PUNXSUTAWNEY 25, CLARION-LIMESTONE 20

Oct. 3, 2008

Chucks win on Hail Mary on game's final play

Information for this story is courtesy of the Punxsuatweny Spirit

PUNXSUTAWNEY – Zach Dickey caught a 30-yard Hail Mary pass from Logan Weaver on the last play of the game to lift Punxsutawney to a seemingly-improbably-minutes-before 25-20 win over visiting Clarion-Limestone Friday night.

The Chucks (2-4 overall, 2-3 KSAC) trailed 20-13 with less than 1:30 left to play but scored twice in the final 62 seconds to defeat the snake-bit Lions (1-5, 1-5).

Punxsutawney had gotten to within a point on a 12-yard touchdown run by Weaver with 1:02 to play. The Chucks decided to go for the lead instead of the tie, but C-L’s Dan Miller tackled Weaver on the two-point conversion attempt leaving the Lions ahead by one.

The Lions then seemed to clinch the victory when it recovered an on-side kick after Weaver’s touchdown considering Punxsutawney had just two timeouts left.

But C-L managed to lose five yards yardage thanks to a pair of false starts and a kneel down, and the Lions found themselves looking at fourth-and-15 from their own 39 with less than 15 seconds to play.

Instead of risking a blocked punt, the Lions elected to run a play, and Punxsutawney stopped C-L for a 9-yard loss giving the Chucks the ball back at the C-L 30 with 10.2 seconds remaining.

Punxsutawney’s first Hail Mary pass fell incomplete, but on the second attempt Dickey managed to somehow get behind the C-L defenders and catch the game-winning touchdown.  

C-L trailed 13-6 at halftime but rallied to take the 20-13 lead when Zac Kemmer caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Dan Miller.

The Lions then had a chance to put the game away driving to the Punxsutawney 15 late in the fourth quarter. But mistakes cost the Lions, as a pair of penalties and a sack gave the Chucks the ball back at their own 27-yard line.

Still, C-L seemed to be in good shape when they got Punxsy backed up on a third-and-13, but Weaver broke through the line for a 14-yard run and the first down. Ben Blazavich then picked up a first down on a fourth-and-1 later in the drive before Weaver’s run got the Chucks back to within a point.  

Miller threw a pair of touchdown passes to Kemmer in the game and was 11 of 24 passing for 151 yards while also tossing a pair of interceptions. Kemmer had six grabs for 89 yards and the two touchdowns.

Logan Weaver ran nine times for 123 yards and the touchdown for Punxsy, while also going 16 of 25 passing for 170 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Easton Weaver had 10 catches for 84 yards and a score for the Chucks. 

Kyle Steffey paced the Chucks defense with seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.

Box score courtesy of Steve Smail

Punxsutawney 25, Clarion-Limestone 20

Score by Quarters

Clarion-Limestone...... 0  6  6  8--20

Punxsutawney...... 7  6  0  12--25

Scoring Summary

   First Quarter: Punxy- Logan Weaver 12 yard pass to Easton Weaver (Ben Blazavick kick) 6:47

   Second Quarter: C-L- Dan Miller 10 yard pass to Zac Kemmer (2-pt. pass failed) 7:42

Punxy- Nick Wehrle 2 yard run (2 pt. run failed) 4:25

   Third Quarter: C-L- Zac Roller 43 yard run (2 pt. run failed) 4:49

   Fourth Quarter: C-L- Dan Miller 7 yard pass to Zac Kemmer (Miller to Kemmer 2 pt. pass) 11:56

Punxy- Logan Weaver 13 yard run (2 pt. run failed) 1:02

Punxy- Logan Weaver 30 yard pass to Zak Dickey 0:00

CL              P

First Downs                      10                17

Rushes-yards                  19-67           23-178

Passing yards                    179             170

Passes: Comp.-Att.-Int.    12-26-2           16-25-2

Total yards                         246               348

Fumbles-lost                      1-1                 2-1

Penalties-yards                  6-51              8-85

Individual Statistics

   Rushing: Clarion-Limestone- Dan Miller 15-43, Zac Roller 3-41, Sean Kennedy 2- -15, Team 2- -2.

Punxsutawney- Brennan Niver 8-37, Ben Blazavich 6-18, Logan Weaver 9-123.

   Passing: Clarion-Limestone- Dan Miller 11-of-24 151 yards, 2 TD, 2 Int. Marco Lopez 1-of-1 28 yards.

Punxsutawney- Logan Weaver 16-of-25 170 yards, 2 TD, 2 Int.

   Receiving: Clarion-Limestone- Zac Kemmer 6-89, Jesse Montana 4-37, Zac Roller 1-28, Sean Kennedy 1-25.

Punxsutawney- Easton Weaver 10-84, Ben Blazavich 2-19, Doug Dale 1-5, Zak Dickey 2-56, Brennan Niver 1-6.

   Interceptions: Clarion-Limestone- Marco Lopez, Zac Roller.

Punxsutawney- Zak Dickey and Kyle Steffey.