Clarksville Football to 5-0 Start, with Win at Tripoli Friday Night
The Clarksville football team ran their way to a 68-12 win at Tripoli in a district battle Friday night, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. It was the program’s first win over the Panthers since 2014.
The Indians began a big scoring night with a 61 yard touchdown carry by Owen Backer on the first play of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Throughout the remainder of the first quarter, the Indians intercepted three passes and turned them into three rushing touchdowns; two by MaKade Bloker and another by Backer to lead 32-0. The Indians added another touchdown through the air on a 65 yard reception by Sam Hoodjer on a pass by Eli Schmidt to lead 38-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, dynamic runner Bloker scored two more rushing touchdowns, giving the Indians a 52-0 lead entering halftime. In the second half, Bloker found the endzone on another rushing touchdown in the third quarter and Eli Schmidt had a 60 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving the Indians 68 points. Tripoli ended the shutout with two touchdowns by McKoy Nuss in the fourth quarter on a 12 yard touchdown run and a 55 yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Head Coach Darren Bohlen says it was great to see the Indians executing in all three phases of the game.
"I thought we played a complete football game tonight, our offense did a great job and our defense had quite a few turnovers, we just played solid in all three phases of the game, so it was nice we were able to do that," says Bohlen. "I know Tripoli is down alittle bit this year, kinda rebuilding but we came out and played really well, so I am happy with what we did."
Clarksville rushed for 388 yards, led by Bloker’s eight carries for 167 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Backer had two carries for 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and junior wideout Sam Hoodjer had one reception for 65 yards, which was a touchdown. The Indians defense was led by sophomore linebacker Kaiven Kielman with 10.5 tackles and senior safety Eli Schmidt with two interceptions. Bohlen says Bloker is a dangerous back and with the ball in hand keeps defenses on edge.
"Like I said all along, if you get him the ball and he does have space, he can either out run you or he can run you over and tonight he was definitely the stronger runner and Tripoli had a tough time tackling him. When the ball is in his hand, anything can happen, so he had a great night."
Clarksville is 5-0 overall and 3-0 in district play, their Week 5 matchup will be at Turkey Valley in district play on Friday.
