REDBANK VALLEY 41, CLARION 20

Sept. 21, 2007

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Jake Smith and Alex Bladel combined for 389 yards and five touchdowns and 15 tackles and two interceptions to lead Redbank Valley to a 41-20 win over Clarion Friday night at Clarion University Memorial Stadium.

Smith was 16-for-25 passing for 248 yards and two touchdowns, ran 20 times for 71 yards and a touchdown and had a team-high nine tackles to go with an interception.

Bladel, meanwhile, added 70 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 15 carries, caught two passes for 45 yards and had six tackles and an interception on defense.

And they were far from the only Redbank Valley contributors. Craig Hibell added seven catches for 52 yards, Jerrett Magagnotti four for 76 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for five yards and Nash Rupp two catches for 60 yards and a score and two carries for 18 yards.

“That is what I really like about the kids on this team,” Redbank Valley head coach Ed Wasilowski said. “They are a team, and I like my team. I have liked it since the get-go. I knew we had a chance to be a good team, and so far we are making the most of it.”

The game marked the third straight contest that Redbank Valley (4-0 overall, 3-0 KSAC) has gone over 40 points, and while the first two – Union and West Branch – might have been somewhat expected, this one wasn’t. After all, despite a 1-2 record entering the game, Clarion (1-3, 1-2) had allowed an average of just over 125 yards per game coming into the contest. But Redbank Valley scorched the Bobcats for 408 including 248 through the air and were forced to punt just twice on the night.

“You never take anything for granted against a Larry Wiser-coached defense,” Wasilowski said. “They have always played great defense under Larry, and I have a lot of respect for what they do.”

Clarion usually does play great defense, in fact the 41 points were the most against the Bobcats since 2004 when Curwensville scored 42 in a District 9 playoff game and the most against Clarion in the regular season since Clarion-Limestone hung 44 on the Bobcats five years ago.

“I’m very disappointed in myself,” Wiser, the head coach who also serves as defensive coordinator, said. “We got into some mismatches that we couldn’t handle in the second half, and I was asking some kids to do some things they weren’t capable of doing. I am largely responsible for that.”

The game was actually a lot closer than the final score indicated, and Clarion actually held the lead 20-13 in the third quarter after scoring twice in the first three minutes of the second half to erase a 13-7 halftime deficit.

James Seidle, who rushed 21 times for 211 yards and two touchdowns, tied the game on the first play from scrimmage in the second half on a 73-yard touchdown run.

A couple of plays later, Redbank Valley fumbled the ball back to Clarion at the Bulldog 15, and Jon Kemmer gave the Bobcats the lead on a 10-yard run.

“The second half of the second quarter and the beginning of the third quarter we were losing the game,” Wasilowski said. “They had the momentum, they had the lead, and they had the big play.”

Redbank Valley, though, came right back marching down the field on a 12-play, 65-yard Smith-led drive tying the score at 20 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Smith with 4:20 left in the quarter. Smith had a hand in all 12 plays on the drive running five times for 14 yards and going 6 of 7 passing for 51 yards.  

“We didn’t panic,” Wasilowski said. “We drove the ball down and got the tying score. From then on, it was a completely different game. They had everything going their way until that point, but from there on we had everything going our way. It was a just a big game of momentum.”

Redbank Valley stopped Clarion on a third-and-2 play on the Bobcats next drive, and after punt took over at midfield.

That led to the go-ahead touchdown, a 1-yard Alex Bladel run with 22 seconds left in the third quarter, the second of three scores on the night for the junior.

Clarion then gifted wrapped Redbank Valley’s next score when Jake Fleeger bobbled the kickoff, the third straight kickoff he bobbled, and ended up stepping out of bounds at the Clarion 2-yard line. A couple of plays later, Kemmer fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Redbank Valley at the Bobcat 25-yard line.

Redbank Valley went for the jugular right away, as Smith hit Jerrett Magagnotti, who had forced the fumble, with a 25-yard scoring strike to basically put the game away.

Bladel then added a 2-yard scoring run late in the game to close out the scoring.

The teams combined for 20 first-quarter points with Bladel scoring on a 4-yard run for Redbank Valley, Seidle answering with a 47-yard run for Clarion and Smith hooking up with Rupp for a 50-yard touchdown pass for Redbank Valley.

Redbank returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday when it hosts Karns City, while Clarion is at Union at 7 p.m. Friday.

NOTES – Clarion has lost three straight for the first time since 2002 … Redbank Valley has beaten Clarion in consecutive years for the first time since 1995-96 … Sophomore Kyle Zacour got the start at quarterback for Clarion with Adam Bevevino missing the game with a knee injury … Zacour was 8 of 16 for 107 yards and three picks … Clarion leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1927, 41-35-5 … Eric Grejda had 13 tackles to lead Clarion, the second straight week the senior has had 13 stops.  

REDBANK VALLEY 41, CLARION 20

Score by Quarter

Redbank 13 0 14 14 – 41

Clarion 7 0 13 0 – 20

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

R – Alex Bladel 4 run (Doug Bish kick), 6:29

C – James Seidle 47 run (Jon Kemmer kick), 5:01

R – Nash Rupp 50 pass from Jake Smith (kick failed), 3:44

Third Quarter

C – Seidle 73 run (kick blocked), 11:40

C – Kemmer 10 run (Kemmer kick), 9:20

R – Smith 1 run (Bish kick), 4:20

R – Bladel 1 run (Bish kick), 0:22

Fourth Quarter

R – Jerrett Magagnotti 25 pass from Smith (Bish kick), 11:15

R – Bladel 2 run (Bish kick), 4:20

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing – Redbank Valley: Jake Smith 20-71, Alex Bladel 15-70, Nash Rupp 2-18, Jerrett Magagnotti 1-5, Team 2-(-4). Clarion: James Seidle 21-211, Jon Kemmer 5-47, Jake Fleeger 2-18, Jon Deitz 3-10, Kevin Grejda 2-1, Team 1-0, Kyle Zacour 1-(-8).   

Passing – Redbank Valley: Smith 16-for-25, 248 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Clarion: Zacour 8-for-16, 107 yards, 3 interceptions, Team 0-for-1, 0 yards.

Receiving – Redbank Valley: Craig Hibell 7-52, Magagnotti 4-76, Rupp 2-60, Bladel 2-45, Kasey Haines 1-15. Clarion: Ryan Smith 5-64, Fleeger 2-30, Kevin Grejda 1-13.

Interceptions: Redbank Valley: Smith, Hibell, Bladel.