Cloverdale falls to 0-4 with loss

CLAYTON -- The early season struggles of the Cloverdale football team continued Friday with a 55-0 loss to WIC East rival Cascade.

The Clovers' (0-4, 0-2 WIC) offense struggled to gain traction and often left the defense with short fields to defend, leading to the 55 points from the Cadets (2-2, 2-0 WIC).

Coach Tony Meyer gave Cascade credit for having better athletes and more experience, but said the evening was an internal struggle as much as anything.

The already young Clover squad faces mounting injuries as the season approaches the halfway point.

"It's tough when you're replacing freshmen with freshmen and sophomore with freshmen," Meyer said. "It makes it tough to put something together that's going to work right away."

One thing that did work for a while was the Clover defense, which held the Cadets to just seven second-quarter points.

"The second was the best defense we've played all year," Meyer said.

Meyer also credited freshman quarterback and punter Parker Watts for a positive game.

"He had a solid all-around game," Meyer said. 'Every time he tried to throw, he ended up on his back, but he got up every time. He's starting to run a little bit better. He had one bad punt, but he also had four inside the 20."

Friday was also the first time all season a snap didn't sail over the punter's head. Meyer classified the special teams as "relatively sound."

Despite the latest loss, the Clovers will look to right the ship in the coming weeks.

The next two weeks feature what appear to be a pair of winnable games.

Cloverdale hosts 0-4 South Vermillion at 7 p.m. Friday in a "non-conference" clash with a team from the WIC West, followed by a WIC clash with 1-3 Brown County.

Even with the winnable games approaching, Meyer said the focus at this point is internal.

"Our priority and our concern right now is our locker room and our personnel," Meyer said.

At Cascade

Cascade 55, Cloverdale 0