C-L WINS OVERTIME THRILLER OVER KEYSTONE

WEEK 4

CLARION TWP. – Dan Alderton caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from J.J. Fergsuon on C-L’s second possession of overtime, and Brad Beggs and Ryan Smith tackled Keystone’s Bobby Telesz a yard short of the end zone to preserve a 28-21 overtime win for the Lions Friday night at C-L.

"I want to say something about the heart of my boys," C-L head coach Clyde Conti said tears welling up in his eyes. "I told our kids never to give up on their dreams. That is just how I feel about it. I thought it was a great football game. We got a chance to redeem ourselves, and we got the win. All the credit belongs to the kids who were in the blue and gold tonight. They are the ones that pulled it off. This is my son’s senior class. This means something to me.

"I think they (Keystone) have a fine football team. I thought they were very similar to our (2000) basketball team. It could very easily have been us (losing). I know how those kids in the black and gold feel."

Keystone coach Dan Reed said it was a shame his team had to lose.

"It is a very heartbreaking loss for us," Reed said. "I think this football team is for real."

The game was tied 14-14 at the end of regulation forcing the overtime (See overtime explanation at the bottom of the story).

In the first overtime, Clarion-Limestone won the toss and elected to go on defense.

Being on offense didn’t seem to bother Keystone, as Adam Black found Telesz on the first play for a 10-yard touchdown pass that coupled with Chris Metcalf’s extra point gave Keystone a 21-14 lead.

On C-L’s first overtime possession the Lions used all four play to retie the game.

Two runs by Alderton produced seven yards, and a run by Chad Conti got the ball to the one-inch line. On fourth-and-an-inch, Alderton took the handoff and plowed into the end zone to bring C-L to within a point at 21-20. Rocky Davis then hit the extra point forcing each team to go to a second overtime possession.

This time Keystone had the choice of offense or defense, and the Panthers chose defense.

On C-L’s first play the Lions lined up with three players in the backfield originally and Ferguson undercenter. But before the ball was snapped, the three runners shifted to the outside with Alderton then coming back to the backfield and Ferguson went to the shotgun.

Ferguson then lofted a pass to Alderton down the far sideline, and Alderton came down with the ball in the front corner of the end zone for the touchdown. Davis then added the extra point giving C-L a 28-21 lead.

"That play was the shift from Freeport, my high school," Conti said. "We never even practiced it. I think that is just the type of kids we have out here. I have quality assistants and good kids."

Keystone had four chances to tie the game from the 10-yard line following the Lion touchdown, but on the first three downs Black misfired on passes.

Then on fourth-and-goal from the 10, Black found Telesz over the middle at the 2-yard line with a pass, but Smith and Beggs made sure Telesz couldn’t get into the end zone preserving the win for the Lions while setting off a wild C-L celebration near the goal line.

Both teams had chances late in regulation to either take the lead or win the game but couldn’t do it.

First with the score tied at 14 with just under four minutes to play, C-L had the ball at the Keystone 25-yard line following a 20-yard run by Alderton and a 15-yard late hit penalty on Keystone.

But two runs by the Lions lost one yard, and Ferguson threw an incomplete pass.

Davis then came in to try a 43-yard field goal. The kick looked on line and had the distance, but the officials ruled that it went wide left to the dismay of the C-L fans in the end zone who thought it was good.

Following the missed field goal, Keystone drove the ball from its own 20-yard line to the C-L 14-yard line in nine plays thanks to a 62 yards passing by Black including a 33-yard connection to Buck Neely that moved the ball to the C-L 31-yard line and a 15-yard pass to Telesz that put the ball at the C-L 13-yard line.

After Metcalf lost a yard on a carry with under 20 seconds to play putting the ball at the 14-yard line, Black hit Barry Swartzfager with the apparent game-winning touchdown pass with only 11 seconds left. But the score was nullified on a holding call, and Black’s final pass in regulation was picked off by Beggs.

"That was very heartbreaking," Reed said. "I will have to look at it on tape to see what happened."

The game started off in a rather unusual manner for Keystone.

The Panthers, who are known as primarily a passing team, started the games first drive at their own 23-yard line and promptly proceeded to run the ball nine straight times for 39 yards. An additional 15 yards was added on thanks to a C-L penalty giving the Panthers the ball at the C-L 25-yard line without throwing a pass.

