By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Punxsutawney’s defense continued its dominating ways while helping the Chucks win their 14^th straight regular-season game 35-0 at Clarion Friday night.

It was the third shutout of the season for Punxsutawney (6-0), which has allowed just 21 points through six weeks and never more than seven points in any one game.

“I think for one thing, its individuals that are playing well,” Punxsutawney head coach Alan Nichol said. “Those front six guys are doing the job. They are handling everything right in there. On top of that, you have nine guys out there with experience who make adjustments on their own. When you have experienced, aggressive, good tacklers out there making decisions, good things tend to happen.”

The Chucks defense limited Clarion to 96 total yards for the game including just 54 yards rushing on 37 carries while also helping to set the Punxsutawney offense up in Clarion territory five times, including on four of the game’s first five drives when the Chucks average starting position was the Clarion 35.   

“We put the defense in bad situations,” Clarion head coach Judd Allan said. “Talk about offensive field position, they had great offensive field position. It’s tough on the defense. They didn’t do a bad job when (Punxsutawney) didn’t have a short field.”

Punxsutawney’s first defensive stand came after Clarion’s defense stopped the Chucks on downs at the Clarion 5-yard line. The Bobcats offense lost two yards on three plays and was forced to punt. Zak Dickey returned the punt 28 yards setting Punxsutawney right back up at the Clarion 5-yard line.

Jason Fallara took care of business from there, scoring the only points Punxsutawney needed on a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:17 left in the first quarter making it 7-0.

“Zak has really had some games where he has changed the momentum with some punt returns,” Nichol said. “He’s an experienced guy who knows when to take a chance and has the guts to go in there and do it. It’s nice to have him there. I think it was a big play, and it took some of the momentum away from them from when they stopped us down inside the five or wherever it was.”

Punxsy’s defense came up with another big play early in the second quarter after Logan Weaver had a pass intercepted late in the first quarter by Clarion’s Camron Kirkland at the Clarion 20.

The Chucks got the ball right back when Devon Luzell recovered a Kirkland fumble at the Bobcat 17-yard line. That led to a 2-yard Fallara scoring run that coupled with a two-point conversion on a fake extra point kick attempt put the Chucks ahead 15-0 with 10:38 left in the first half.

“It’s hard to overcome mistakes like that,” Allan said. “You can’t do that. They are a well-coached, hard-nosed, disciplined team. To have success against a team like that, you can’t make those kinds of mistakes.”

Punxsutawney added six more points before halftime when Ben Blazavich scored on a 1-yard run with 59 seconds left in the half on a fullback dive play. The fullback dive was used with success by the Chucks and helped Blazavich run for a game-high 59 yards on just eight carries.

“We were just trying to find a little bit of a gap,” Nichol said. “When they started to put pressure on us, for want of a better idea, we thought if we could get a seam we could go. Ben Blazavich has run the ball well the first six games of this year and the last five games of last year. He busted a couple of those up in there.”

Clarion, which had just 18 yards of offense – nine passing, nine rushing – in the first half came out in the I-formation in the second half, the third different offense run by the Bobcats in the last two weeks joining the split-back veer and the spread, and had a modicum of success on some plays out of it.

“We will definitely want to narrow down (which offense we are going to use),” Allan said. “You don’t want to scrap something just because you have a bad game or two. But you also have to look at your personal and how it matches your team. I’m not going to beat my head against the wall just because I want something to work. We are going to narrow a lot of things down and get good at less things. I think there are two phases we do well. We are good in the spread, and I think we are pretty good in the Eye. We will probably narrow it down and try to get good at those two things.”  

Despite the limited success, Clarion couldn’t get close than the Punxsutawney 27, as the Chucks recorded their third shutout in six games – Punxsy has allowed 21 points all season.

Punxsy added a 1-yard Alex Fedigan touchdown run midway through the third quarter and a 3-yard scoring run from Glenn Perry with 9:39 to play that put the Mercy Rule into effect.

Clarion tries to get back on the winning path Friday night when it travels to winless A-C Valley. Punxsutawney hosts Moniteau Friday.

NOTES – Clarion was Mercy Ruled for the first time since Oct. 20, 2006, when it lost at Southern Columbia 35-0. It marked the first time the Bobcats have been Mercy Ruled at home since Oct. 25, 2002, when Keystone beat Clarion 35-0 … Clarion was shutout for the first time this season and for the first time at home since Oct. 10, 2008, when Karns City beat the Bobcats 13-0 … Punxsutawney’s 14-straight regular-season wins are the second most in school history behind the school-record 17 straight from 1963-64. The Chucks have won 15 straight games against District 9 opponents and are 15-1 since starting the 2009 season 0-2 … Punxsutawney has recorded back-to-back shutouts, the second District 9 team to achieve that feat this year joining Johnsonburg … The Chucks join Johnsonburg - which shutout Ridgway Friday night - as the first District 9 teams to record three shutoutsthis year. Kane accomplished the feat last season. No District 9 teams has recorded four shutouts in a season since Cameron County had four in 2008 … This is the first time Punxsy has recorded three shutouts in a season since 1991. The school record is seven shutouts in a season in 1929 with the modern record being six in 1977, which is the last time Punxsy went unbeaten in the regular season (10-0).

PUNXSUTAWNEY 35, CLARION 0

Score by Quarters

Punxsy 7 14 7 7 – 35

Clarion 0 0 0 0 – 0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

P – Jason Fallara 5 run (Kody Young kick), 4:17

Second Quarter

P – Fallara 2 run (Corban Cressley pass to Duell Thompson), 10:38

P – Ben Blazavich 1 run (Kick failed), 0:59

Third Quarter

P – Alex Fedigan 1 run (Young kick), 5:03

Fourth Quarter

P – Glenn Perry 3 run (Young kick), 9:39

            P          C

First Downs    18        7

Rushes-Yards  40-220 37-54

Passing Yards 79        42

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            5-14-1  4-10-3

Total Yardage 299      96

Fumble-Lost    0-0       2-1

Penalties-Yards           2-23     3-15

Punts-Avg.      3-32.7  6-27.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Punxsutawney: Ben Blazavich 8-59, Glenn Perry 8-58, Jason Fallara 11-48, Alex Fedigan 4-31, Ceasar Marcus 1-19, Logan Weaver 5-13, Team 1-minus 2, Garrett Zimmerman 2-minus 6. Clarion: Marcus Smerker 10-39, Damien Slike 5-25, Danny Walters 7-11, Anthony Beveridge 1-3, Lewis Armstrong 1-2, Kris Burkhart 8-1, Cameron Kirkland 1-minus 4, Brandon Heeter 4-minus 23.

Passing – Punxsutawney: Logan Weaver 5-for-14, 79 yards, 1 interception. Clarion: Brandon Heeter 2-for-5, 9 yards, 1 interception; Danny Walters 2-for-3, 33 yards, 1 interception; John Katis 0-for-1, 0 yards, 1 interception, Marcus Smerker 0-for-1, 0 yards.

Receiving – Punxsutawney: Zak Dickey 2-25, Duell Thompson 1-19, Ben Blazavich 1-19, Jason Fallara 1-16. Clarion: Mitch Rhoades 2-33, Camron Kirkland 1-6, Marcus Smerker 1-3.

Interceptions – Punxsutawney: Tige Woodson, Logan Weaver, Garrett Zimmerman. Clarion: Camron Kirkland.