Clarkson blasts past St. Francis

Clarkson blasts past St. Francis
By BRUCE VIERGUTZ

    HUMPHREY - Clarkson coach Jim Clarkson* hugged his two small children, tears rolling down his eyes.
    "We're going to the big house, we're going to the big house," he proclaimed.
    The "big house" Clarkson was referring to is Memorial Stadium and the Red Devils will be making their first-ever football championship appearance in Lincoln on Thursday.
    Clarkson (10-2) will take on another first-timer, Elgin Pope John (12-0), at 10:30 a.m. (7:00 p.m.) in the Class D1 state title game.
    The Red Devils advanced to the final with a heart-pulsing 22-20 overtime victory over Humphrey St. Francis in semifinal playoff action Saturday night.
    "I'm in shock," Clarkson running back Michael Konicek said.  "It hasn't really hit me yet."
    Perhaps Konicek was still numb from the electricity the two teams generated in the final minutes of regulation and in overtime.
    Clarkson quarterback Eric Brabec rumbled in from 9 yards out and Konicek ran for the two-point conversion play to put the Red Devils up 22-14.
    St. Francis (10-2) got a huge spark off the bench from junior quarterback Derek Classen, who ran eight yards on the Flyers' second offensive play of overtime but was shook up on the play and had to leave the field.
    Starting quarterback Randy Foltz, who earlier went out with an injury, came back in and tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Steve Wemhoff.
    But Foltz, heading into a charged-up Red Devils' defense, was stopped on the point-after attempt for practically no gain as Clarkson players and fans whooped it up in a wild and tearful celebration.
    "They ran away from me on the last play," Konicek said.  "They tried a fake pass and we were looking for that the whole game.  The time they tried it was the time we needed to see it and react to it."
    Konicek, who rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, also recorded two sacks.
    The Red Devils were stubborn on defense all night, giving up just 58 yards on 39 attempts.
    "We had some injuries and we had some other guys step up," Konicek said.  "Some junior varsity guys who usually don't get in came in and played a heck of a game."
    And so did St. Francis' Classen, who came into the game after Foltz went out after an 8-yard gain with 5:00 left in regulation.
    Classen hit 4-of-5 passes for 76 of the Flyers' 88 yards passing.  A 23-yard pass play to Miles Korus and a 24-yarder to Jameson Werner set up Jacob McPhillips' 3-yard touchdown run to cut the Red Devils' lead to 14-6.
    Classen connected with Matt Korus on the Flyers' next possession for a 14-yard TD with 1:30 left in regulation.
    "Classen came off the bench and did a great job for us," St. Francis coach Eric Kessler said.  "We had trouble moving the ball the whole game and he came in and did some nice things.  And we had some other guys step up and make plays.  Our kids showed they were gutsy by continuing to fight back.  It would've been easy to get down and give up after trailing by two touchdowns."
    Ironically, it was Clarkson that failed on two conversion attempts in a 32-30 setback to St. Francis in the regular season.
    Clarkson took a 14-0 lead on a 25-yard run by Konicek in the fourth quarter and he scampered 34 yards in the third quarter to put the Red Devils up 6-0.
    "We tried to run up the middle and to the sidelines a little bit to try to wear them down," Konicek said.  "That was our gameplan - to play smash-mouth football."
    And that was just fine with the Red Devils' head coach, too.
    "Hats off to St. Francis for coming back after getting two touchdowns behind,"  Clarkson said.  "But it never entered my mind that in overtime we wouldn't get it done."
    Clarkson said the Red Devils have been through the grinder this year.
    "These guys have been through a lot," he said.  "I've been with these guys since kindergarten.  We talked a lot about heart, love and caring about each other.  When it gets down to something like that (a two-point conversion) - that's when it pays off."