CLEARFIELD WINS SECOND STRAIGHT CLASS AAA TITLE WITH 21-18 WIN OVER ST. MARYS 

Nov. 11, 2005 - District 9 Class AAA Playoffs - Championship Game at Clarion University

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – The names Janocko and Campman have long been associated with winning District 9 titles at Clearfield, so it was no surprise Friday night when a Janocko and a Campman led the Bisons to their second straight District 9 Class AAA championship with a 21-18 upset of top seeded St. Marys at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

What was different this time is it was where the Janocko and Campman made their noise. Instead of it being on the sideline where head coach Tim Janocko and defensive coordinator Forrest Campman have played big roles in leading Clearfield to three of the past four titles and five of the last eight, it was on the field where Andrew Janocko’s passing and Curtis Campman’s running led the Bisons to probably their most improbable of the five championships.

"I just want to congratulate our kids," Tim Janocko said. "I am really happy for our program. It feels good to win two in a row. It’s been a credit to our assistant coaches and our program that we have been able to have success throughout the years. This is a great bunch of kids. I feel great for them."

Janocko, his coaches and his players should be happy. After all, almost no one gave the Bisons (6-4) a chance at repeating this season. Especially not after St. Marys (5-5) beat Clearfield 40-22 three weeks ago in St. Marys. And especially not after the Bisons had to face some internal turmoil during the season that led to the dismissal of some players including their leading rusher at the time.

"This one is a little sweeter because of the way things have gone this year," Janocko said. "We had to battle so much to get here and battle through it. We had to get our ship on the right trail there, and we were able to do that. It is a credit to our kids and our assistant coaches and our program."

Clearfield was ready to play Friday night jumping out to a 21-6 lead midway through the third quarter and holding off a late St. Marys charge to claim the title.

"We wanted to try and jump out early, and we were able to do that," Janocko said. "Credit to St. Marys, they were able to come back and we held on for the win."

The game plan for Clearfield was simple. A lot of Curtis Campman – the 5-11, 154-pound senior ran 27 times for 132 yards – with some Andrew Janocko thrown in – the junior was 6-for-11 passing for 104 yards and two touchdowns (both to Doug Kephart).

"We ran the ball pretty well," Tim Janocko said. "We weren’t able to run the ball up at St. Marys. We did some things differently. When we were able to run the ball, the passes were touchdowns. They were big plays."

Clearfield came out of the gates flying taking the opening kickoff and going 65 yards for the game’s first touchdown. The score came on a 52-yard pass from Janocko to Kephart 2:38 into the game. Lucas Feathers’ extra point made it 7-0.

St. Marys answered right back on its first drive going 75 yards and scoring on a 45-yard Brian Tamburlin run right up the gut. Josh Renwick’s extra point was short leaving Clearfield ahead 7-6.

The Bisons took a 15-6 lead at halftime when Janocko hit Kephart with a 22-yard touchdown pass 1:01 into the second quarter. The Bisons then faked the extra point with Janocko, the holder, finding a wide-open Adam Jury in the back of the end zone for a 15-6 lead.

St. Marys looked like it was going to cut the lead on the first drive of the second half moving into Bisons territory before Campman intercepted a Wendel pass around the 20-yard line. The Dutch were then called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following the interception allowing Clearfield to start the drive at its own 37.

Two more unsportsmanlike penalty calls on St. Marys helped Clearfield move the ball inside the Dutch 5, and the Bisons scored on a 1-yard run by Shane Davis with 5:37 left in the third quarter to take a 21-6 lead.

The game started to turn St. Marys’ way on the ensuing kickoff when Dutch recovered a short kickoff at their own 46.

Then, with the help of three pass interference calls against Clearfield that accounted for 39 yards, St. Marys drove 54 yards for a touchdown scoring on a 1-yard Wendel run with 2:01 left in the third quarter. The Dutch, trailing, 21-12, tried for two points, but Wendel’s pass was knocked down in the end zone.

