WEBSTER CITY – Victor Jergens is no dummy. He’s not about to tip his hand or give Clear Lake any bulletin board material leading into tonight’s non-district showdown at Lynx Field.

Instead, he simply repeated the words of his coach. Words he’s probably heard over and over … and over again.

“Clear Lake is Clear Lake until they’re not Clear Lake,” Jergens said. “We’re looking forward to it, and it’s just going to be nice to play them at home again.”

The longtime North Central Conference rivals will kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

At stake?

Pride.

Clear Lake has owned the Lynx for nearly two decades, and it’s likely that not a single WCHS player was alive the last time the purple and gold came out on top, 39-7, during Week 6 of the 1996 regular season.

Since that time, the Lions have rattled off 16 consecutive victories.

Still, WCHS head coach Bob Howard hasn’t gotten caught up in the hoopla this week. As he sees it, Clear Lake is just the next opponent for his eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Lynx (1-0), who battered Gilbert, 42-19, a week ago.

“Other than running their plays off the scout team, we haven’t thought much about them at all,” Howard said. “We need to get better, and if we get better then we should be pretty tough to handle.”

The Lions (0-1) dropped their opener to Mason City, 9-7, last week. It snapped a streak of 22 consecutive regular season victories dating back to late September of the 2012 season.

And just who was Clear Lake playing when it began the long run of wins? Webster City, of course.

First-year Lions’ head coach Jared DeVries – the same Jared DeVries who was an All-American at Iowa and a 10-year veteran of the NFL with the Detroit Lions – has a rebuilding project underway. With a star-studded class graduating last spring, Clear Lake has new faces all over the field.

But that doesn’t mean the Lions will be a pushover.

“I think they’re going to be very dangerous and that’s how we’re approaching it,” Howard said. “I expect them to play a lot better than last week.”

Mason City limited the Lions to just 121 yards of total offense. Clear Lake averaged just 1.2 yards per carry.

WCHS has its own hurdles to clear in Week 2 and the weather, which has featured temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, hasn’t exactly been a friend this week.

“It’s been pretty dang warm, so you can’t go hard for an hour and a half. You have to give breaks,” Howard said. “But they’ve been in the same boat.”

Special teams gaffs against Gilbert were addressed this week, Howard said, and continued work with the offensive line was also on the agenda.

“The offensive line needs to be more consistent, but, of course, I’ve said that after every game for 40 years,” Howard said. “There were times when they were pretty good (against) Gilbert and then there were times when they were mediocre. We need to have fewer of the mediocre plays.”

WCHS has three capable ball carriers in tailback Gavin Dinsdale, wingback Payton Kannuan and spinback Avery Fuhs. They accounted for 227 yards and three touchdowns a week ago.

The odds are on Clear Lake focusing on containing Dinsdale, who amassed more than 1,600 yards a season ago. Gilbert went with that strategy and was fairly successful, but Dinsdale still broke free for 86 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown run.

Jergens was the anchor of the Lynx defense in Week 1. His assignment this week will be containing Lions’ quarterback Zach Lester, as well as bruising running back Zach Tatum.