Clear Fork survives scare from Bryan to remain unbeaten

BELLVILLE — Starting in the secondary as a sophomore on a veteran, unefeated Clear Fork team hasn’t always been easy for Ashton Lyon this season.

But the 5-10, 160-pound defensive back made it all pay off on Saturday night when he made perhaps the biggest defensive play of the season in Clear Fork’s 20-6 playoff win against Bryan at the Colt Corral.

Top-seeded Clear Fork (11-0) was clinging to a 7-6 lead over the No. 8-seed Golden Bears (7-4) with more than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter in the Division IV regional quarterfinal.

That’s when Lyon picked off Bryan QB Nate Miller at the Bears’ 20-yard line, racing from the middle of the field, down the left sideline and diving into the end zone for the TD.

The pick-six, one of two interceptions Lyon had in the game, made it 14-6 with 8:36 left to play and provided a sigh of relief for a team and an entire Clear Fork community that had been on the collective edge of its seats all night.

A 2-yard TD run by fellow Colts’ sophomore Brady Tedrow with 1:49 left finally sent the Golden Bears back on the bus for the nearly three-hour ride home.

Lyon seemed unperturbed by the notion he had perhaps helped to save Clear Fork’s perfect season.

“I saw the quarterback spying on number 3 in the inside slot. I hopped in front. It turned out I got an interception and I dove across the goal line. I knew I was pretty close to the pylon, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was just trying to get into the end zone,” Lyon said.

Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll, who has led the Colts to 22 wins in their last 23 games, was thrilled for his young DB.

“Ashton Lyon has kind of been the whipping boy,” Carroll said. “He is a sophomore and he has had some problems throughout the year. You have seen him get beat deep. How fitting is it for him to come through with two picks tonight?

“I feel really happy for him. Being a sophomore DB in today’s world is really tough with all the passing going on. He has learned a lot of tough lessons. It’s good to see him step up when we really needed it.”

DEFENSE KEYS WIN: Bryan came in with with an offense averaging almost 26 points per game, led by the arm (1,748 passing yards) and legs (576 yards rushing) of Miller, who accounted for 21 TDs for the Golden Bears this season.

Fittingly, the 6-1, 195-pound junior gave Bryan a 6-0 lead with 1:02 left in the first quarter, scoring on a 5-yard run after an interception gave the Bears the ball at the Colts’ 21-yard line.

But that was the end of the scoring for Bryan. Miller completed just 11-of-29 passes for 76 yards and had three interceptions. He was limited to 20 net yards rushing on 20 carries, a total that included four Clear Fork sacks.

“Our defense played tremendous,” Carroll said. “I can’t give them enough credit. (Defensive linemen) (Mike) Chillemi, (Hunter) Tollison and (James) Watts, we didn’t sub for them all. (Trevon) Trammel and (Gabe) Blauser were rushing from the outside when they weren’t covering. They are all going to sleep good tonight.”

Chillemi, Trammell, Blauser and linebacker Jay Swainhart all recorded sacks. Chillemi (6-2, 265) led the Colts with nine tackles while Tollison had seven and Trammell had six.

Chillemi also had a rare interception for a defensive lineman, the second of his career.

“(Chillemi) was a tremendous player last year. I think he is an all-state type player. He is a relentless kid who has come a long way,” Carroll said.

To Chillemi, experience made the difference.

“We call came back (from last year). It’s all the same line. We know what we’re doing and we’re coming out to play for each other. We knew (Bryan) pretty much threw it 95 percent of the time, so we knew we had to pass rush,” Chillemi said.

OFFENSIVE WOES: Clear Fork averaged 47 points per game this season, but managed just two offensive TDs against Bryan. Carroll credited the Bears’ gameplan.

“They had a great gameplan. Their coach (Grant Redhead) is a veteran. He has been doing it a long time. Not to take anything away from them, but we helped them. Our offense played terrible,” Carroll said, citing penalties (seven for 75 yards) and turnovers (three interceptions).

Clear Fork managed just 252 yards of offense, led by QB Jared Schaefer, who rushed for 100 yards on 20 carries and connected on 2 of 7 passes for 82 yards, including a 65-yard TD strike to Caden Flynn that put the Colts on top 7-6 midway through the second quarter.

Trammell, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season, gained just 45 on 14 carries and caught two passes for 18 more.

“That’s unacceptable (offense),” Carroll said. “Some of our kids were not blocking very well, not coming off the ball. We will look at the film and figure it out.”

UP NEXT: Clear Fork will meet No. 4-seed Lorain Clearview (10-1) in the regional semifinals next Saturday at a site to be announced Sunday. Clearview, which lost to Clear Fork 44-0 in the first round of the 2017 playoffs, knocked off Sparta Highland, 30-16, Saturday night.

“The good news is we played Clearview last year, we are more familiar with them,” Carroll said.

The game’s location didn’t seem to concern the veteran coach.

“Wherever, 100 yards long and 52 yards wide, we will show up and play, hopefully a little better than tonight,” Carroll said.

In other games within the region, No. 2-seed St. Marys Memorial (10-1) defeated No. 7-seed Orange, 48-13, and third-seeded Van Wert (9-2) knocked off sixth-seeded Huron, 33-14.