CLEARFIELD CLAIMS SECOND D9 CLASS AAA TITLE IN THREE YEARS

NOV. 12, 2004 - District 9 Class AAA Title Game

CLARION – Clearfield won its second District 9 Class AAA title in the past three years and its fourth since 1998 with a 41-21 win over Bradford Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

"That is a big win against a quality opponent," Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko said. "I want to congratulate Bradford because they have a good football team and played well. It is a huge win for us and for our program. It is hard to beat a team twice in a season (Clearfield beat Bradford 28-7 in Week One). They are well coached. They don’t give you anything. You have to work hard to beat them, and we were able to do that."

The final score wasn’t indicative of the Clearfield dominance, as the Bisons led 41-7 until Bradford scored two late touchdowns in the final 2:42 of the game.

The Bisons (10-0) outgained the Owls (6-4) 432 yards to 270 with 120 of Bradford’s yards coming on its final two drives.

"I thought our defense played real well," Janocko said. "Our defense played great. They have a lot of speed, and I thought our defense played extremely well."

Clearfield used a balanced offensive attack to get the win passing for 196 yards and running for 236 yards.

"I have been saying all year that if we are balanced offensively we have a chance to be in the game and beat some people," Janocko said. "We were balanced again tonight. We ran the ball well and we threw the ball well. That was the difference."

The big three of quarterback Tanner Kelly, running back Josh Harbold and wide receiver Mike Scoggins were instrumental in the win.

Kelly was 8-for-16 passing for 181 yards and two touchdowns while running seven times for 26 yards and a score.

Harbold ran 16 times for 139 yards and a touchdown, caught three passes for 82 yards and was 1-for-1 passing for 15 yards and a touchdown.

Scoggins added five catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns.

"All three of them were the difference tonight," Bradford head coach Steve Ackerman said. "You can’t load up one way or the other. You have to pick your poison. All three of them hurt us. There was nothing we could do."

Despite Clearfield’s eventual dominance, the game was close in the first half with the Bisons leading 21-7 at halftime.

Even the halftime score was a bit deceiving, as the Bisons needed two touchdowns in the final 3:23 of the half to break a 7-7 tie.

"The first half was a slugfest," Janocko said. "There was a lot hard hitting out there. It was a tough ball game, and we sort of pulled away there in the third quarter. That is a credit to our kids."

Bradford actually looked like it had taken the lead early in the second quarter when Nate Westlake returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown. But the score was called back on a holding call on the Owls. The flag was thrown even before Westlake caught the ball and appeared to be Bradford holding one of the Clearfield "gunners".

Despite the penalty, Bradford looked like it might still take the lead driving from its own 30 to the Clearfield 15-yard line on five plays. But the Owls fumbled a toss play, and Clearfield’s Scoggins recovered the fumble at the Bison 25-yard line to stop the drive.

"That was the turning point of the game," Ackerman said. "We fumbled the ball. I don’t care about the punt (return). We still had a great field position and drove the ball down the field. That turnover killed us. That was the turning point of the game. There is no doubt about it."

Clearfield then proceeded to go 75 yards in 11 plays taking 6:11 off the clock and scoring on a 15-yard pass from Kelly to Scoggins with 3:23 left in the half.

Bad luck continued to follow the Owls on the kickoff when Westlake slipped at the Bradford 6-yard line and was down there.

After an Owls punt, Clearfield got the ball at the Bradford 38 and needed just two plays to score getting into the end zone on a 34-yard pass from Kelly to Scoggins with 1:30 left in the half.

Harbold made the lead 28-7 with 7:46 to go in the third quarter scoring on a 66-yard run that started with him bowling over a Bradford defender.

Another bad break on special teams by the Owls set up Clearfield’s next touchdown.

Westlake tried to make a fair catch on a Kelly punt at the Bradford 42-yard line but the ball slipped right through his hands with the Bisons recovering.

Nine plays later a little razzle-dazzle got Clearfield a 34-7 lead.

Harbold took a handoff from Kelly and then pulled up and hit Scoggins with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 11:48 left in the game.

A 1-yard scoring run by Lucas Aughenbaugh with 4:08 left made it 41-7 Clearfield.

Bradford hit pay dirt 2:42 left in the game when Stu Morris scored on a 9-yard run.

The Owls then recovered an on-side kick when Kyle Macfarlane covered up his own kickoff at the Clearfield 49-yard line.

Morris then hit Shawn Spindler with a 49-yard scoring pass to make it 41-21 with 2:24 to play.

Bradford tried another on-side kick, but Kelly covered it up for the Bisons to seal the victory.

Clearfield scored first on a 1-yard Kelly run with 4:16 left in the first quarter, but Bradford answered on a 55-yard run on an inside reverse by Morgan O’Brien.

Clearfield now plays Perry, the District 8 champion.

NOTES – It was the second straight season and the fourth time in the last five years Clearfield and Bradford have met for the District 9 Class AAA title. Bradford had won the previous three encounters including 44-30 last season.

CLEARFIELD 41, BRADFORD 21

SCORE BY QUARTER

B – 7 0 0 14 – 21

C – 7 14 7 13 – 41

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Tanner Kelly 1 run (Ryan Johnson kick), 4:16

B – Morgan O’Brien 55 run (Kyle Macfarlane kick), :37

Second Quarter

C – Mike Scoggins 15 pass from Kelly (Johnson kick), 3:23

C – Scoggins 34 pass from Kelly (Johnson kick), 1:30

Third Quarter

C – Josh Harbold 66 run (Johnson kick), 7:46

Fourth Quarter

C – Scoggins 15 pass from Harbold (Kick failed), 11:48

C – Lucas Aughenbaugh 1 run (Johnson kick), 4:08

B – Stu Morris 9 run (Macfarlane kick), 2:42

B – Shawn Spindler 49 pass from Morris (Macfarlane kick), 2:24

TEAM STATISTICS

B C

First Downs 7 15

Rushes-Yards 32-137 40-236

Passing Yards 133 196

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 3-14-1 9-17-0

Total Yards 270 432

Fumbles-Lost 5-3 1-1

Penalties-Yards 3-20 5-47

Punts-Avg. 6-36.5 5-27.4

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Bradford: Dave Snyder 9-31, Morgan O’Brien 3-67, Mike Austin 2-(-3), Josh Holleran 8-40, Nate Westlake 6-(-4), Stu Morris 4-6. Clearfield: Josh Harbold 16-139, Tanner Kelly 7-26, Lucas Aughenbaugh 11-55, Shane Davis 1-2, William Bacharach 3-14, Chris Priester 1-1, Team 1-(-1).

Passing – Bradford: Mike Austin 1-for-7, 29 yards. Stu Morris 2-for-7, 104 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception. Clearfield: Tanner Kelly 8-for-16, 181 yards, 2 touchdowns. Josh Harbold 1-for-1, 15 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – Bradford: Shawn Spindler 2-78, Josh Holleran 1-55. Clearfield: Mike Scoggins 5-114, Josh Harbold 3-82, Matt Morgan 1-0.

Punting – Bradford: Kyle Macfarlane 6-219. Clearfield: Tanner Kelly 5-137.

Interceptions – Clearfield: Tanner Kelly.