CLARION 20, KEYSTONE 7

Sept. 9, 2005

By Chris Rossetti

KNOX – Going into Friday night’s KSAC clash between Clarion and Keystone at Keystone High School, no body gave the home team much of a chance to win.

After all, Clarion was coming off a 71-0 pasting of A-C Valley, while Keystone had lost 26-8 to Redbank Valley.

And while the Bobcats (2-0 overall, 2-0 KSAC) did beat the Panthers 20-7, Keystone (0-2, 0-2) earned a lot of respect in the loss.

"Our kids came to play," Keystone head coach Jason Nellis said. "We probably had the upper hand from the second quarter on, but we made some mistakes early. Some might call this a moral victory."

The Panthers, indeed, had the upper hand for the game’s final 30 minutes outscoring Clarion 7-0 in that span while outgaining the Bobcats 166-136.

But it was the first 18 minutes that secure the victory for Clarion.

The Bobcats built a 20-0 lead with six minutes left in the first half while outgaining Keystone 207-59 in that span with 50 of Keystone’s yards coming on one play.

"This week we didn’t practice well," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "I don’t know why, but I think the kids would be the first ones to say that. And Keystone always plays us tough. I want to give them and their staff a lot of credit for a good game plan. They played a fine ball game."

Keystone’s defense while not shutting down Clarion’s offense – the Bobcats racked up 343 yards – did come up with big plays including forcing four turnovers, including three in the second half.

"We thought turnovers would be one of the keys," Nellis said. "At halftime I told our guys that we were getting good pursuit and now we needed to start stripping the ball. We were able to do that a couple of times."

But while the Clarion offense was turning the ball over and not scoring, it was eating up precious time in the second half. Of the 24 Bobcat plays in the half, 23 of them were runs, and Clarion held the ball for 15:50 of the half compared to 8:10 for Keystone.

"One of the things we wanted to do in the second half was eat clock so they won’t be throwing the ball against us," Wiser said. "We wanted to try to take some possession time. We did shoot ourselves in the foot a couple of times with the turnovers."

Even with the big time of possession for Clarion in the second half, Keystone still managed to run 46 plays in the game with everyone of them coming out of the shotgun formation. Keystone threw 30 times for 255 yards. But the Bobcat run defense was incredible holding the Panthers to negative 30 yards rushing on 19 carries while coming up with five sacks.

"We threw a lot, but unfortunately it was because we had to," Nellis said. "We got ourselves down 20-0, and Clarion is a hard team to run on."

The passing game helped Keystone get the ball into Clarion territory on nine of the Panthers 10 possessions, but only one of those possessions ended in the end zone.

"I thought defensively, especially in the second half, out kids played pretty well," Wiser said. "We did some different things in the second half to adjust to what they were doing. That was a completely new offense they showed us."

Clarion started fast scoring twice in a span of 26 seconds to take a 13-0 lead with 6:13 left in the first quarter.

The Bobcats first score came at the end of a 6-play, 80-yard drive when Sean Wolf hit Manny Carpin with a 12-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-9 from the Keystone 12-yard line. The other big play of the drive, which gave Clarion a 6-0 lead, was a 58-yard pass from Carpin to Wolf

Clarion then might have gotten a break from the officials when Keystone quarterback Mike Switzer was ruled to have fumbled the ball when he was sacked by Clarion’s Brad Rapp. It appeared Switzer’s arm was moving forward on the play for what would have been an incomplete pass, but the officials ruled he fumbled the ball. Clarion’s Eric Grejda pounded on the loose pigskin and returned it to the Keystone 20.

Two plays later, Carpin scampered 20 yards for the Bobcat’s second touchdown at 6:13. The extra point by Wolf was good making it 13-0.

Clarion made it 20-0 midway through the second quarter when it mounted its second 80-yard drive of the game.

It took just two plays and a Keystone penalty to go the 80 yards with Brad Rapp’s 64-yard run on the first play of the drive coupled with a Keystone penalty moved the ball to the Panther 8. From there, Chris McSwain scored on an 8-yard run making it 20-0 with 6:36 left in the first half.

That is what the score looked like it was going to be at halftime until Switzer intercepted a Wolf pass with 30 seconds left in the half giving Keystone the ball at its own 48. Switzer injured his ankle on the play and didn’t play again, so he was relieved at quarterback by Justin Bifano.

Bifano then engineered a 5-play, 52-yard scoring drive that cut Clarion’s lead to 20-7 at halftime.

Bifano scored the touchdown on a 6-yard run as time expired. The big play of the drive was a 37-yard pass from Bifano to Kyle McMunn that put the ball at the Clarion 6.

"Halftime kind of game at a bad time," Nellis said. "We were pretty fired up, and then you have that delay and have to try to get back into it."

Keystone had plenty of opportunities to score in the second half but was stopped short on all of them.

Finally, the Bobcats took over with 6:27 left in the game and promptly ran out the clock driving to the Keystone 9-yard line before taking a knee on the last play of the game.

McSwain led Clarion with 19 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown. Rapp ran five times for 79 yards. Carpin ran five times for 42 yards and a score and caught two passes for 70 and a score.

Switzer was 6-for-13 passing for 136 yards, while Bifano was 6-for-17 for 119 yards. Corey Lee had three catches for 106 yards. McMunn had four catches 86 yards.

NOTES – McSwain injured his knee late in the game and despite returning for a couple of plays needed some help getting off the field following the game … Wiser doesn’t believe the injury is serious … Nellis also doesn’t believe Switzer’s injury is serious saying the sophomore turned his ankle but they don’t think it is sprained.

Clarion 13 7 0 0 – 20

Keystone 0 7 0 0 – 7

C – Manny Carpin 12 pass from Sean Wolf (kick failed), 6:39

C – Carpin 22 run (Wolf kick), 6:13

C – Chris McSwain 8 run (Wolf kick), 6:36

K – Justin Bifano 6 run (Scott Lutz kick), :00

First Downs 15 9

Rushes-Yards 41-273 19-(-30)

Passing Yards 70 255

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 2-5-2 12-30-0

Total Yards 343 225

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 5-54 7-60

Punts-Avg. 2-32.5 6-32.8

Rushing – Clarion: Chris McSwain 19-92, Sean Wolf 5-13, Elliot Fabri 4-11, Manny Carpin 5-42, Brad Rapp 5-79, Eric Grejda 1-16, Tony McMillen 1-20, Team 1-0. Keystone: Mike Switzer 5-(-19), Derek Swartfager 8-(-25), Ross Neely 1-2, Justin Bifano 4-24, Team 1-(-12).

Passing – Clarion: Sean Wolf 2-for-5, 70 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions. Keystone: Mike Switzer 6-for-13, 136 yards. Justin Bifano 6-for-17, 119 yards.

Receiving – Clarion: Manny Carpin 2-70. Keystone: Ross Neely 4-33, Kyle McMunn 4-86, Corey Lee 3-106, Alex Rowan 1-30.

Punting – Clarion: Paul McGinley 2-65. Keystone: Derek Swartfager 6-197.

Interceptions – Keystone 2 (Mike Switzer, Kyle McMunn)