JOHNSTON, HUWAR, BEGGS, LIONS TOO MUCH FOR RIDGWAY

STRATTANVILLE – Clarion-Limestone played a near perfect game on its way to a 54-0 win over Ridgway in the District 9 Class A semifinals Friday night at C-L.

"Our guys have just been waiting for this moment," Clarion-Limestone head coach Todd Smith said. "This is what we have played for all year. I thought tonight we played with more intensity than we played all year. I think this is the best game we have played all year. But you never expect a game like this in the playoffs. I thought they looked as good as they did last year (when C-L beat Ridgway 21-19 in the first round of the playoffs). We expected a close game."

Ridgway head coach Mark Morelli was needless to say very impressed with the Lions.

"There is one word I can say, three letters," Morelli said. "Wow! Speed. Speed kills as you hear in the NFL. There is no defense for speed. There is no way you can coach it. There is no way you can simulate it in practice. It was a track meet tonight, and we had no answer to their speed. And I am not sure there is anyone in District 9 who is going to have the answer to the speed Clarion-Limestone showed tonight.

"I think Clarion-Limestone is going to go a long way and do a good job representing District 9. It is going to take one outstanding football team to beat them."

The Lions (10-0) didn’t just beat Ridgway (8-2) they beat them in every way imaginable. C-L outgained the Elkers 541 yards to 143 including 332 to 79 on the ground and 209 to 64 in the air. C-L scored eight of the 10 times it touched the ball including eight of nine by the first-team offense. The Lions scored on short drives – scoring twice when starting on the Elker side of the field – and on long drives – scoring three times on drives of 80 yards or more including a mind-boggling 95-yard drive that saw the Lions actually gain 121 yards of offense on it. C-L also forced five turnovers while only turning the ball over once itself.

"It was just a great effort by our kids," Smith said. "We tweaked a couple of things and did a couple of things different. But the credit has to go to the kids. They are the ones who have to perform out there, and they did tonight."

C-L junior quarterback Hayden Johnston had probably the best game of his career going 13-for-15 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns while adding nine carries for 158 yards and three touchdowns. He also added two key forced fumbles on defense early in the game. He went over 1,000 yards passing on the season.

"I did not expect that at all," Johnston said. "I expected them to come in and play a hard game. But we were clicking today. You couldn’t stop us. We had a great defense and a great offense.

"The (individual stats) don’t matter to me. The wins are the only thing that matter to me. As long as we go next week and win the game there that is all that matters."

Johnston wasn’t alone among Lion stars. Brendan Huwar ran 21 times for 160 yards and three touchdowns while going over 1,000 yards on the year. Brad Beggs had 10 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown while also intercepting a pass on defense and recovering a fumble.

The game actually started off well for Ridgway, as the Elkers took the opening kickoff 46 yards to the C-L 34. Ridgway then drove to the Lions 4-yard line, but C-L’s defense stiffened and forced a field goal try. But Nick Thompson’s 24-yard attempt was wide right.

"They hit a couple of nice plays," Smith said. "But our defense was able to hold, and Ron Frances was able to make a nice tackle on a swing pass down there to stop them."

C-L took over at its own 20-yard line, and it took the Lions one play to take the lead. Johnston took the option himself and went up the middle untouched 80 yards for a touchdown with 7:03 left in the first quarter. The extra point was no good, but the Lions led 6-0.

"The first run was just a simple option," Johnston said. "I found a couple of holes. I got a couple of blocks, and I was gone."

A big play by Johnston gave the Lions the ball back when he stripped the ball from Garrett Viglione and Nate Tote recovered at the Ridgway 20 with 6:57 left.

Four plays later, Huwar scored on a 1-yard run, and Beggs caught the two-point conversion pass from Johnston giving the Lions a 14-0 lead with 5:01 left.

On Ridgway’s next possession disaster struck again when Johnston stripped Beau Iorfido of the football with Beggs recovering the lose ball setting the Lions up at the Ridgway 37-yard line.

"I noticed on the first couple of plays when they were carrying the ball they were swinging it out," Johnston said. "Every time I went to tackle, I tried to strip the ball. Look what happened."

A 21-yard run by Huwar got C-L to the 12-yard line, and two plays later Johnston scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run giving the Lions a 21-0 lead with 2:51 left in the opening quarter.

Ridgway looked to have something going on its next possession when Viglione hit Iorfido with a 25-yard pass to the C-L 41-yard line. But on the second play the Lions put heavy pressure on Viglione whose pass was intercepted by C-L’s Tuffy Brooks giving the Lions the ball at the C-L 45-yard line.

"Our guys have been opportunistic like that the last two years," Smith said. "When the other team makes mistakes, they make them pay."

After the change of quarter, Johnston hit Beggs with a 14-yard pass to the Ridgway 5-yard line, and Huwar scored on a 5-yard run giving the Lions a 27-0 lead with 9:30 left in the first half.

