LIPPERT, DEFENSE CARRIES CAMERON COUNTY TO DISTRICT 9 TITLE

District 9 Class A Championship Game

Cameron County 18, Clarion 8

Nov. 22, 2008

By Chris Rossetti

BROCKWAY – On a day that was more suited for hockey players than football players, Cameron County did what it has done all year – run the football and play good defense – to claim its first District 9 title since 1999 with an 18-8 win over Clarion at Brockway’s Frank Varischetti Field.

“It’s a good feeling,” Cameron County head coach Tony Defillipi, whose team lost to Kane in last year’s title game, said. “It’s better than being on the other side of it. We’re excited. To have some years with a lot of wins and never get a championship out of it, like last year, to finally cap it off we’re really excited about it.”

Cameron County raced out to an 18-0 lead and came up with a defensive stand thanks in part to a Clarion penalty in the second half to never allow the Bobcats to really get into the game.

“We talked with the kids all week about how we felt that the team that got off to a good start, got the lead and played good defense would have the advantage,” Defillipi said. “We knew that we’d have to get a couple in early and hold on, and we did that.”

A major Clarion mistake early in the game helped Cameron County gain the lead 2:04 into the contest.

After going three-and-out on its first possession, the Bobcats lined up to punt but the snap went over punter’s Jon Kemmer’s head giving Cameron County the ball at the Clarion 2-yard line.

It took the Red Raiders one play to reach the end zone on a 2-yard Andy Lippert touchdown run, the first of three scored by the Cameron junior.

“We made too many mistakes to win a district title,” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said.

Cameron County, which ran for 304 yards on the day, made it 12-0 when Lippert took a handoff and cut to the outside for a 55-yard touchdown run with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Lippert then made it 18-0 with a 17-yard run with 3:04 left in the first half, as Cameron County dominated up to that point outgaining Clarion 191-36 after Lippert’s third score.

“They handled our offensive and defensive line,” Wiser said. “That is where the game was won. Their line was better than ours today.”

Clarion wasn’t quite ready to let its season slip away taking advantage of a Cameron penalty to mount a 43-yard touchdown drive just before halftime. Passes of 29 and 13 yards from freshman quarterback Brandon Heeter to Gavin Griffin set up a 1-yard Kevin Grejda touchdown run that made it 18-8 at halftime.

“We ran two different (pass) plays there,” Wiser said. “They had everyone on the line of scrimmage, and we were able to take advantage of that.”

Clarion’s best chance to make a game of it in the second half came on its first drive of the half when the Bobcats moved from their own 19-yard line to the Cameron County 1-yard line. But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Jon Kemmer on a Grejda run to the 1-yard line for swearing moved the ball back to the 16, and Cameron’s defense came up with two big sacks – one from Ryan Neyman and one from Mike Malizia – to stop the Bobcats drive.

“I just heard (that they said) it was swearing,” Wiser said. “I have no idea. I don’t want my kids to swear. I didn’t see what went on. I have no comment.”

The Bobcats never really threatened to score after that, and Cameron County rode the legs of fullback Tanner Johnson in the game’s final drive to run off the last 6:43 to secure the district title.

Lippert had another big game with 115 yards rushing with 109 of those yards coming in the first half. He has 651 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns in the postseason and has gone over 1,000 yards on the year with 1,073 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Johnson added 96 yards rushing for the Red Raiders.

“(Tanner) and Andrew Kesterholt had really good games rotating at the fullback spot,” Defillipi said. “They did a fantastic job.”

Heeter was 9 of 20 passing for 144 yards for Clarion but was also sacked five times. He was just 2 of 10 for four yards after starting the game 7 of 10 for 140 yards.

“Heeter did a nice job,” Wiser said. “But we ran out of pass plays real quick with protection schemes limiting the number of people you can put out (in the pattern). But Heeter did a nice job.”

NOTES – It’s Cameron County’s second District 9 title. The Red Raiders also beat Clarion in the Class A title game in 1999. Cameron County is 2-1 in D9 title games … Clarion has now lost four straight District 9 title games and is 1-6 all-time in District 9 title games … The game was originally scheduled for Friday night but was moved to Saturday afternoon because of snow. The field at Brockway was covered with snow prior to the game despite being cleared Friday night and Saturday morning. The turf field was then cleared again at 12:30 p.m., a half hour prior to game time and was in decent condition for most of the game.  

CAMERON COUNTY 18, CLARION 8

Score by Quarters

Clarion 0 8 0 0 – 8

Cameron Co. 12 6 0 0 – 18

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CC – Andy Lippert 2 run (bad snap on kick), 9:56

CC – Lippert 55 run (run failed), 3:13

Second Quarter

CC – Lippert 17 run (pass failed), 3:04

CL – Kevin Grejda 1 run (Jarrod Carpin pass from Brandon Heeter), 1:47

TEAM STATISTICS

CL  CC      

First Downs            10        18

Rushes-Yards         40-18   53-304

Passing Yards         144      0

Passing: Comp-Att-Int       9-20-0  0-2-1

Total Yards            162      304

Fumbles-Lost         2-1       5-3

Penalties-Yards      9-65     5-42

Punts-Avg. 6-31.2  4-23.8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Clarion: Bubba Rue 20-48; Kevin Grejda 10-27; Joel Matticks 1-3; Jon Kemmer 3-minus 5; TEAM 1-minus 19; Brandon Heeter 5-minus 36. Cameron County: Andy Lippert 13-115; Tanner Johnson 15-96; Randy Schatz 14-52; Andrew Kesterholt 7-24; Hunter Bardo 1-12; Jason Blose 3-5.

Passing – Clarion: Brandon Heeter 9-for-20, 144 yards. Cameron County – Jason Blose 0-for-2, 1 interception.

Receiving – Clarion: Gavin Griffin 3-64; Erik Hartle 2-7; Cody Renninger 1-37; Jarod Carpin 1-22; Kevin Grejda 1-12; Bubba Rue 1-2.

Interceptions – Clarion: Bubba Rue 1.