"The kids spent a little bit of extra time on the (blocking) sleds this week," Reed said. "We were working on driving. When you pass block all the time, you get a little passive run blocking. So we spent the whole week run blocking. We’ve got some good kids up there who can play football with anyone."

The running game didn’t surprise Conti.

"I wasn’t surprised," Conti said. "I was concerned about it. They ran the stuff I was concerned about. But we won the game. We found a way to win the ball game. It’s just a credit to the type of kids we have here. I am very proud of all of them."

Black did throw passes on two of Keystone’s next three plays with the second pass going 13 yards to Barry Swartzfager for the game’s first touchdown. Metcalf’s extra point gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead with 6:01 left in the first quarter.

On C-L’s first possession, the Lions drove to the Keystone 23-yard line before a holding penalty put them back at the 33 after they appeared to have gotten a first down on a fourth-and-2 play. On fourth-and-10 from the 33, Ferguson threw an incomplete pass giving Keystone the ball back.

The Panthers, though, couldn’t move the ball and were forced to punt.

A 40-yard punt by Barry Swartzfager gave C-L the ball at its own 36-yard line.

This time the Lions needed only one play to tie the game, as Hayden Johnston hit Chad Conti with a 64-yard touchdown pass with 4:15 left in the first quarter. Conti caught the ball at the 40-yard line and out ran the Keystone defenders to the end zone.

Davis’ extra point tied the game at seven.

The game remained tied at seven until a special-teams mistake by C-L gave Keystone the ball at the C-L 34-yard line.

Barry Swartzfager had booted a 29-yard punt that was angled away from C-L’s return men, but the ball hit C-L’s Justin McKissick at the 35-yard line with the Panthers jumping on the ball at the 34 with 10:56 left in the first half.

The first three plays after the turnover were runs that went for a total of seven yards for the Panthers.

On fourth-and-3 from the 27-yard line, Keystone was called for illegal motion pushing the ball back to the 32 and making it fourht-and-8.

Reed decided to go for it, and the gamble paid off when Black hit Colwell for a 17-yard pass to the C-L 15-yard line.

After a 2-yard loss by Metcalf, Kurt Carnahan sprinted 16 yards to the 1-yard line on an end-around just coming up short of the end zone on a dive try.

One play later, Black snuck in from a yard out and Metcalf hit the extra point giving Keystone a 14-7 lead with 7:29 left in the half.

C-L would move the ball down to the Keystone 29-yard line on its next drive, but a penalty and a stiff Keystone defense forced a turnover on downs at the 30-yard line.

The Lions would get one more first-half possession, but Ferguson was intercepted by Jared Griebel as time ran out in the half leaving Keystone with a 14-7 lead.

The two teams each punted the ball twice on their first two possessions of the second half.

On C-L’s third possession, the Lions moved the ball from their own 32-yard line to the Keystone 34-yard line thanks to a 20-yard pass from Hayden Johnston to Beggs and a 13-yard pass from Ferguson to Alderton.

But on first-and-10 from the Keystone 34, Alderton tried to make an acrobatic catch on a pass from Ferguson but the ball was tipped into the hands of Keystone’s Neal Jack for an interception giving the Panthers the ball at their own 13-yard line with only seconds left in the third quarter.

Thanks to the Jack’s interception, Keystone held the 14-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Keystone was able to move the ball to its 40-yard line before having to punt it away.

A 25-yard boot by Barry Swartzfager gave the Lions the ball back at their own 35-yard line with 9:58 left in the game.

C-L then proceeded to march the ball 65 yards in eight plays tying the game on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to Smith with 6:52 left in the game. Davis’ extra point officially made the score 14-14.

Smith was wide open in the end zone having snuck in-between Keystone’s zone defense on a third-and-8 play. Ferguson threw the perfect strike for the touchdown, somewhat of a personal win for the senior quarterback who started the season as the Lions starting signal caller only to lose the job to Johnston after Week one. But with both quarterbacks seeing playing time in this game, Ferguson had the hot hand in the second half going 5-for-9 for 53 yards and two touchdowns in the half.

