CLARION 14, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6

Nov. 12, 2005 - District 9 Class A Playoffs - Semifinals

CLARION – Chris McSwain ran 40 times for 315 yards and two touchdowns to lead Clarion past archrival Clarion-Limestone 14-6 in the District 9 Class A semifinals Saturday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

The win propels the Bobcats (9-2) into the District 9 Class A Championship game for the first time since 2000 while keeping the Lions (9-2) out of the title game for the first time since 2001. Clarion will play Coudersport (11-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in the back end of the championship double header. The Class AA title game between Brockway and Moniteau will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

To get to the championship game, Clarion decided to go back to old-school Bobcat football. The ‘Cats ran 54 plays on the night and 53 of them were runs.

"I knew we were going to run the ball," McSwain said. "They are an undersized team, and we have such a big line. Our line has been working hard all year. They were opening up huge holes all night."

McSwain found his way through most of those holes running for 111 yards in the first half before exploding for 204 in the second half.

"Chris had a heck of a game," Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. "But I would be remise not to mention the line. They played very well tonight."

The running attack helped Clarion keep C-L’s offense and super quarterback Scott Davis off the field most of the night. Clarion possessed the ball for 29:57 while running the 54 plays. C-L only had the ball for 18:03 while running 40 plays.

"They (Clarion) are better up front," C-L head coach Todd Smith said. "What are you going to say? When it comes down to it, football is won up front. They are bigger, they are stronger and they are more physical. They controlled the line of scrimmage. Eventually they kept wearing us down."

The evidence of Clarion wearing down C-L came in the second half when the Bobcats had the ball for 16:21 of the 24-minute half while running 29 plays to C-L’s 19.

The most impressive drive of the night for Clarion was the game’s final drive.

Trailing 14-6, C-L punted the ball away to Clarion with 10:02 left to play figuring to play field position.

The Lions never saw the football again.

Starting at its own 20-yard line, Clarion ran the final 10:02 off the clock by running 16 times for 76 yards (it was actually 15 for 79 with the ‘Cats taking a knee for a 4-yard loss on the game’s final play after moving to the C-L 1.).

"That might be the most impressive drive we have had since I’ve been coaching here," Wiser said.

While the final drive was impressive, it was probably the game’s shortest drive – time wise –late in the third quarter that sealed the win for Clarion.

C-L appeared to have all the momentum at the time having just scored to cut the Bobcats’ lead to 7-6. The Lions had Clarion backed up at its own 8-yard line following a penalty on the kickoff return, and the C-L fans were going crazy hoping for a turnover that would put their team ahead.

Moments later, the C-L faithful fell silent as the Clarion fans celebrated a 92-yard touchdown run by McSwain that gave Clarion a 14-6 lead.

"All the blocks were there," McSwain said. "They squeezed down to try to stop our inside (running game) where we were running all game. I just bounced it outside and saw a lot of green. I was just saying ‘thank you line’ all the way down the sideline."

McSwain had put Clarion ahead 7-0 midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown dive that capped a 12-play, 58-yard drive for the Bobcats. McSwain then added the extra point, a surprise considering it was the first extra point he had tried all season.

"We knew we had to tackle McSwain if we were going to win," Smith said. "We didn’t really tackle that well all night, especially in the second half."

C-L quickly answered McSwain’s scoring run needing nine plays to drive 63 yards after the score to climb within a point.

Scott Davis scored the touchdown on a 1-yard run with 58 seconds left in the quarter. The big play of the drive was a 26-yard pass from Davis to David Brooks that moved the ball to the Clarion 1-yard line.

"Our kids just came here and played with their hearts," Smith said. "I think they did a great job."

The game was tied 0-0 at halftime with the entire half being played between the 20’s.

C-L had the best chance to score in the half, but Kaleb Klosky couldn’t hold onto a David pass that looked like it would go for a touchdown on the Lions one long drive of the half.

Clarion did out gain the Lions in the half 123-97 with McSwain doing most of the damage. He had 16 carries for 111 yards in the half, but C-L did a good job on third downs holding Clarion to 1 of 5 on third-down conversions in the half.

Davis had another huge night for C-L.

The junior accounted for 176 of the Lions 174 yards on the night. He was 12 of 19 passing for 137 yards while running 18 times for 39 yards. He actually would have had more yards rushing, but Clarion sacked him five times of the night accounting for negative 30 yards.

Clarion now moves onto the District 9 Class A Championship game for the first time since 2000.

NOTES – Clarion is looking for its first D9 title since 1997 … The Bobcats lost back-to-back title games in 1999 and 2000 … With the win Clarion now leads the series with C-L 18-17 having won twice this year … The win improves the Bobcats to 7-7 all-time in D9 postseason play while C-L drops to 10-9. The loss keeps C-L from reaching the championship game for the first time since 2001 … With the big game, McSwain now has 3,510 career rushing yards and 35 rushing touchdowns.

CLARION 14, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6

Score by Quarters

C-L 0 0 6 0 – 6

Clarion 0 0 14 0 – 14

Scoring Summary

Third Quarter

Clarion – Chris McSwain 1 run (McSwain kick), 4:30

C-L – Scott Davis (Davis kick failed), :58

Clarion – McSwain 92 run (McSwain kick), :32

CL Clarion

First Downs 11 17

Rushes-Yards 20-37 53-354

Passing Yards 137 0

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 13-20-0 0-1-0

Total Yards 174 354

Punts-Avg. 5-36.2 4-23.8

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 7-45

Time of Possession 18:03 29:57

Third-Down Conversions 2 of 9 6 of 10

Fourth-Down Conversions1 of 2 0 of 0

RUSHING: Clarion-Limestone-Scott Davis 18-39; David Brooks 1-1; Andy Wilson 1-(-3). Clarion-Chris McSwain 40-315; Eric Grejda 6-22; Brad Rapp 2-11; Sean Wolf 2-6; Manny Carpin 1-2; Elliot Fabri 1-1; TEAM 1-(-3).

PASSING: Clarion-Limestone-Scott Davis 12-19-0-137; David Brooks 1-1-0-0. Clarion-Sean Wolf 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: Clarion-Limestone-Kaleb Klosky 4-59; David Brooks 4-47; Matt Hetrick 2-12; Andy Wilson 1-13; Justin Murray 1-6; Scott Davis 1-0.