounted a 75-yard, 15-play drive that ate up 7½ minutes of the fourth quarter, culminating with a 5-yard TD run by Kyle Dougherty with 4:18 left. That lifted the unbeaten Clippers (4-0) to a 14-7 homecoming victory   before an estimated 900 spectators at the Malcolm High School Field.

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Malcolm's Jess Meredith, right, congratulates teammate Zach Smathers after a touchdown in the game against East Butler at Malcolm High School Friday, September 26. (Heidi Hoffman)

Malcolm's Jess Meredith, right, congratulates teammate Zach Smathers after a touchdown in the game against East Butler at Malcolm High School Friday, September 26. (Heidi Hoffman)

“I wasn’t sure how we’d respond after they (the Tigers) scored,” said Amen, whose Clippers were 2-6 a year ago. “But the kids faced adversity head on and responded with a touchdown drive of their own.”

A 43-yard TD pass from Jake Gieselman to Zach Smathers late in the first quarter gave Malcolm a 7-0 halftime lead.

East Butler’s break came midway through the third quarter, when linebacker Dustin Payne recovered a Malcolm fumble at the Clipper 41-yard line.

A 13-yard screen pass from Ryan Dolezal to Jordan Jisa on third-and-7 highlighted the 10-play march. Todd Pernicek finished it with a 2-yard run that tied the game with 3:38 left in the third period.

That’s when Amen became a little agitated.

“Coach got on our case pretty good,” said junior running back Joe Marshall, who had 99 yards on 26 carries. “He made us think about the game and how we had to regain our focus.”

Marshall had seven carries for 25 yards in the decisive TD drive. Gieselman also connected on passes of 9 yards to Dougherty and 17 yards to Paul Ganow (on third-and-4) to keep the East Butler defense off-balance.

Up to that point, “I felt like East Butler had been driving us off the ball and I told them if they kept playing like that, we’d get beat by 20 points,” Amen said. “We had played so well to that point. I didn’t want them to have any regrets tomorrow morning.”

East Butler (2-2) made things interesting by blocking a quick-kick attempt by the Clippers with 53.7 seconds remaining to take over at the Malcolm 47. East Butler, however, failed to make a first down, and Malcolm regained possession on downs with 8.6 seconds left.

Malcolm’s defense surrendered just 93 total yards and five first downs. Malcolm had 210 yards of total offense, but the Tigers also sacked Gieselman five times.

“Both defenses played great, but it seemed like ours was on the field a lot and we wore down a little,” East Butler coach Shawn Biltoft said. “That made it hard on us at the end.’’

Before the game, the Malcolm players’ parents sold more than 700 balloons to raise money to help Derek Ruth’s family pay for his medical expenses stemming from a serious football injury the Malcolm seventh-grader suffered earlier this month.

Both teams, as well as spectators, released the balloons during a pregame ceremony to show support for the 12-year-old Ruth. He suffered a head injury during a Malcolm midget football game Sept. 6 and underwent emergency surgery. He’s now recovering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.