CLARION DOMINATES KEYSTONE

Sept. 3, 2004

CLARION – For a brief span of time in the first half, it must have felt like 2000 all over again for the Clarion football coaching staff.

The Bobcats offense thanks to two Keystone fumbles scored three touchdowns in a span of 1:29 in the first quarter to break open a scoreless game on their way to a 46-0 win over Keystone in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

"Our kids came to play tonight," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "Every facet of the game was working. We had some real big, great plays in the beginning. The defense set up the offense, and the offense chipped it in."

Clarion scored at the 6:58, 5:48 and 5:29 marks of the first quarter to send their fans into ecstasy and stun the Keystone faithful.

"Too much happened too quickly for a young team," first-year Keystone head coach Jason Nellis said. "We had basically four turnovers in the first quarter that hurt. They had a short field to work with all quarter. The momentum went the other way fast."

The first bad break for the Panthers came on the opening drive of the game when senior center Zack Witkowski was lost for the game with an injury.

"With him hurt, that limited our play calling," Nellis said.

Moments after the Witkowski injury, freshman Derek Swartfager shanked a punt eight yards setting Clarion up at the Keystone 42 for its first drive of the season.

It took the Bobcats two plays to hit a big play when Sean Wolf hit Manny Carpin with a 25-yard pass down to the Keystone 15-yard line. Five plays later, Chris McSwain scored the first of two touchdowns on a 1-yard run giving the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.

On Keystone’s next play from scrimmage, freshman quarterback Mike Switzer and senior running back Sam Swartzfager had trouble with the handoff, and Clarion’s Zack Seitz recovered the fumble at the Keystone 26-yard line.

Three plays later, Elliot Fabri took a handoff and cut outside for a 26-yard touchdown run giving Clarion a 14-0 lead.

Keystone’s woes continued on its next play when Switzer couldn’t handle the snap, and Seitz recovered the fumble at the Keystone 35.

It took the Bobcats one play to score, as Wolf hit Carpin with a 35-yard scoring toss to make it 21-0 just like that.

Things didn’t get much better for Keystone on its next possession despite the Panthers picking up their first first down of the game.

But after getting the first down, the offense went backwards losing nine yards rushing and getting two 5-yard penalties called against it to make it 3-and-29 from its own 15-yard line. An 18-yard pass from Switzer to Kyle McMunn did get the ball out to the 33 but forced a punt.

Swartfager had trouble handling the punt snap, and by the time he tracked the ball down he was tackled at the Keystone 15-yard line giving Clarion the ball there.

Three plays later, Fabri plunged in from a foot out to make it 27-0 Clarion with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.

The start of the second quarter didn’t change Keystone's fortunes, as Carpin intercepted a Switzer pass on the second play of the quarter and returned it 25 yards for another Clarion touchdown making it 33-0 Bobcats with 11:13 left in the first half.

A little less than four minutes later, Clarion made it 40-0 when Carpin scored his third touchdown of the half on a 72-yard run.

With the Bobcats up 40-0 at halftime, the Mercy Rule kicked in at the start of the second half. But Clarion wasted little time closing out the scoring, as McSwain scored his second touchdown of the night on the first play of the second half taking a handoff 64 yards for a score.

While the Clarion offense was racking up points, the Clarion defense was holding Keystone at bay limiting the Panthers to just 27 yards rushing on 29 attempts for the night including limiting Keystone to zero or negative yards on 18 of those rushing attempts.

Overall, Keystone gained 160 yards of total offense with 74 passing yards coming on Keystone’s last possession against the Clarion reserves.

"We were aggressive coming off ball," Wiser said. "We were really changing the line of scrimmage. We stepped up tonight on the line."

Clarion meanwhile racked up 382 yards off offense including 315 yards rushing on just 34 carries for a 9.4 yards per carry average while scoring five rushing touchdowns.

"We have some horses up front," Wiser said. "Hopefully they keep growing each week. We have to keep working on their quickness and getting them down field."

McSwain, a junior, had a big night for the Bobcats rushing nine times for 148 yards and two touchdowns, while Fabri added six totes for 57 and two scores. Carpin had one run the 72-yard touchdown and added two catches for 60 yards and a score. Wolf finished the night 3-for-6 for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Switzer had an OK night for a freshman playing his first high school game going 5-for-12 passing for 133 yards and one interception, although 74 of those yards came on his last two completions against Clarion’s reserves.

Clarion is on the road next week at St. Marys, while Keystone opens its home schedule with Union.

Keystone – 0 0 0 0 – 0

Clarion – 27 13 6 0 – 46

C – Chris McSwain 1 run (Zack Seitz kick), 6:58

C – Elliot Fabri 26 run (Seitz kick), 5:48

C – Manny Carpin 35 pass from Sean Wolf (Seitz kick), 5:29

C – Fabri 1 run (Kick failed), 0:10

C – Carpin 25 interception return (Pass failed), 11:13

C – Carpin 72 run (Seitz kick), 7:25

C – McSwain 64 run (Kick blocked), 10:57

First Downs 6 13

Rushes-Yards 29-27 34-315

Passing Yard 133 67

Passes:Comp-Att-Int 5-13-1 3-6-0

Total Yards 160 382

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 4-25

Punts-Avg 4-27.0 2 2-28.5

Rushing – Keystone: Saw Swartzfager 16-42, Mike Switzer 6-7, Dan Irwin 1-0, Matt Bashline 1-0, Zach Banner 4-(-4) , Team 1-(-18). Clarion: Chris McSwain 9-148, Manny Carpin 1-72, Elliot Fabri 6-57, Brad Rapp 12-43, Sean Wolf 1-0, Tony McMillen 2-0, Justin Arner 1-(-1), Cody Dolby 1-(-3), Team 1-(-1).

Passing – Keystone: Mike Switzer 5-for-12, 133 yards, 1 interception. Sam Swartzfager 0-for-1, 0 yards. Clarion: Sean Wolf 3-for-6, 67 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – Keystone: Kyle McMunn 3-97, Ross Neely 2-36. Clarion: Manny Carpin 2-60, Justin Arner 1-7.

Punting – Keystone: Derek Swartfager 4-108. Clarion: Chris McSwain 1-27, Blake Lantelme 1-30.

Sacks – Clarion: Joel Peters.

Fumble Recoveries – Clarion: Zack Seitz (2).

Interceptions – Clarion: Manny Carpin.