CLARION – After a heartbreaking loss to Karns City last week, Moniteau junior quarterback Kyle Armagost wanted to show his younger teammates what it meant to win a game.

And Friday night, Armagost put those teammates on his back and carried them to a 14-6 win over Clarion at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

“It meant a lot to us (to win the game),” Armagost said. “I wanted to make sure our young kids knew what it was like to win on Friday nights.”

With the game scoreless late in the third quarter, it was two big plays by Armagost that turned the tide in favor of Moniteau.

With the Warriors facing a third-and-6 from their own 25-yard line following a kept fumble by freshman running back Dustin Geagan, Armagost broke off a 57-yard run to the Clarion 18-yard line.

“It was an option to the right,” Armagost said. “The linebackers were flowing over, so I faked the pitch and cut it back up inside. The linebackers from flowing and we were running a streak with the receivers, so I knew in my mind it was open. I put my head down and ran.”

Moniteau’s coaches liked what they saw so much on the long run that they called the exact same play from the 18, and Armagost once again broke free for an 18-yard touchdown run and a 6-0 Warrior lead that quickly became 8-0 following his 2-point conversion run.

“(Armagost) is one of the best players I’ve seen in terms of making you miss,” Clarion head coach Judd Allan said. “I knew that coming in. He’s the real deal. When you are coming as hard as you can up the field to get him, and he makes one move and you have to stop, that’s tough. When you have a chance to tackle him, you better tackle him, or he is going to make you pay. He made us pay.”

Armagost then helped the Warriors go up 14-0 on their next possession when he threw a 17-yard screen pass to Geagan that went for a touchdown with 10:08 left in the game right after a bad punt snap, Clarion’s second bad punt snap of the game, gave Moniteau the ball at the Bobcat 15-yard line.

Clarion mounted its lone scoring drive on its next possession going 55 yards in 15 plays to cut the Moniteau lead to 14-6 on a 1-yard Danny Walters run. Walters accounted for 45 yards on the drive including a 17-yard scramble on fourth-and-16.

But that drive accounted for nearly half of Clarion’s offense in the game. The Bobcats, who had over 400 yards against Keystone in Week One, were limited to 115 yards against Moniteau, including 17 in the first half, a half that saw Clarion end up with zero first downs.

“About seven or eight years ago, I went to a clinic on how to stop the veer and the read-option and stuff,” Moniteau head coach Jeff Campbell said. “It’s mostly all on the defensive line. We do it all with line stunts. I call the base (defense) from sidelines and the linebacker reads it as they lineup and calls the checks out there. I thought they did a pretty good job for the most part. It’s a very tough offense to stop.”

Clarion’s best scoring opportunity of the first half came in the midway through the first quarter when Brandon Samulewski intercepted an Armagost pass at the Moniteau 37 and returned it to the Warrior 14.

But on the first play following the interception, Walters gave it right back when his pass into the end zone was picked off in the corner of the end zone by Ethan Pry.

“That’s my fault,” Allan said. “I wanted to kind of pounce on them.”

Moniteau returned the favor by failing to score twice late in the first half despite unbelievable field position.

First, the Warriors took over at the Clarion 22 after Dennis Pry recovered a Mike Smith fumble. But after an 8-yard Armagost run on first down, the Warriors lost three yards on second down before an incomplete pass set up a fourth-and-5 from the 17. Armagost then picked up only four yards giving Clarion the ball back.

The Bobcats did nothing with it and were forced to punt. But the punt snap went over Walters head, and although he recovered at the Clarion 13, Moniteau took over on down there.

Jeff Campbell elected to try a 30-yard field goal by David Campbell, but Campbell’s kick was well short leaving the game scoreless at halftime.

“I was glad to get out of the first half 0-0,” Allan said. “I thought at that point the team that scored first would probably have the upper hand. It ended up being true.”

MONITEAU 14, CLARION 6

Score by Quarters

Moniteau 0 0 8 6 – 14

Clarion 0 0 0 6 – 6

Scoring Summary

Third Quarter

M – Kyle Armagost 18 run (Armagost run), 0:01

Fourth Quarter

M – Dustin Geagan 17 pass from Armagost (pass failed), 10:08

C – Danny Walters 1 run (Cameron Slike kick failed), 3:30

Team Statistics

            M         C

First Downs    9          9         

Rushes-Yards  30-208 44-91

Passing Yards 29        24

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            2-11-2  3-14-1

Total Yards     237      115

Fumbles-Lost  2-1       4-1

Punts-Avg.      3-33.3  4-33.0

Penalties-Yards           5-30     4-43

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Moniteau: Kyle Armagost 18-163, Ethan Pry 2-43, David Campbell 2-6, Dustin Geagan 8-minus 4. Clarion: Danny Walters 19-49, Kris Burkhart 11-46, Marcus Smerker 10-31, Camron Kirkland 1-3, Brandon Heeter 1-1, TEAM 2-minus 39.

Passing – Moniteau: Armagost 2-for-11, 29 yards, 1 touchdowns, 2 interceptions. Clarion: Walters 2-for-10, 14 yards, 1 interception. Heeter 1-for-4, 10 yards.

Receiving – Moniteau: Geagan 2-29. Clarion: Mitchell Rhoades 1-13, Kirkland 1-10, Mike Smith 1-1.

Interceptions – Moniteau: Pry. Clarion: Smith, Brandon Samulewski.