Photo by Rick Thompson: Humobldt’s Karson Rubel kicks a field for the Wildcats. Rubel nailed a 33-yard field goal for the game-winner on Friday in a 13-10 home playoff win over Clear Lake.

HUMBOLDT — Battle tested.

Those were the two words Humboldt football coach Derrick Elman shared with his Wildcats following a white-knuckle ride in Class 3A state playoff action at Mason Maach Field on Friday night.

“These guys just love playing for each other and together,” Elman said. “We needed that (Friday). This was a great high school football game between two strong teams.”

Elman’s comments were born out in a glance at the final stats of a narrow 13-10 Wildcat win. Only two first downs separated the District 2 and former North Central Conference foes, with the visitors holding a 329-240 edge in total yards.

Even with a combined 500-plus yards of offense churned out, the scoreboard showed only three total points heading into the final frame.

Clear Lake senior kicker Adrian Ros hit a 23-yard field goal by the narrowest of margins, sneaking inside the right upright as the first half clock wound down. The Lions kept the 3-0 advantage until the final 11 minutes of the contest.

At that point, senior quarterback Coen Matson and the Humboldt offense made their presence felt.

After Clear Lake fumbled inside its own 40, the Wildcats mixed running and passing to find the end zone with Matson narrowly eluding a sack and finding Keegan Groat wide open for six.

Elman’s crew shut down the Lions on the ensuing possession and had another short field, which they converted into a Karson Rubel field goal and 10-3 lead with under 6:30 to go.

Clear Lake (6-4) didn’t go away quietly, though. They turned in a gritty 75-yard scoring drive fueled by the arm and legs of quarterback Jaxon McIntire.

The sophomore found some holes in the host defense to get toward midfield, then hit junior wide receiver Luke Fuhrman with a sideline pass that Fuhrman broke loose to the Humboldt 10-yard line.

Three plays later, McIntire, spotlighting a 124-yard aerial evening, found senior wide receiver Alex Kerr all alone in the end zone, tying the game at 10-10 after the extra point try.

Elman saw an unfazed Matson and Humboldt offense take the field with less than 1:30 to play.

“Coen had a rough first half but settled down and found his rhythm in the second half,” Elman said. “We gave him plays he could be successful with, and the offense converted.”

Matson’s road to winding up a 154-yard night through the air concluded by hitting on five strikes down to the Clear Lake 15 as the clock neared four zeroes. With just 12 seconds to go, Rubel stepped back on the field and drilled a 33-yard try for the second time, giving Humboldt the final 13-10 lead with the home sideline and crowd in a frenzy.

“We knew Karson would come through,” Elman said. “We just needed to rely on our work we do with the two-minute drill week in and week out.”

Humboldt (9-1) is back home Friday to take on perennial state power Solon in 3A quarterfinal round play.

CL H

First downs 13 15

Rushes-yds. 39-205 28-96

Passing yds 124 154

Total yds. 329 250

Penalties-yds. 7-75 3-25

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Return yds. 67 53

Punts-avg. 5-34.8 7-24.3

Clear Lake 0 3 0 7 – 10

Humboldt 0 0 0 13 – 13

Scoring Summary

CL – Ros 23-yd. field goal

H – Groat seven-yd. pass from Matson (Rubel kick)

H – Rubel 33-yard field goal

CL – Kerr five-yard pass from McIntire (Ross kick)

HS – Rubel 33-yard field goal

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing–Clear Lake: Sam Dodge 23-113, McIntire 16-92; Humboldt: Matson 20-60, Cash McIntire 3-0, Jaxson Kirchhoff 4-23, Mason Van Pelt 1-3; Passing–Clear Lake: McIntire 8-18-1-124; Humboldt: Matson 14-32-0-154; Receiving–Clear Lake: Kerr 3-49, Max Larson 1-6, Thomas Meyer 1-6, Fuhrman 2-43; Humboldt: Cash McIntire 3-11, Valley Davis 2-36, Van Pelt 1-9. Chase Flaherty 6-69, Kirchhoff 1-15, Groat 1-7.