CLARION 40, BROOKVILLE 6

Oct. 24, 2008

By Rich Rhoades

BROOKVILLE – Jon Kemmer and Bubba Rue each ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns as the Clarion Bobcats turned in a strong second half in a 40-6 rout of the Brookville Raiders in Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference action Friday night.

“I thought as the game went on we physically started to wear them down,” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said.

The Bobcats (6-3 overall and in the KSAC) secured fourth place in the conference while where they stand in the Class A playoff bracket at this point can be narrowed down to a first-round road trip to Curwensville, Coudersport or Redbank Valley.

The loss left the Raiders (4-5 overall, 4-4 KSAC) looking in at the District 9 Class AA playoffs. Combined with a Brockway win over Ridgway and a Keystone loss to Punxsutawney, the Raiders must win at Punxsutawney next week to clinch a playoff berth.

“We weren’t tough enough to answer the bell,” Brookville head coach Chris Dworek said. “The coaches aren’t coaching good enough to make these guys tough. It’s Week 9 of the year and I’m doing a terrible job at getting these guys ready. I’m just mad at everybody. It’s my fault. There’s no progress against tough teams. That’s a failure and a disappointment, because we’re just not getting these guys to click the right way. If people fail to do something, it’s the teacher’s fault. Teacher or coach, same thing. We’re failing to get these guys clicking against tough, physical teams.”

Kemmer scored the Bobcats’ first and last touchdowns on runs of 20 and 57 yards and finished with 117 yards on 12 carries. Rue scored on runs of 11 and 22 yards and gained 102 yards on 20 attempts.

The second Rue and Kemmer TD runs came during a span of 2:51 and just four  offensive plays from scrimmage in the third quarter that saw the Bobcats score 19 quick points. Quarterback Brandon Heeter’s 30-yard pass to Jarrod Carpin was sandwiched between the Rue and Kemmer TDs.

Clarion appeared to be on a roll from the start as the Bobcats scored on two of their first three drives — the other drive had a 46-yard run by Kemmer on a punt fake called back on an illegal block penalty — to lead 14-0 before the end of the quarter.

The Bobcats easily stopped the Raiders on a fake punt try from their own 34 and turned it into easy points when Kemmer rambled 20 yards into the end zone on the team’s first offensive play of the game.

“I have to make sure everyone in the huddle knows what the play is,” Dworek said. “I have to a better job of teaching when someone doesn’t hear the play, to find out what the play is. That’s what happened on that one.”

Clarion made it 14-0 thanks to getting some good field position on a 23-yard punt return by Cody Renninger to the Raiders’ 27. Four straight Rue runs produced points on his 1-yarder on third-and-five.

However, the Raiders made a stand and got a touchdown on a 45-yard run by Cayliff Worling to cut the lead to 14-6 with 3:05 left in the first half.

“I thought we got sloppy,” Wiser said. “On defense, we were definitely not flying to the ball. They were breaking some tackles.”

Brookville seemed to grab even more momentum at the end of the half when it stopped Clarion on downs at the 1-yard line with eight seconds left in the half.

But the momentum quickly shifted at the start of the third quarter when the Bobcats took the opening kickoff and put together a massive scoring drive that had 17 plays chew up 7:41. Kevin Grejda scored on a 1-yard run with 4:12 left in quarter.

“It was a couple of things,” Wiser said. “The backs stayed disciplined, we had a nice mix with Grejda in there and the offensive line was awesome.”

Clarion’s drive clearly set the tone for the rest of the night as the Raiders managed just three first downs and 32 yards of offense in the second half. They also fumbled five of their seven times, although losing just one.

But that one fumbled snap was recovered by Clarion’s Grejda at the Raiders’ 30 and cashed into points one play later on Heeter’s TD pass to put the Bobcats up 34-6 with 6:55 remaining in the game.

“The momentum was clearly on our side,” Dworek said. “We stopped them before the half, and we felt good about ourselves. They fought hard the first half, and Clarion made the adjustments and we didn’t.”

The win secured a winning season for Clarion meaning the Bobcats, who were 5-6 in 2006 and 4-6 last season, won’t have three consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1932-34.

“It's nice, but at the same time when you look at the last two years we played a really tough schedule,” Wiser said “We didn't have to play the defending state champions Southern Columbia twice (the last two seasons). We didn't have to play Brookville (the last two years before the Raiders joined the KSAC this year). We played some pretty good football teams the last two years. I think our record was a bit of a misnomer.”

NOTES – It marked the second time this season both Rue and Kemmer rushed for 100 yards in the same game. The duo also did it vs. Punxsutawney. Prior to this season, the last time Clarion had two runners go over 100 yards in the same game was in 2001.

Editor’s note: Chris Rossetti contributed to this story

CLARION 40, BROOKVILLE 6

Score By Quarters

Clarion           14        0          7          19        —        40

Brookville       0          6          0          0          —        6

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C - Jon Kemmer 20 run (Kemmer kick), 11:15.

C - Bubba Rue 11 run (Kemmer kick), 4:00.

Second Quarter

B - Cayliff Worling 45 run (kick blocked), 3:05.

Third Quarter

C - Kevin Grejda 1 run (Kemmer kick), 4:12.

Fourth Quarter

C - Bubba Rue 22 run (Kemmer kick failed), 7:04.

C - Jarrod Carpin 30 pass from Brandon Heeter (Kemmer kick), 6:55.

C - Jon Kemmer 57 run (Jason Hoover kick failed), 4:13.

                                                C                     B

First Downs                            18                    10

Rushes-Yards                          52-296             35-111

Passing Yards                         82                    67

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            4-11-0              5-19-2

Total Yardage                         378                  178

Punts-Avg.                              4-29.8              4-29.5 

Fumbles-Lost                          1-0                   7-1

Penalties-Yards                       7-50                 4-25

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing – Clarion: Jon Kemmer 12-115, Kevin Grejda 10-23, Bubba Rue 20-104, Erik Hartle 2-21, Corbin Ragley 3-24, Brandon Heeter 2-3, Joel Matticks 1-4, Tyler Oates 1-1, Team 1-1. Brookville: Tyler Dombrowski 10-minus 8, Ethan Harmon 8-40, Cayliff Worling 9-74, Andrew Turnbull 1-minus 1, Kyle Galbraith 3-15, Team 1-minus 5, Dan Haines 1-minus 1, Ryan Kerr 1-0, Brandon Brownlee 1-minus 3.

Passing – Clarion: Brandon Heeter 4 of 7, 82 yards, 1 touchdown. Bubba Rue 0 of 2. Jon Kemmer 0 of 1. Team 0 of 1. Brookville: Tyler Dombrowski 5 of 18, 67 yards, 2 interceptions. Team 0 of 1.

Receiving – Clarion: Jarod Carpin 2-65, Kevin Grejda 2-17. Brookville: Taylor Heinrich 1-12, Dan Haines 3-46, Jared Heschke 1-9.

Interceptions – Clarion 2 (Bubba Rue, Cody Renninger).

Sacks - Clarion: Gavin Griffin, Gerrett Henry.

Kickoff returns – Clarion: Cody Renninger 1-17, Dylan Reinsel 1-4. Brookville: Cayliff Worling 3-58, Kyle Galbraith 1-40, Ryan Kerr 1-2.

Punt returns – Clarion: Cody Renninger 2-43. Brookville: Cayliff Worling 2-(-2).

Punting – Clarion: Jon Kemmer 4-119 (long 36, twice). Brookville: Garrett Spence 4-118 (long 35).