The Lions got the ball back again their own 6-yard line following a 60-yard punt by Josh Shirey.

But near-disaster struck the Lions when Neil Reynolds fumbled the ball at the Ridgway 15 with Joe Schneider recovering for the Elkers.

C-L’s defense, however, rose to the occasion stopping Iorfido a chain-link short on a fourth-and-2 play from the seven giving the Lions the ball back at their own 5-yard line.

That set up the game’s most impressive drive with C-L going 95 yards in 10 plays scoring on a 17-yard pass from Johnston to Beggs with 1:06 left before halftime. What made the drive more impressive was the fact that C-L had three penalties for 25 yards on the drive and actually had to put together 121 yards of offense to score the touchdown. Huwar then tacked on the two-point conversion to put C-L up 35-0.

The Lions weren’t done with their first-half scoring, as an interception by Beggs set up C-L at the Ridgway 45-yard line with 23 seconds left in the half.

Johnston then hit Tyrone Pinson with a 45-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds left in the half making it 41-0. Pinson went deep on the play and used an incredible burst of speed to leave the Ridgway defender in the dust and catch up with the long pass for the score. It was the first touchdown catch of the year for Pinson, who transferred to C-L from Carmichael early in the season.

"We have been practicing that all year since he transferred," Johnston said. "I just looked the safety off, and Tyrone made a great route, I threw the ball and he caught it."

In the second half, the Lions got the ball to start the half and proceeded to go on a 6-play, 67 yard drive to make it 48-0. Huwar scored on a 20-yard run with 8:41 left in the third quarter capping a drive that saw him carry the ball three times for 37 yards.

After a Ridgway punt, C-L put up its last score of the game driving 83 yards in nine plays. Johnston scored on a 26-yard run. A run in which he stiff-armed Ridgway’s Kevin Sarginger at the 17-yard line breaking a tackle and sending Sarginger flat on his back. It was the third drive of 80 or more yards in the game for C-L.

The Lions junior varsity defense the held onto the shutout thanks in large part to two sacks by freshman Jim Nave after Ridgway had driven inside the C-L 20-yard line late in the game. The shutout was sealed by Cam Speer intercepted a Kyle Huber pass inside the 10-yard line.

The real trick for the Lions now heading into next week’s District 9 title game will be keeping the intensity they had against Ridgway.

"These guys won’t lose focus," Smith said. "They have had goals all year. Nothing is going to get us off of those goals. These guys are focused. We have to get back and get ready for next week. We will be playing a good team."

Score by Quarter

Ridgway 0 0 0 0 – 0

Clarion-Limestone 21 20 6 6 – 54

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CL – Hayden Johnston 80 run (Kicked failed), 7:03

CL – Huwar 1 run (Brad Beggs pass from Johnston), 5:01

CL – Johnston 6 run (Nate Tote kick), 2:51

Second Quarter

CL – Huwar 5 run (Kick failed), 9:30

CL – Beggs 17 pass from Johnston (Huwar run), 1:06

CL – Tyrone Pinson 45 run from Johnston (kick failed), :17

Third Quarter

CL – Huwar 20 run (Tote kick), 8:41

Fourth Quarter

CL – Johnston 20 run (kick failed), 11:22

TEAM STATISTICS

R C

First Downs 9 20

Rushes-Yards 30-79 35-332

Passing Yards 64 209

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 4-10-3 13-15-0

Total Yards 143 541

Penalties-Yards 4-35 8-66

Punts-Avg. 2-47 0-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Ridgway: Garrett Viglione 8-26, Tim Wright 4-11, Beau Iorfido 5-11, Tom buck 203, Zack Pontious 6-38, Ryan Keller 2-2, Kevin Sarginger 1-9, Kyle Huber 1-(-11), Nate Williamson 1-(-10). Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 9-158, Brendan Huwar 21-160, Neil Reynolds 1-5, Scott Davis 1-(-1), Cam Speer 3-10.

Passing – Ridgway: Garrett Viglione 4-for-9, 64 yards, 2 interceptions. Kyle Huber 0-for-1, 0 yards, 1 interception. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 13-for-15, 209 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Receiving – Ridgway: Josh Shirey 2-42, Tim Wright 1-(-3), Beau Iorfido 1-25. Clarion-Limestone: Brad Beggs 10-147, Scott Davis 1-6, Tyrone Pinson 1-45, Brendan Huwar 1-11.

Interceptions – Clarion-Limestone: Brad Beggs, Cam Speer, Tuffy Brooks.

Fumble Recoveries – Ridgway: Joe Schneider. Clarion-Limestone: Brad Beggs, Nate Tote

Fumbles Forced – Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston (2)

Sacks – Clarion-Limestone: Jim Nave (2), Dan Jeannerat.