By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Kyle Cathcart rushed for 327 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries helping the Bobcats (6-2 overall, 5-2 KSAC) to a 42-6 win over A-C Valley (1-7, 1-6).

It was the second time this season Cathcart has rushed for over 300 yards in a game. He rushed for 339 in Week Two against Redbank Valley.

"Like I say every week, but my line did an excellent job tonight," Cathcart said. "It was great for them to come out and really do a good job on the seniors last home game. We were real emotional coming out. It’s a real big win for us."

With the 327-yard night Cathcart also became only the second known player in District 9 history to rush for over 4,000 yards in a career. He now has 4,194 yards. Brockway’s Aaron Cantafio had 4,694 yards in a career that ended last season.

Cathcart’s milestone occurred on an 18-yard run to the A-C Valley 4-yard line in the first quarter.

Cathcart, who had two subpar games in the middle of the season, said that it has been hard at times finding running room this season with teams keying on him.

"It has been a struggle at times this season," Cathcart said. "I knew coming into the season people were going to be keying one me. I took it personally (when I wasn’t getting yards). I thought it was my fault. It wasn’t the line’s fault, its wasn’t the coaches fault (So it must have been my fault). But I sat down after (the) Karns City and (the) C-L (games) and really did some soul searching. I decided that I really wanted to finish out the season strong. This is my last year. Over the last few weeks we have down a pretty good job."

He had no trouble getting started against the Falcons rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter on his way to a 198-yard first half. He then added 129 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter.

His first quarter accomplishments helped the Bobcats take a 21-0 lead, and his third quarter efforts helped them turn a 21-6 halftime edge into a 42-6 blowout.

Things, however, didn’t start out looking very good for the Bobcats, as an early fumbled punt return by Corey Corbett gave A-C Valley the ball at the Clarion 44-yard line just a little over a minute into the game.

The Falcons then got a 14-yard pass from Mike Stewart to Josh Defibaugh that moved the ball to the Clarion 30-yard line. But on the next play Adam Hile fumbled the ball and Clarion’s Joel McNeil recovered the fumble at the Clarion 36-yard line.

Two runs by Cathcart netted eight yards, and then Cathcart burst through the line for a 20-yard pick up to the A-C Valley 36-yard line. On the next play the Bobcats got their first touchdown when Ben Bevevino hit a wide open Will Lewis for a 36-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 Clarion lead with nine minutes left in the first quarter.

With the touchdown, Bevevino set the career throwing touchdown mark at Clarion with 18.

On the ensuing kickoff, upman Chad Jack field the ball at the 23-yard line and returned it out to the 47-yard line where he was hit and fumbled the ball. Jason Reed pounced on the loss ball giving the Bobcats the football back.

Cathcart then ran for 32 yards on the first play down to the A-C Valley 15. After a 1-yard loss by Matt Watterson, Cathcart scored his first touchdown of the night on a 16-yard run with 7:26 to lead and Clarion led 14-0.

A-C Valley was able to move the ball to the Clarion 30 on its next possession before Stewart was stopped on a fourth-down run giving Clarion the ball back at its own 29-yard line.

A 46-yard run by Cathcart moved the ball to the A-C Valley 31-yard line, and a 9-yard run by Matt Watterson put the ball at the 22-yard line.

Two plays later Cathcart took off on the 18-yard run to the 4-yard line that put him over 4,000 yards in his career, and on the next play he plunged in from four yards out giving Clarion a 21-0 lead.

A-C Valley was then once again able to drive into Clarion territory taking the ball to the 34-yard line before two incomplete passes by Stewart gave the ball back to Clarion.

The Falcons, though, caught a break when on an attempted punt by Clarion the snap sailed over Cathcart’s head and when he finally got a kick off it went negative seven yards to the Clarion 24-yard line.

It took A-C Valley three plays to score, as Zach Heeter hit pay dirt from the 1-yard line cutting Clarion’s lead to 21-6 with 8:21 left before halftime. Heeter had the big run in the drive, a 21-yard jaunt to the 3-yard line on first down.

The remainder of the half the teams played giveaway with A-C Valley fumbling once and Clarion twice with the other team recovering each time.

Clarion’s costliest fumble came at the A-C Valley 34-yard line with 2:06 left in the half. Cathcart fumbled, and A-C Valley’s Heeter picked it up.

The Falcons were then able to drive to the Clarion 28 before time ran out in the half.

At the start of the second half Clarion got the ball and decided to give the Falcons a heavy dose of Cathcart. Cathcart carried the ball on nine of Clarion’s 10 plays of the drive gaining 76 yards and scoring on a 1-yard run with 7:36 left in the third quarter giving the Bobcats a 28-6 lead and effectively breaking the Falcons back. During the drive Cathcart had runs of 11, 17, 14, 13 and 10 yards with most of them coming on up-the-middle dive plays.

