STRATTANVILLE – Jordan Johnston tackled Ridgway quarterback Andy Kelly on a 2-point conversion attempt with 3:54 left in the game to preserve a 21-19 win for C-L (10-0) in the semifinals of the District 9 Class A playoffs Friday night at C-L.

Moments earlier Kelly had scored Ridgway’s third touchdown of the game on a 1-yard sneak to pull the Elkers within two points.

Knowing it needed the 2-point conversion to tie the game, Ridgway (7-3) called time-out.

After the time-out, Kelly faked a handoff and rolled toward his left looking for his tight end in the end zone. Johnston shot the gap, however, and tackled Kelly back at the 8-yard line.

"We knew it was the biggest play of the game," Johnston said. "We knew if we stopped them we could run out the clock and win the game. If I hadn’t stepped up, someone else would have."

On the ensuing kickoff, the Elkers attempted an on-side kick. But C-L’s Brad Beggs covered the ball at the Ridgway 49.

Ridgway wasn’t done holding the Lions to a three-and-out with just under two minutes to play.

Sitting at the Ridgway 40 with a fourth-and-1, the Lions lined up to go for the first down. But a delay of game penalty pushed C-L back five yards and made the Lions change their mind and punt.

Near disaster struck on the punt snap, as it was wide. Punter Hayden Johnston, though, was able to coral the ball and get off a punt with a hoard of Elkers in his face. The ball was a wounded duck, but it pinned Ridgway back at its 22-yard line with only 1:29 on the clock.

Kelly tried to lead a miracle comeback moving Ridgway to the Ridgway 43-yard line, but two incomplete passes in a row gave the ball back to C-L with 20 seconds left. The Lions then downed it for the win, the first playoff win for C-L since 1998.

"We were just talking about not letting them score following the punt," Jordan Johnston said. "We were talking about not letting them move the ball and not allowing them to do anything. We wanted this game. We wanted to win this game and get the monkey (of losing in the first round the last two years) off our back. It is now time to start rolling and get ready for next week."

C-L will now awaits the winner of Saturday night’s other semifinal contest between Kane and Coudersport.

It was a tough loss for the Elkers to take, as they dominated the statistics sheet. Ridgway outgained C-L 260 yards to 148 including 183-32 in the second half. The Elkers ran 61 plays to C-L’s 34 and had 15 first downs to the Lions seven. Ridgway controlled the ball for 30:12, while C-L had the pigskin for just 17:48 including only 7:15 in the second half.

"It is what we have been saying all year with our loses, we outgained them but we lost on the scoreboard," Ridgway head coach Mark Morelli said. "I have to tip my hat to C-L. They did what they had to do to win the football game."

While C-L didn’t make any mistakes, the Elkers made three costly mistakes that hurt Ridgway.

"When you get into a playoff game, you have to play a mistake-free football game like Clarion-Limestone did tonight."

The first mistake came with 36 seconds left in the first half and the game tied at seven following a Lions touchdown.

Ridgway tried to run Kelly on a quarterback draw, but Kelly fumbled the ball at the Ridgway 31-yard line. C-L’s Ben Brooks fell on the lose ball giving C-L the ball back.

On the first play after the fumble, the Lions called a screen pass to Brooks. Brooks caught the ball at around the 30-yard line, and the play looked like it might go for a few yards. Jordan Johnston, though, pulling out from his guard position pancake blocked a Ridgway defender springing Brooks for a 23-yard gain down to the Ridgway 8-yard line.

Following a C-L time-out, the Lions executed a perfect play-action pass with Hayden Johnston faking a handoff to Brooks, who was swarmed by Ridgway defenders who bit on the fake. Johnston then found Harley Doane in the back of the end zone for a touchdown giving C-L a 14-7 lead at the half.

"We stayed positive with the kids," Morelli said. "We have faced adversity all year. We were down at halftime against Curwensville and came back to win. But those last four or five minutes of the second quarter came back to haunt us in the fourth quarter. We couldn’t make up the difference."

