CLARION 41, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6

Oct. 14, 2005

CLARION – Clarion rebounded from its overtime loss at Karns City last week by beating arch rival and previously unbeaten Clarion-Limestone 41-6 Friday night before a packed crowd at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

The win creates a virtual 3-way tie at the top of the KSAC between Clarion (6-1 overall, 5-1 KSAC), C-L (6-1, 4-1) and Karns City (5-2, 4-1). Clarion closes out the season with games against Kennedy Catholic (non-conference) and Moniteau. C-L finishes with Union and Redbank Valley, while Karns City ends with A-C Valley and Union.

C-L, which saw its four-game winning streak against Clarion and its 21-game road winning streak come to ends, was forced to play the majority of the game without starting quarter and do-everything man Scott Davis. Davis was ejected from the contest with 5:29 left in the first quarter after the officials said he threw a punch at a Clarion player. The ejection happened immediately following Davis recovering a fumble in his own end zone for a safety that cut C-L’s lead to 6-2. Davis will also have to sit out C-L’s game against Union next week.

In a statement released by the officials, the officials said, "When a player punches another player it is an immediate ejection. There are no exceptions and there are no warnings."

"We would have liked to play this game with Scott Davis," Clarion wide receiver Manny Carpin said. "It’s just not the same. Whenever you take out the quarterback, that is their leader (you are taking out). You want to beat a team like this with their leader out there."

Davis came into the game accounting for 78.5 percent of the Lions offense and was the reigning D9Sports.com District 9 Player of the Week after accounting for 103 percent of C-L’s offense in a 29-27 win over Keystone last week.

His loss was felt on offense where C-L gained 59 yards in the six plus minutes he played while being held to 107 the remainder of the game.

David "Tuffy" Brooks took over at quarterback went 4 of 15 passing for 65 yards and three interceptions while running 10 times for 17 yards.

Brooks, who entered the game as the leading receiver in District 9 with 37 catches for 502 yards and two touchdowns, had played quarterback once before this season leading C-L to a come-from-behind 8-7 win at Moniteau in Week One after Davis got hurt in the first half. Coming into the game he was 8 of 12 passing for 42 yards and a touchdown.

"I had known Tuffy had gone in down at Moniteau and played a good game," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "He started looking like Scotty out there tonight, so we didn’t really change anything defensively. The upside was we didn’t have him at tight end, flanker, set back or so forth. We could pin point where he was."

Clarion didn’t change its philosophy on offense either. The Bobcats came into the game with the thought of playing smash-mouth football in hopes of wearing down a smaller, thinner C-L squad.

That strategy paid off with Clarion rushing 46 times on the night for 282 yards, an average of 6.1 yards per carry.

"We thought we were the more physical team, and we would run on them," Clarion quarterback Sean Wolf said. "That is what we just tried to come out and do. That is what we game planned for."

The game plan called for Wolf to hand the ball off to senior running back Chris McSwain … a lot. McSwain carried the ball 31 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns (he also returned a partially blocked punt 15 yards for a score). It was the second straight week McSwain had 30-plus carries and 180-plus yards. He now has 2,757 career rushing yards and needs 243 to become the second back in Bobcat history to go over 3,000 yards (Kyle Cathcart is the other one).

"We didn’t want to be putting the Halloween mask on," Wiser said. "We are who we are. We have a good offensive line, excellent running backs and a solid defense. Those are the things we talked about. We were going to play Clarion power football."

The biggest key to Clarion’s success running the ball might have been the job right tackle Rick Schmader did on C-L’s 6-8, 299 pound defensive lineman Bobby Beidl, who has been a key to the Lions run defense all season. Schmader, despite giving up three inches and more than 70 pounds, was able to neutralize Beidl most of the night.

"That is a great match-up," Wiser said. "I thought he had good inside leverage and good technique on him a lot of times. I also though Chad Dolby did a good job on him after they moved Bobby inside."

The game started off great for C-L when it took the opening kickoff and marched 62 yards down the field in nine plays to take a 6-0 lead. Davis was the catalyst running for 30 yards on the drive and throwing for 32. He scored the touchdown on a 1-yard run.