"Getting the kickoff and moving right down the field running the ball was key," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "We were trying to physically get ourselves right back in the game, and I thought that is what we did. The offensive line really took control there."

Clarion was then able to stop A-C Valley on its first possession of the second half and took over after a punt on the A-C Valley 49-yard line.

After two plays lost four yards, Cathcart scored his fourth touchdown of the night on his final carry a 53-yard sprint to the end zone that gave the Bobcats a 35-6 lead with 4:17 left in the third quarter.

A-C Valley was able to drive the ball to the Clarion 37-yard line on its next possession. But on a third-and-9 from the 37 Greg Larson sacked Stewart for a 13-yard loss, and on fourth down the snap on the punt was bad forcing Stewart to run the ball. He was tackled short of the sticks at the Clarion 46-yard line.

Bevevino then ran the option on first down for 33 yards. Bevevino actually got inside the 10-yard line but a holding penalty at the A-C Valley 21 negated the final 20 yards of what would have been a 53-yard pickup.

But after a false start by Clarion moved the ball back to the 38-yard line, Bevevino ran the option again reaching the 1-yard line on a 37-yard pickup. On the next play he dove in from the 1-yard line to give Clarion a 42-6 lead with 23 seconds left in the third quarter. The score also put the "mercy rule" into effect meaning a running clock for the remainder of the game.

A-C Valley was not able to get any closer than the Clarion42 the rest of the game, while Clarion did get to the A-C Valley 5-yard line following a 50-yard run by Matt Watterson on the last play of the game.

Watterson ended the evening with eight carries for 86 yards, while Bevevino had seven for 61 and a score. Clarion racked up 516 yards rushing on the night and 565 total yards of offense.

Heeter led A-C Valley with 78 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries, while Stewart added 25 on 13 carries.

Stewart was 8-for-22 passing for 77 yards, with Adam Crawford catching three passes for 37 yards.

Clarion travels to Keystone next week, while A-C Valley host Clarion-Limestone.

NOTES: Following the game Clarion honored long-time assistant coach Alex Arth … Arth, who is retiring following 31 years as a coach for the Bobcats, was escorted off the field by a throng of Clarion fans and into a waiting limousine … He was then taken to the Clarion American Legion Post where a reception was held in his honor … At the reception pig noses were given out to anyone who wanted them in honor of Arth coaching the Clarion linemen affectionately know around town as the "Hogs"

CLARION 42, A-C VALLEY 6

Score by Quarters

A-C Valley 0 6 0 0 6

Clarion 21 0 21 0 42

Scoring Summary

First quarter

C – Will Lewis 36 pass from Ben Bevevino (Jon Byers kick) 9:00

C – Kyle Cathcart 16 run (Byers kick) 7:26

C – Cathcart 4 run (Byers kick) 2:06

Second quarter

A – Zach Heeter 1 run (Mike Stewart pass failed) 8:21

Third quarter

C – Cathcart 1 run (Byers kick) 7:36

C – Cathcart 53 run (Byers kick) 4:27

C – Bevevino 1 run (Byers kick) :23

A C

First Downs 14 24

Rushes-Yards 33-123 48-516

Passing Yards 78 49

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 10-24-0 2-6-0

Total Yardage 201 565

Punts-Average 4-27.5 2-12

Fumbles-lost 4-3 5-3

Penalties-Yards 0-0 11-75

Individual Statistics

Rushing – A-C Valley: Zach Heeter 16-78, 1 TD, Mike Stewart 13-25, Adam Hile 1-(-6), Brad Hurrelbrink 2-28, Ben Bobbert 1-(-2). Clarion: Kyle Cathcart 25-327, 4 TD, Matt Watterson 8-86, Ben Bevevino 7-61, 1 TD, Dustin Shaffer 5-29, Adam Divins 2-12, Jason Reed 1-1.

Passing – A-C Valley: Mike Stewart 8-for-22, 77 Yds., Corey Clawson 2-for-2, 1 Yd. Clarion: Ben Bevevino 2-for-6, 49 Yds., 1 TD.

Receiving – A-C Valley: Josh Defibaugh 3-35, Zach Heeter 1-2, Cory Clawson 1-3, Adam Crawford 3-37, Travis Miller 1-(-1), Jake Heeter 1-2. Clarion: Will Lewis 1-36, 1 TD, Greg Larson 1-13.

Kickoff returns – A-C Valley: Mike Stewart 2-17, Chad Jack 1-24, Adam Hile 2-20, Cory Clawson 1-16. Clarion: Corey Corbett 1-1, Will Lewis 1-13.

Punt returns – Clarion: Corey Corbett 2-2.

Punting – A-C Valley: Mike Stewart 3-83 (27.7), Josh Defibaugh 1-27 (27.0). Clarion: Kyle Cathcart 1-31 (31.0), Team 1-(-7) (-7.0).

Sacks – Clarion: Greg Larson.