The second Ridgway mistake, or in this case maybe bad luck, came right after the Elkers scored on their first drive of the second half to pull within a point at 14-13 with 5:53 left in the third quarter. Tim Johnson, whose first extra point try was dead on, came on for the PAT. But C-L got a rush on Johnson, and he pulled the ball wide left leaving the Lions ahead 14-13. The missed extra point would come in huge down the stretch.

The third Elker mistake came a few minutes later, when Brooks intercepted Kelly at the Ridgway 30.

Brooks broke to the far sideline after the interception and weaved his way into the end zone for a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. Rocky Davis’ third extra point of the night gave the Lions a 21-13 lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter.

"These kids just don’t give up," C-L head coach John Kundick said. "They hadn’t been tested before tonight, but they were tested tonight. It was probably the best thing that could have happened for them."

Ridgway wasn’t through yet.

The Elkers proceeded to go on an 18-play, 69-yard drive that ate up 9:40 off the clock scoring on Kelly’s 1-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

The key to the drive was two fourth-down conversions by Ridgway. The first one came at the C-L 17-yard line on a fourth-and-1 when Ryan Mitchell ran for two yards. The second one came at the C-L 8-yard line on a fourth-and-3 when Tom Buck broke a 7-yard run to the 1-yard line setting up Kelly’s score. Buck was stopped in the backfield on the run but broke a few tackles to rumble for the first down.

"We have a lot of confidence in our line and the way we can dominate the line," Morelli said. "We had to win six straight games to get here if someone is going to beat us they have to stop us on third- and fourth-and-short. We came down here to win."

Ridgway got on the board first on a 5-yard run by Mitchell with 10:52 left in the first half to take a 7-0 lead. The score ended an 11-play, 47-yard drive that took 5:54 seconds.

C-L responded late in the second quarter when Brendan Huwar scored on a 9-yard run with 46 seconds left. Huwar was hit at the line of scrimmage but broke two tackles to get into the end zone. The drive was a 7-play, 37-yard march that took 2:41 following a 33-yard punt by Ridgway and a 5-yard return by C-L.

The touchdown capped a 9-play drive that was highlighted by two 13-yard passes, one from Kelly to Justin Buehler and the other from Kelly to Dave Bundy.

CLARION-LIMESTONE 21, RIDGWAY 19

Score by Quarter

R – 0 7 6 6 – 19

C – 0 14 7 0 – 21

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

Rid – Ryan Mitchell 5 run (Tim Johnson kick) 10:52

C-L – Brendan Huwar 9 run (Rocky Davis kick) :46

C-L – Harley Doane 8 pass from Hayden Johnston (Davis kick) :18

Third Quarter

Rid – Josh Shirey 25 pass from Andy Kelly (Johnson kick failed) 5:53

C-L – Ben Brooks 30 interception return (Davis kick) 1:34

Fourth Quarter

Rid – Kelly 1 run (Kelly run failed) 3:54

R C

First Downs 15 7

Rushes-Yards 43-126 24-61

Passing Yards 124 87

Total Yardage 260 148

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 10-18-1 6-10-0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-Avg. 2-30.5 5-27.6

Penalties-Yards 5-35 6-42

Individual Stats

Rushing – Ridgway: Josh Mercer 3-9, Ryan Mitchell 20-69, Tom Buck 9-16, Tim Wright 2-3, Andy Kelly 9-39. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 9-25, David Brooks 4-12, Brendan Huwar 5-15, Ben Brooks 5-10, Team 1-(-1).

Passing – Ridgway: Andy Kelly 10-for-18, 124 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 6-for-10, 87 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – Ridgway: Josh Shirey 4-69, Josh Mercer 1-8, Justin Buehler 1-13, Dave Bundy 2-18, Tom Buck 1-8, Ryan Mitchell 1-8. Clarion-Limestone: David Brooks 1-13, Harley Doane 3-35, Brad Beggs 1-16, Ben Brooks 1-23.

Punting – Ridgway: Ryan Mitchell 1-28, Josh Shirey 1-33. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 5-138, 27.6 avg.