DuBOIS – In a complete turnaround from their earlier meeting this year, the Clearfield Bisons notched some revenge and bounced District 6 champion Indian Valley from the PIAA Class AAA football playoffs.

The Bisons dumped the Warriors, 41-12, Friday night at E.J. Mansell Stadium. It was Clearfield’s third straight game in DuBois and the result was very similar to the first two routs of DuBois and Punxsutawney.

Clearfield (9-2) jumped out to a 28-0 lead by the midway point of the second quarter, led 35-6 at halftime and enacted the PIAA Mercy Rule midway through the third quarter.

The convincing win was Clearfield’s second state playoff win and first since 1994 when the Chad Kroell-led Bisons beat State College in the Class AAAA playoffs. The Bisons will play Perry or General McLane next week in the Western Region semifinals.

"It’s a big win," said Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko, who celebrated his 43^rd birthday. "They’re a great football team and to turn things around that much is a real credit to our kids and the staff. I’m just happy for our whole program."

Janocko was referring to the Bisons’ 42-15 loss to Indian Valley in September. Clearfield hasn’t lost since then and will take an eight game-winning streak into next week.

"This was our goal all year," Clearfield senior running back Dave Richards said. "We always wanted Indian Valley. We were told we could beat them and proved it tonight."

Richards continued his record-breaking season, scoring all five of the team’s six touchdowns. He rushed for 195 yards on 19 carries and scored on runs of 54, 2, 26, 5 and 48 yards. Richards had 136 yards by halftime and carried the ball only four times in the second half.

"I just thought our offensive line played really well," Janocko said. "We really blocked well and if you see Dave hit a crease, you know what happens."

"We didn’t tackle Dave Richards," Indian Valley head coach Gawen Stoker said. "He’s just generally a good football player. When he runs off-tackle, and we don'’ get him, it’ll be a long evening."

But the Bisons’ effective passing game added to an already potent attack. The two-dimensional offense made it all but impossible for Indian Valley to cover.

Quarterback Michael Sayers completed 4 of 5 passes for 111 yards. Three completions went to Todd Shaw for 81 yards. Richards caught one pass for 30 yards. All four completions came on scoring drives.

"We’ve been saying all year long and I’ve been preaching it and preaching it that we were going to need Mike Sayers and Todd Shaw to have a big game and they both did and they were the difference," Janocko said. "We were hoping Dave was going to get his yards and he did, but we needed to throw the ball to really break it open and those two connected tonight."

Richards started the scoring with a 54-yard TD run on the third play of the game.

After the teams traded punts, Indian Valley drove to the Bisons’ 48. On third-and-seven, Bisons’ sophomore linebacker Mike Scoggins decleated quarterback Jeff Hayes for a six-yard loss. But Hayes also fumbled on the play and sophomore lineman Scott Hall picked up the ball and ran 42 yards for the touchdown.

It became apparent that it was going to be Clearfield’s night.

"That was a huge play and turned the whole thing around there in the first quarter," Janocko said.

Turn around perhaps weren’t strong enough words.

"The fumble return hurt us," Stoker said. "Turnovers in general hurt us. That was a difference between this game and the last one. Last time, we made our own breaks. This time, they made their own breaks."

The Bisons upped their lead to 28-0 with 7:13 left in the first half in a span of a little over two minutes on TD runs of 2 and 26 yards by Richards.

After Matt Fetzer scored Indian Valley’s first touchdown on a 10-yard run, the Bisons answered again before intermission when Richards scored from 5 yards out. The drive went 71 yards on six plays, two of them pass completions to Shaw and Richards of 38 and 30 yards respectively.

"We just played phenomenal first half, I thought," Janocko said. "We came out in the second half and continued on. We played a great first half in all phases of the game. The whole team played pretty well."

Richards’ 48-yard TD run with 6:56 left in the third quarter made it 41-6 and enacted the PIAA Mercy Rule’s running clock.

Not much happened after that as the Bisons worked hard on running out the clock with their backups. Indian Valley scored with 40 seconds remaining in the game when backup quarterback Kyle Shawver tossed a 67-yard TD pass to Lucas Ferster.

NOTES: Clearfield outgained Indian Valley, 390-189. The Warriors didn’t go over 100 yards of offense until after the Bisons’ first-team defense left the game. … Richards hiked his season TD total to 45 and rushing yards to 2,479. Richards moved into second place all-time in District 9 career rushing yards with 4,622, passing Clarion’s Kyle Cathcart. He is now 73 yards from the district record held by Brockway’s Aaron Cantafio. … Indian Valley finished at 9-3.

Indian Valley 0 6 0 6 - 12

Clearfield 14 21 6 0 - 41

C – Dave Richards 54 run (Rob Kulling kick), 10:33.

C – Scott Hall 42 fumble return (Kulling kick), :55.

Second Quarter

C – Dave Richards 2 run (Kulling kick), 9:35.

C – Dave Richards 26 run (Kulling kick), 7:13.

I – Matt Fetzer 10 run (pass failed), 4:31.

C – Dave Richards 5 run (Kulling kick), 1:56.

C – Dave Richards 48 run (kick blocked), 6:56.

I – Lucas Ferster 67 pass from Kyle Shawver (run failed), :40.

C IV

First Downs 13 12

Rushes-Yards 44-279 26-75

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 4-5-0 5-17-1

Passing Yards 111 114

Total Yards 390 189

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 4-2

Punts-Avg. 1-26 3-38

Penalties-Yards 8-80 2-10

Rushing – Clearfield: Dave Richards 19-195, Josh Harbold 11-58, Colin Little 7-23, Michael Sayers 1-3, Tyson Johnson 4-2, Kyle Shirey 1-0, Team 1-(-2). Indian Valley: Derek Weaver 7-44, Matt Fetzer 8-34, Lucas Stewart 1-6, Matthew Shank 1-6, Joseph Colbert 2-(-10), Jeff Hayes 7-(-5).

Passing – Clearfield: Michael Sayers 4-for-5, 111 yds. Indian Valley: Jeff Hayes 4-for-16, 47 yds., 1 Int.; Kyle Shawver 1-for-1, 67 yds., 1 TD.

Receiving – Clearfield: Todd Shaw 3-81, Dave Richards 1-30. Indian Valley: Lucas Ferster 1-67, Joseph Colbert 2-32, Derek Weaver 1-17, Matt Fetzer 1-(-2).

Kick Returns – Clearfield: Nathan Shadeck 1-27, Todd Shaw 1-16, Tim Duckett 1-0. Indian Valley: Zach Heider 2-42, Matt Fetzer 3-36, Lucas Stewart 2-13.

Punt Returns – Clearfield: Dave Richards 2-15. Indian Valley: Matt Shank 1-2.

Sacks – Clearfield: Josh Harbold, Mike Scoggins.

Interceptions – Clearfield: Todd Shaw.