BEVEVINO & CATHCART LEAD CLARION OVER WEST SHAMOKIN

WEEK SIX

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION -- Ben Bevevino and Kyle Cathcart combined to rush for 343 yards and five touchdowns leading Clarion to a 48-6 win over visiting West Shamokin Friday night.

Bevevino, running Clarion's new look option, ran the ball five times for 131 yards and two touchdowns, while Cathcart, finding more room thanks to the option, ran 16 times for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Bevevino also added 88 yards passing and a touchdown.

"Coach (Judd) Allan has been working with me on the option my whole career here as a quarterback," Bevevino said. "We have been wanting to run it, and this week we decided that we needed to open it up because everyone has been in the box. We figured we could get around to the outside, and we decided the option was the way to do it. It worked. It sucked the end down with the dive, and I just took it around the outside."

The win broke a rare two-game losing streak for the Bobcats (4-2) who decided to employ the option offense after finding little room to run up the middle the last two weeks in losses to Karns City and Clarion-Limestone.

"We ran from a script tonight forcing us to get into our offense," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "Maybe the last couple of weeks I got a little too conservative, so we stayed with the script most of the time. I think we ran six or seven different formations."

It took Clarion a little time to get things moving against the Wolves, who Clarion defeated 82-0 a year ago. But the Bobcats did get things moving in time to take a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The first Clarion touchdown came on an 11-yard run by Kyle Cathcart with 2:52 left in the quarter. Cathcart had appeared to have scored from 17 yards out moments earlier only to have the touchdown nullified because of a blocking foul at the 2-yard line. But Cathcart wasn't fazed taking the next two handoffs for 18 yards and the score. Jon Byers added the extra point giving Clarion a 7-0 lead.

On the drive Cathcart carried the ball six times for 57 yards with his longest run being a 17-yard scamper down to the 17-yard line.

"They were forced to adjust to our option and take people outside," Cathcart said. "That opened up the middle. We need to start giving people looks like that all the time."

The Bobcats then forced West Shamokin to a three-and-out on its next possession, and Corey Corbett returned a Brian Crytzer punt 26 yards to give Clarion the ball at the West Shamokin 31-yard line with 1:00 left in the opening quarter,

Cathcart gained 14 yards to the 17 on the first play of the drive, and then, after an incomplete pass, Bevevino ran the option for 17 yards down the near sideline for Clarion's second touchdown of the game.

Byers' extra point made the score 14-0 Clarion.

Another big special teams play early in the second quarter gave Clarion its next score.

After stopping West Shamokin on three plays following Clarion's second touchdown, Crytzer got set to punt from his own 39-yard line.

On the punt, Bevevino sliced in and tipped the ball partially blocking it. The ball rolled dead at the West Shamokin 41-yard line for a 2-yard punt.

On the first play after the punt, Bevevino hit Joel McNeil for 26 yards on the tight end screen giving the Bobcats the ball at the 15-yard line.

Cathcart then took a handoff, a despite juggling the ball, picked up seven more yard to the West Shamokin 15-yard line.

Two plays later Cathcart went six more to the 2-yard line, and then he tiptoed in from two yards out giving Clarion a 20-0 lead with 8:31 left in the first half. The extra point was wide right.

West Shamokin looked like it might get the break it needed when Steven Cupec returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Clarion 45-yard line.

But the Clarion defense held the Wolves to seven yards on three plays forcing another punt.

After the punt, Clarion had the ball at its own 17-yard line with 6:36 left before halftime.

On the first play following the punt Bevevino took the option and went right up the middle for 83 yards and Clarion's fourth touchdown of the night. Bevevino appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage but broke a tackle and got out in the open field for the touchdown. Byers' extra point put Clarion's lead at 27-0 with 6:20 to play before halftime.

"We broke Kyle out to have him act as a little bit of a decoy," Wiser said. "But they never moved toward him. Ben broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and was gone. He has always wanted to be a want-a-be tailback."

Another big special teams play resulted in Clarion's fifth touchdown two minutes later.

After stopping the Wolves on three straight plays following Bevevino's score, Crytzer lifted a 34-yard punt that came down to Corbett at the Clarion 36-yard line.

Corbett then turned on the afterburners and went 64 yards for his first career punt return for a touchdown giving Clarion a 34-0 lead with 4:20 left before halftime.

West Shamokin finally got on the scoreboard as the first half ran down when Chris Reefer scored from a yard out one play after quarterback Craig Kaplon, subbing for the injured Trevor Henderson, had hit Crystzer with a 43-yard pass on the tight end screen.

The two-point conversion failed, but Clarion lead was down to 34-6 with 1:16 left before the half.

The Bobacts looked like they might score again before halftime moving the ball to the West Shamokin 22 yard line thanks to a 9-yard pass from Bevevino to B.J. Roth and a 22-yard run by Bevevino, but Cathcart fumbled the ball at the 20-yard line ending the threat. The score thus remained 34-6 at halftime.

The first half display of offense was even more impressive for Clarion considering the Bobcats were missing three starters in tackle Brian Luton, fullback Matt Watterson and wide receiver Will Lewis.