The turning point in the game, though, came off the foot of Clarion punter Paul McGinley’s, whose 58-yard punt coupled with Brooks’ decision to field a rolling ball at the 1-yard line put C-L in a hole at its own three.

It was on the first play after the punt, that Davis fumbled the ball into the end zone before recovering it for the safety and then the ejection.

C-L’s defense responded to the Davis ejection with a couple of big stands deep inside Lion territory forcing Clarion out on downs from the Lions 15 and then forcing a fumble at the C-L 25.

But Clarion finally finished off a drive to take the lead midway through the second quarter on a 6-yard run by McSwain.

Then late in the first half Blake Lantelme picked off a Brooks pass giving Clarion the ball at midfield.

Four plays later, Wolf hit Tyler Schwab with a 37-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds left in the first half giving Clarion a 16-6 halftime lead.

Clarion started the second half with an 11-play drive that took up nearly seven minutes of the third quarter. But the Bobcats came up empty when Wolf fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line, and C-L recovered it at the 4.

But two plays went nowhere for the Lions and they decided to try a quick kick punt.

Brooks punt, though, was partially blocked, and McSwain scooped up the loose ball at the 15 and went untouched into the end zone for a 23-6 Clarion lead.

A 6-yard run by McSwain six seconds into the fourth quarter made it 29-6 before Brad Rapp broke off a 52-yard run later in the quarter to make it 35-6.

Another C-L turnover, this time a fumble, set up Clarion’s last score – a 10-yard Larry Stout run with 2:30 left in the game.

C-L head coach Todd Smith was not available for comment after the game.

NOTES – The series is now tied at 17-17 … Clarion’s last win in the series was a 34-0 win at C-L Sept. 22, 2000 … The loss was only the second regular-season loss in C-L’s last 42 regular-season games, and it was the Lions first road loss since a 40-7 loss to Curwensville in the District 9 Class A Playoffs Nov. 4, 2000. The Lions have lost three neutral site games since (2002 & 2003 to Bishop Carroll & 2004 to Curwensville).

CLARION 41, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6

Score by Quarters

C-L 6 0 0 0 – 6

Clarion 2 14 7 18 – 41

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CL – Scott Davis 1 run (Pass failed), 8:04

C – Safety (Davis tackled in the end zone after a fumble), 5:29

Second Quarter

C – Chris McSwain 6 run (Dan L’Insalata kick), 5:43

C – Tyler Schwab 37 pass from Sean Wolf (L’Insalata kick), :27

Third Quarter

C – McSwain 15 punt return (L’Insalata kick), 4:25

Fourth Quarter

C – McSwain 6 run (Kick blocked), 11:54

C – Brad Rapp 52 run (Kick blocked), 7:29

C – Larry Stout 10 run (Kick failed), 2:30

Team Statistics

C-L C

First Downs 10 15

Rushes-Yards 31-69 46-278

Passing Yards 97 83

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 7-18-3 5-8-0

Total Yards 166 361

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2

Punts-Avg. 5-22.2 3-46.7

Penalties-yards 7-52 14-101

Individual Statistics

Rushing – C-L: Scott Davis 7-27, David Brooks 10-17, Andy Wilson 8-24, Matt Hetrick 3-3, Team 1-(-1), Neil Reynolds 2-(-1). Clarion: Chris McSwain 31-188, Eric Grejda 3-9, Elliot Fabri 1- (-2), Manny Carpin 3-9, Brad Rapp 5-67, Sean Wolf 1-4, Adam Bevevino 1-(-7), Larry Stout 1-10.

Passing – C-L: Scott Davis 3-for-3, 32 yards. David Brooks 4-for-15, 65 yards, 3 interceptions. Clarion: Sean Wolf 5-for-8, 83 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – C-L: David Brooks 1-2, Matt Hetrick 3-43, Justin Murray 1-(-2), Kaleb Klosky 2-54. Clarion: Manny Carpin 4-46, Tyler Schwab 1-37.

Punting – C-L: Matt Hetrick 4-100, David Brooks 1-11. Clarion: Paul McGinley 3-140.

Interceptions – Clarion: Todd Goble, Blake Lantelme, Nick Hager.