"J.J. a wonderful young boy," Conti said. "The boy has quarterbacked from eighth grade on up. We’ve said all along that we need both kids to win. He supports Hayden more than anyone else does. That is a credit Joe and Bonnie, his parents. He is a wonderful boy. He’s got success spelled all over him."

Following Smith’s touchdown, Keystone looked like it was going to move right down the field when Black hit a wide open Barry Swartzfager with a 25-yard pass to the C-L 40-yard line. But as Swartzfager tried to drag defenders with him, McKissick stripped the ball and Kyle Brocious fell on the fumble giving C-L the ball back at its own 40-yard line with 5:16 left in the game.

Its was on the first play following the fumble that Alderton broke off the 20-yard run that added with the 15-yard penalty on Keystone put the ball at the Keystone 25-yard line setting up the late dramatics of the game.

Alderton led C-L with 85 yards rushing and one touchdown and 20 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Johnston was 4-for-9 passing for 77 yards and a score, while Ferguson was 5-for-13 passing for 53 yards and two touchdowns to go along with two interceptions.

For Keystone, Black was 10-for-26 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns to go along with an interception, while Neely caught two passes for 56 yards.

"Adam Black has four or five years of college football ahead of him," Conti said. "What a terrific young man.

"I thought we were in coverage all night in fairness to our kids. But it is a credit to Black and his receivers for the passes they caught. He was able to thread it. It has been a while since I have watched someone play quarterback like that boy did tonight. He is very good."

Metcalf led the Panthers ground game with 68 yards on 22 carries, as Keystone rushed for 149 yards on the night. 112 of those yards, however, came in the first half.

C-L is next in action Friday night when the Lions face cross-town rival Clarion at 7 p.m. at Clarion.

Keystone meanwhile hosts West Shamokin Friday night.

NOTES: In high school football, each team is given four downs to score from their opponent’s 10-yard line. If the game is tied after the each team has a possession then the process is repeated until someone wins the game.

BOX SCORE

Keystone 7 7 0 0 7 21

C-L 7 0 0 7 14 28

Score By Quarters

First quarter

K – Barry Swartzfager 13 pass from Adam Black (Chris Metcalf kick) 6:01

C-L – Chad Conti 64 pass from Hayden Johnston (Rocky Davis kick) 4:15

Second quarter

K – Black 1 run (Metcalf kick) 7:29

Fourth quarter

C-L – Ryan Smith 13 pass from J.J. Ferguson (Davis kick)

Overtime

K – Bobby Telesz 10 pass from Black (Metcalf kick)

C-L – Alderton 1 run (Davis kick)

C-L – Alderton 10 pass from Ferguson (Davis kick)

TEAM STATS

K C

First Downs 19 15

Rushes-Yards 43-149 32-171

Passing Yards 171 130

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 10-26-1 9-22-2

Total Yardage 320 301

Punts-Average 7-28.7 3-36.7

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 9-78 7-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Keystone: Chris Metcalf 22-68, Adam Black 5-13, 1 TD, Sam Swartzfager 7-19, Kurt Carnahan 6-30, Billy Colwell 3-19. Clarion-Limestone: Dan Alderton 16-85, 1 TD, Hayden Johnston 4-22, Chad Conti 6-26, Ben Brooks 6-38.

Passing – Keystone: Adam Black 10-for-26, 171 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 4-for-9, 77 yds, 1 TD, J.J. Ferguson 5-for-13, 53 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT.

Receiving – Keystone: Billy Colwell 2-29, Buck Neely 2-56, Barry Swartzfager 2-38, 1 TD, Bobby Telesz 4-48, 1 TD. Clarion-Limestone: Chad Conti 3-67, 1 TD, Dan Alderton 3-20, 1 TD, Brad Beggs 1-20, Justin McKissick 1-10, Ryan Smith 1-13, 1 TD.

Punting – Keystone: Barry Swartzfager 7-201 (28.7). Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 3-110 (36.7)

Punt Returns – Keystone: Chris Metcalf 1-1. Clarion-Limestone: Justin McKissick 1-0.

Kick Returns – Keystone: Bobby Telesz 1-12, Kurt Carnahan 2-26. Clarion-Limestone: Kyle Brocious 1-0, Hayden Johnston 2-22.

Interceptions – Keystone: Jared Griebel, Neil Jack. Clarion-Limestone: Brad Beggs.