Luton is out for the season with an injured hernia, Watterson missed the game with a bum ankle and Lewis was out with a concussion. Watterson and Lewis should be back next week.

"Nate McClaine came in as a sophomore and did a great job at strong tackle," Wiser said. "We moved Chris Joy back to quick tackle. I don’t know how you replace the heart and soul of your team in Matt Watterson, but Dustin Shaffer came in tonight and we rotated a couple of other guys in at fullback and they did a great job. And we finally got B.J. Roth back on the outside, and Nate Cyphert did a good job.

"Will and Matt should be back next week, but Keith (Murtha), our trainer, is the man who makes the calls (on whether or not the injured player plays next week)."

In the third quarter another partially blocked punt by Clarion, this time by Greg Larson, set the Bobcats up at their own 46-yard line.

Three plays into the drive, Bevevino hit Jason Reed for a 53-yard touchdown pass giving the Bobcats a 41-6 lead with 7:49 left in the third quarter. The touchdown invoked the mercy rule meaning a running clock for the remainder of the game.

"Everyone was open," Bevevino said. "It was just clicking tonight."

Cathcart then put the finishing touches on his big night when he went 72 yards for his third touchdown of the evening with 3:20 left in the third quarter finishing off the scoring. Cathcart had picked up about 10 yards on the run when he made a move on a West Shamokin defender in the middle of the field that could only be described as the type of move a running back on a computer football game makes when he jukes in place.

The Bobcats defense was even tougher in the second half limiting the Wolves to -13 yards and one first down for the half while limiting West Shamokin to only 13 plays run in the entire half. For the game West Shamokin gained 103 yards including 62 yards rushing on 26 carries.

"We wanted to come out and play a strong defensive game after the last two weeks," Cathcart said. "We knew from last year's score that they were going to come out gunned up for us. We told ourselves we wanted a shutout. Unfortunately that didn't happen for us. But we played very well defensively. Everybody stayed disciplined, and it was a good game for us."

Wiser said that after losing two straight games, Clarion approached the West Shamokin game as it was the first week.

"For the rest of our season this was game one," Wiser said. "We tried to put everything else that has happened this year on the back burner. We weren't doing some things that were uncharacteristic of our kids. I have to give them some credit, they came back in with a lot of focus and desire this week. I am giving to give my captain Kyle (Cathcart) and Ben (Bevevino) a lot of credit. We also elected two more captains this week in Matt Watterson and Steve Balough."

NOTE: At halftime Kisa Bushyeager was named the 2001 Clarion homecoming queen.

BOX SCORE

CLARION 48, WEST SHAMOKIN 6

Score by Quarters

West Shamokin 0 6 0 0 6

Clarion 14 20 14 0 48

Scoring Summary

Fist Quarter

C - Kyle Cathcart 11 run (Jon Byers kick) 2:52

C - Ben Bevevino 17 run (Byers kick) :21

Second Quarter

C - Cathcart 2 run (Byers kick no good) 8:31

C - Bevevino 83 run (Byers kick) 6:20

C - Corey Corbett 64 punt return (Byers kick) 4:20

WS - Chris Reefer 1 run (Kaplon pass failed)

Third quarter

C - Jason Reed 53 pass from Bevevino (Byers kick) 7:49

C - Cathcart 72 run (Byers kick) :40

W C

First Downs5 17

Rushes-Yards 32-62 36-412

Passing Yards 41 88

Passes Comp-Att-Int 4-12-0 3-8-0

Total Yardage 103 500

Punts-Average 9-27.1 2 35.0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-2

Penalties-Yards 1-5 3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing -- West Shamokin: Chris Reefer 14-49, 1 TD, Bill Fulton 6-20, Steven Cupec 6-12, Craig Kaplon 3-(-18), Jon Nagy 2-10, Team 1- (-11). Clarion: Kyle Cathcart 16-212, 3 TD, Ben Bevevino 5-131, 2 TD, Jason Reed 1-2, Dustin Shaffer 3-6, Dave Larson 2-3, Ryan Finotti 2-40, Adam Divins 4-8, Andy Craig 2-13, Caleb Kifer 1- (-3).

Passing -- West Shamokin: Craig Kaplon 4-for-12 , 41 Yds. Clarion: Ben Bevevino 3-for-8, 88 Yds., 1 TD.

Receiving -- West Shamokin: Brian Crytzer 3-47, Bill Fulton 1- (-6). Clarion: Jason Reed 1-53, 1 TD, Joel McNeil 1-26, B.J. Roth 1-9.

Kickoff returns -- West Shamokin: Chris Reefer 1-15, Jon Nagy 3-39, Steven Cupec 4-84. Clarion: Joel McNeil 1-19.

Punt returns -- West Shamokin: Jon Nagy 2-1. Clarion: Corey Corbett 4-100, 1 TD.

Punting -- West Shamokin: Brian Crystzer 7-224 (32.0), Team 2-20 (10.0). Clarion: Kyle Cathcart 2-70 (35.))

Blocked punts -- Clarion: Ben Bevevino 1, Greg Larson 1.