BISHOP CARROLL'S DEFENSE HELPS END CLARION-LIMESTONE'S SEASON

CLARION – Bishop Carroll used a suffocating defense to shutdown the high-powered Clarion-Limestone offense and come away with an 18-7 win in the PIAA Class A Quarterfinals Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

"I thought we were right there," C-L head coach Todd Smith said. "I thought our kids fought like they have all year. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They lost to a good football team."

With the win, the Huskies advance to the Western Region Finals for the third straight year and for the fourth time in the last five years. They will face the WPIAL champion for the right to go to Hershey.

"We have been there in the past," Bishop Carroll head coach Craig Sponsky said. "It is an experience most of these kids have had. We know we are going to play a great football team. We definitely need to get better to beat that team."

The Huskies returned to the Western Final thanks to a defense that limited C-L, which came into the game averaging 360.3 yards and 33.3 points per game, to just 98 total yards of offense including only three rushing yards. The seven points were the fewest the Lions had been held to in almost three years. Karns City was the last time to hold C-L to under 10 points beating the Lions 25-7 Aug. 31, 2003.

"Our defense played good," Sponsky said. "If there is anyone's hands we wanted it (the game) in, it was our defenses. They got us here. They get excited about playing defense."

Doug Bodenschatz was the leader of the defense with 3 ½ sacks and an interception not to mention numerous tackles and quarterback hurries.

"He makes plays," Sponsky said. "He plays within the scheme. He has the knack to make the big play when we need it."

The Husky defense was at its best in the first half when it limited C-L to 11 plays, one yard and one first down, which came via a penalty.

In the second half, the Lions opened things up and had a little bit more success.

"In the second half we tried to spread them out a little bit and move the ball," Smith said. "We just had trouble moving them. We couldn’t run right at them. They were bigger, and they were more physical."

As good as Bishop Carroll’s defense played, C-L’s defense tried to match the Huskies play-for-play. The Lions limited Bishop Carroll to 235 total yards of offense with 137 of those yards coming on the Huskies three scoring drives.

"The defense played great," Smith said. "They hit and they smacked those guys.

Early on it looked like the C-L defense had set the tone for the game when it forced what appeared to be a three-and-out punt by Bishop Carroll.

But C-L got caught with just 10 players on the field during the punt, and Bishop Carroll punter Todd Koenig, who also happens to be the Huskies leading rusher, recognized the advantage and faked the punt picking up 12 yards and the first down.

"That is the way it (our punt team) is set up," Sponsky said. "It depends on how the defense reacts. Todd made a good run. It really put us in a good position to be successful."

Three plays after the fake, Paul Forcellini raced in from 23 yards out giving Bishop Carroll a 6-0 lead with 8:44 left in the first quarter. The Lions blocked the extra point.

C-L looked to gain an advantage early in the second quarter when Hayden Johnston boomed a 61-yard punt that died at the Husky 1-yard line.

The Lions defense then held and got C-L the ball back at the Bishop Carroll 21-yard line.

C-L then moved it to the 36-yard line, but Bodenscatz stepped in front of a short swing pass attempt by Johnston and intercepted the football.

While the Lions defense held, the interception changed the field position in the half.

The field position change came back to haunt the Lions late in the half when a Bishop Carroll punt pinned C-L back at its own 5-yard line.

The offense couldn’t get going, and the ensuing punt gave the Huskies the ball at the C-L 46-yard line.

Nine plays later, Koenig hit paydirt on a 2-yard run with 33 seconds left in the half.

The major play of the drive was a fourth-and-5 pass from Eric Lasinsky to Koenig from the C-L 22-yard line that ended up going for 11 yards. CL’s Tyrone Pinson had Koenig stopped short of the sticks, but Koenig broke the tackle and got the first down.

"I thought if we didn’t make a couple of mistakes in the first half (we could have won the game," Smith said. "First the fake punt, and then we missed some tackles."

The two-point pass was no good, but Bishop Carroll led 12-0 at halftime.

In the second half the Lions came out in the spread offense and were able to move the ball enough to make field position an issue.

C-L drove the Bishop Carroll 25-yard line on its first drive of the half, but a holding penalty and a sack forced the Lions to punt from the Bishop Carroll 43-yard line.

The Huskies fair caught the ball at the 4-yard line, and the Lions defense once again held giving C-L great field position at the Bishop Carroll 38-yard line.

But once again the offense couldn’t get moving and was forced to punt.

Johnston came up big again with his third punt of the night inside the 5-yard line pinning Bishop Carroll back at its own 2-yard line.

"Hayden has punted the ball well all year," Smith said. "He seems to have a big punt whenever we needed it. We were able to hold them and pin them back a couple of times, but we weren’t able to put the ball in the end zone."

After the Lions defense stopped Bishop Carroll on a three-and-out after the punt, the C-L offense finally did get into the end zone.

After a shot punt, the Lions took over at the Bishop Carroll 32-yard line.

A 27-yard pass from Johnston to Brad Beggs and a 2-yard run by Brendan Huwar got C-L to the 3-yard line. Johnston then found Beggs in the end zone with a 3-yard scoring pass with 18 seconds left in the third quarter. Nate Tote’s extra point cut the Bishop Carroll lead to 12-7.

Bishop Carroll drove to the C-L 25 on its next drive, but the Lions regained the momentum when they stop the Huskies short on a fourth-and-11 play.

The Lions really got the mainly friendly crowd into a frenzy by moving the ball out to midfield, but once again it was the Bishop Carroll defense that came up big when Joel Lauer intercepted a deep Johnston pass around the 30-yard line. Lauer returned the interception all the way back to the C-L 36-yard line.

That set up a 7-play game-clinching drive that ended on an 11-yard run by Forcellini, who ended with 55 yards rushing and two scores, with 3:25 left in the game

Koenig added 70 yards and a touchdown for the Huskies, while Lasinsky passed for 87 yards.

Johnston was 12-for-21 passing for C-L for 95 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions.

Beggs had five catches for 51 yards, while White had five for 38

Score by Quarter

BC – 6 6 0 6 – 18

CL – 0 0 7 0 – 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

BC – Paul Forcellini 23 run (Kick blocked), 8:44

Second Quarter

BC – Todd Koenig 2 run (Pass failed), :33

Third Quarter

CL – Brad Beggs 3 pass from Hayden Johnston (Nate Tote kick), :18

Fourth Quarter

BC – Forcellini 11 run (Run failed), 3:25

TEAM STATISTICS

BC CL

First Downs 11 10

Rushes-Yards 47-148 28-3

Passing Yards 87 95

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 5-9-0 12-21-3

Total Yards 235 98

Punts-Avg. 5-38.6 6-42.3

Penalties-Yards 9-66 3-17

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Bishop Carroll: Paul Koenig 22-70, Paul Forcellini 9-56, Eric Lasinsky 6-6, Dan Strong 6-14, Kevin Westrick 1-5, Team 3-(-3). Clarion-Limestone: Brendan Huwar 14-30, Hayden Johnston 12-(-30), Scott Davis 1-3, Cam Speer 1-0.

Passing – Bishop Carroll: Eric Lasinsky 5-for-9, 87 yards. Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 12-for-21, 95 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions.

Receiving – Bishop Carroll: Joel Lauer 2-23, Paul Koenig 2-55, Joel Takacs 1-9. Clarion-Limestone: Brad Beggs 5-51, Scott Davis 1-1, Erik White 5-38, Tyrone Pinson 1-5.

Interceptions – Bishop Carroll: Doug Bodenscatz, Brock Lauer, Joel Lauer.