St. Marys’ defense continued the momentum shift on Clearfield’s next possession forcing a fumble by Campman that was recovered by the Dutch’s Brandon Novak at the Bison 40.

The Dutch then converted two fourth downs on the ensuing drive and cut the lead to three points on a 1-yard run by Wendel on a fourth-and-goal play with 8:29 left in the game. The 2-point conversion was no good leaving Clearfield ahead 21-18.

The other big fourth-down conversion of the drive was a 13-yard pass from Wendel to Shad Boschert on fourth-and-5 from the Clearfield 22 with 11 minutes to play.

"St. Marys made some plays, and we had some costly penalties against us" Janocko said. "That got them back in the game."

St. Marys’ defense gave the offense a chance to win the game forcing a Clearfield punt that gave the Dutch the ball at their own 35 with 5:42 to play.

A 29-yard pass from Wendel to Boschert that saw Boschert make an acrobatic catch moved the ball to the Clearfield 27 with 5:07 to play promoting Clearfield to call time-out.

"That was a time-out to settle down the team," Janocko said. "I didn’t (talk to them). Forrest (Campman) went out and talked to them. I am sure he gave them so good advice."

Whatever Campman said in the huddle worked, as the Bisons defense held on downs. The final play of the drive for St. Marys was a fourth-and-8 screen pass from Wendel to Scott Schatz from the Clearfield 25 that was stopped at the Clearfield 18 a yard shy of the first down with 3:23 to play.

It looked like St. Marys would get one more chance with under 30 seconds to play when it stopped Clearfield at the Bisons 40 forcing a punt. But St. Marys roughed Clearfield punter Jury on the play allowing the Bisons to run out the clock.

NOTES – The win was the 150^th of Janocko’s coaching career, which is in its 21^st season at Clearfield. He is 150-76-3 (66.2 percent) as the Bisons head coach … Clearfield now takes on District 8 (Pittsburgh City League) champion Perry next week at a District 9 site, time and date to be determined. The Bisons lost 12-9 to Perry in Pittsburgh last year and are 0-2 vs. the Commodores in the postseason also losing 61-0 in 2003.

CLEARFIELD 21, ST. MARYS 18

Score by Quarter

Clearfield 7 8 6 0 – 21

St. Marys 6 0 6 6 – 18

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Doug Kephart 52 pass from Andrew Janocko (Lucas Feathers kick), 9:22

S – Brian Tamburlin 45 run (Josh Renwick kick failed), 6:57

Second Quarter

C – Kephart 22 pass from Janocko (Adam Jury pass from Janocko), 10:59

Third Quarter

C – Shane Davis 1 run (Feathers kick failed), 5:37

S – Lucas Wendel 1 run (Wendel pass failed), 2:01

Fourth Quarter

S – Wendel 1 run (Wendel pass failed), 8:29

Team Statistics

C S

First Downs 16 12

Rushes-Yards 40-172 32-142

Passing Yards 104 112

Passes: Comp-Att-Int 6-11-0 8-16-1

Total Yards 276 254

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5056 5-48

Punts-Avg. 4-38.8 3-36.3

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Clearfield: Curtis Campman 27-132, Shane Davis 11-41, 1 TD, Andrew Janocko 1-0, Team 1-(-1). St. Marys: Brian Tamburlin 16-101, 1 TD, Scott Schatz 9-43, Adam Cornelio 3-0, Lucas Wendel 4-(-2), 2 TDs.

Passing – Clearfield: Andrew Janocko 6-for-11, 104 yards, 2 touchdowns. St. Marys: Lucas Wendel 8-for-16, 112 yards, 1 interception.

Receiving – Clearfield: Doug Kephart 2-74, 2 TDs, Matt Morgan 1-5, Beau Ryan 1-7, Adam Jury 2-18. St. Marys: Shad Boschert 3-63, Brad Steinbach 1-20, Scott Schatz 3-23, Eric Hoy 1-6.

Punting – Clearfield: Adam Jury 4-155. St. Marys: Brad Steinbach 3-109.

Interceptions – Clearfield: 1 (Curtis Campman).