DuBOIS – The Clearfield Bisons captured their fourth District 9 football championship and Dave Richards put on another show on the turf at E.J. Mansell Stadium.

Two weeks after leading the Bisons to a regular-season win over DuBois, Richards rushed for 315 yards and six touchdowns as the Bisons beat Punxsutawney, 40-7, in the District 9 Class AAA Championship game.

Clearfield (8-2) won its seventh straight game and claimed its first title since 1999 when it won its second straight Class AAA crown. The Bisons will now play the District 6 champion – Indian Valley or Penn Cambria – next Friday once again at Mansell Stadium.

Richards scored on runs of 54, 34 and 86 yards in the first quarter, 43 yards in the second quarter, 10 yards in the third quarter and 16 yards to close out the Bisons’ scoring midway through the fourth quarter.

Richards broke the District 9 career touchdown mark held by Kyle Cathcart of Clarion. Needing four to tie Cathcart’s mark of 73 TDs, Richards now sits at 75 career touchdowns, including 37 TDs this year.

Richards not only went over 2,000 yards for the season – he now has 2,294 yards – but he also moved closer to passing Cathcart on the district all-time rushing yardage chart. With 4,427 yards, Richards is 22 yards shy of Cathcart’s 4,449 career yards. Brockway’s Aaron Cantafio is the all-time leader with 4,694 career yards.

The Bisons struck early and often with Richards toting the ball. Clearfield scored on its first three possessions and led 20-0 at the end of the first quarter. The three scores came on three Bisons’ possessions totaling only six plays.

After stopping Punxsutawney (6-5) on a 13-play possession on downs at the Bisons’ 32, Clearfield needed on three plays to find the end zone for its fourth score, a Richards 43-yard romp with 5:06 left in the second quarter.

Clearfield made it 33-0 at the end of the third quarter on Richards’ 10-yard run that broke Cathcart’s record. In the fourth, the Bisons enacted the PIAA Mercy Rule’s continuous running clock when Richards scored on a 16-yard run with 7:47 remaining.

Punxsutawney moved the ball throughout most of the night, thanks to a effective passing game that amassed 240 yards. The Chucks ran 35 plays to the Bisons’ 16 in the first half and were stopped on downs inside the Bisons’ 10 twice.

The Chucks finally found the end zone on a gimmick play in the final minutes. Fullback Kory Blose tossed a 31-yard pass to James Pritchard with 1:32 remaining.

Punxsutawney quarterback Joe Martin completed 14 of 25 passes for 149 yards. While the Chucks’ passing game had success, the running game did not as the Bisons limited the Chucks to 82 yards, 42 of it coming on one Martin run.

Dustin Guidash, who rushed for 253 yards against the Owls’ in the Chucks’ semifinal victory last week, was limited to minus-6 yards on five carries. Guidash did catch six passes for 59 yards. Kyle Barilar caught five passes for 86 yards.

Punxsutawney 0 0 0 7 - 7

Clearfield 20 7 6 7 - 40

C – Dave Richards 54 run (conversion failed), 8:08.

C – Dave Richards 34 run (Rob Kulling kick), 6:05.

C – Dave Richards 86 run (Rob Kulling kick), 2:19.

C – Dave Richards 43 run (Rob Kulling kick), 5:06.

C – Dave Richards 10 run (conversion failed), :56.

C – Dave Richards 16 run (Rob Kulling kick), 7:47.

P – James Pritchard 31 pass from Kory Blose (Jay Neal kick), 1:32.

C P

First Downs 12 16

Rushes-Yards 38-382 25-82

Passing Yards 8 240

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 1-5-0 18-30-0

Total Yards 390 322

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-2

Punts-Avg. 4-40 4-30.8

Penalties-Yards 6-66 4-36

Rushing – Clearfield: Dave Richards 18-315, Josh Harbold 8-36, Michael Sayers 6-22, Tyson Johnson 1-8, Colin Little 3-3, Allan Queen 1-(-1), Team 1-(-1). Punxsutawney: Zack Bernat 8-41, Joe Martin 9-37, Joe Troupe 1-7, Kyle Barilar 1-3, Kory Blose 1-0, Dustin Guidash 5-(-6).

Passing – Clearfield: Michael Sayers 1-for-5, 8 yds. Punxsutawney: Joe Martin 14-of-25, 149 yds.; Joe Troupe 3-for-4, 60 yds.; Kory Blose 1-for-1, 31 yds., 1 TD.

Receiving – Clearfield: Todd Shaw 1-8. Punxsutawney: Kyle Barilar 5-86, James Pritchard 3-63, Dustin Guidash 6-59, Andy Snyder 2-26, Zack Bernat 1-8, Adam Miloser 1-(-2).

Punting – Punxsutawney: Joe Martin 4-123 (30.8 avg.). Clearfield: Rob Kulling 3-126 (42.0 avg.), Tanner Kelly 1-34 (34.0 avg.).

Kick Returns – Punxsutawney: Kyle Barilar 3-72, Zack Bernat 1-5. Clearfield: Dustin Clark 1-0, Leigh Woolridge 1-0.

Punt Returns – Punxsutawney: Kyle Barilar 2-16, Dustin Guidash 1-11. Clearfield: Dave Richards 1-22.

Sacks – Clearfield: Josh Harbold, Kurt Meckey.