CLARION 46, MONITEAU 14

By Chris Rossetti

WEST SUNBURY – Clarion scored twice in the final 1:33 of the first half to turn a one-touchdown game into an eventual Mercy Rule win with a 46-14 thumping of defending KSAC champion Moniteau Friday night at Moniteau.

“It’s only one game,” Clarion’s 22^nd-year head coach Larry Wiser said. “We will enjoy this for the next couple of days and then get ready for next week.”

Clarion, which built a 13-0 lead, was up 13-7 following a 1-yard touchdown run by Moniteau’s James Shope with 2:47 left in the first half before scoring twice in a matter of 29 seconds to take a 25-7 halftime lead.

First, the Bobcats marched 69 yards in three plays scoring on a gadget play when running back Bubba Rue hit quarterback Dan Walters with a 17-yard halfback option touchdown pass with 1:33 left giving Clarion an 18-7 lead.

Then on Moniteau’s first play after the score, Walters stripped the ball from wide receiver Victory Santoyo following 13-yard completion to the Moniteau 33, scooped the ball up on one hop and raced to the Moniteau 2-yard line with the fumble recovery. That set up Walters for 1-yard quarterback sneak two plays later that gave the Bobcats the 25-7 lead with 1:14 left in the half.

“I think the fourth score was really the big one,” Wiser said. “I thought we were handling them on both sides of the ball before that, but they have some players who can break a big play at anytime.”

Clarion then put the game away on the first drive of the second half when Rue scored the first of two touchdowns on a 6-yard run making it 32-7 less than two minutes into the half.

Rue, who ran for 91 yards on 12 carries, later added a 29-yard scoring run, and Kris Burkhart pinballed his way for a 42-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Jay Wiley capped the scoring for Moniteau with a meaningless 2-yard score with 33 seconds left.

Clarion jumped to the 13-0 lead thanks to a pair of jailbreak screen passes that went for touchdowns.

Late in the first quarter, Walters hit Erik Hartle with a wide-receiver, middle screen that went 58 yards for a touchdown, and then with 3:26 left in the first half Walters found Corbin Ragley with the same play and a 30-yard touchdown.  

“Last week we really started running (the screens) well,” Wiser said. “Our timing got much better. I picked that up off Arizona. They ran it against the Steelers in the Super Bowl. I think it is a safe pass, and both kids ran it well.”

The passing game as a whole, especially in the first half, was Clarion’s break-and-butter.

The Bobcats, who passed for 214 yards in the game while running for 225, had 192 yards through the air in the opening half and only 67 yards rushing, quite a distinction for a club that has always made its mark running the football.

“We’ve worked really hard on our passing game,” Wiser said. “We were running those plays well in practice, and we were catching the ball. Plus, we changed our blocking schemes to more of an NFL-type zone blocking, which gives us more protection. We are going to throw the ball, and I’ve got some kids who can run the ball as well. But I could go back to my old ways at anytime.”

Walters, making his first start since tearing his ACL in Week 4 at Punxsutawney last season, was 5 of 9 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a score and catching two passes for 39 yards and a touchdown not to mention his fumble caused and recovered on defense.

“Danny had a pretty good game,” Wiser said.

Speaking of good games, Bobcat freshman defensive end T.J. Armstrong had a heck of a first contest coming up with 3.5 sacks.

“T.J. had a good camp,” Wiser said. “He is a good player.”

As a whole, Clarion’s defense played well limiting Moniteau to 209 total yards of offense including only 153 until the final touchdown drive.

Sophomore quarterback Kyle Armagost, playing in his first varsity or junior varsity game, was 4 of 12 for 66 yards while also being sacked five times. Armagost steps in to replace his brother Tyler, the Warriors record-setting quarterback who graduated after last season.

James Shope had 67 yards rushing, and Wile 57, with all but three coming on the final drive.

“We didn’t want to give up big plays,” Wiser said. “We wanted to contain Shope, and didn’t want Tony Campbell to get something over the top.”

The only real negatives for Clarion were five fumbles, they lost one, and 11 penalties for 108 yards, including one that called back a long touchdown run by Hartle.

 “We made mistakes,” Wiser said. “If we want to be a great football team, we will have to be willing to make improvements.”

Both teams are back in action at 7 p.m. next week with Clarion hosting A-C Valley and Moniteau hosting Clarion-Limestone.

CLARION 46, MONITEAU 14

Score by Quarters

Clarion 7 18 7 14 – 46

Moniteau 0 7 0 7 – 14

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Erik Hartle 58 pass from Dan Walters (Cameron Slike kick), 1:49

Second Quarter

C – Corbin Ragley 30 pass from Walters (Slike kick failed), 3:26

M – James Shope 1 run (Anthony Miller kick), 2:47

C – Walters 17 pass from Bubba Rue (Pass failed), 1:33

C – Walters 1 run (Pass failed), 1:14

Third Quarter

C – Rue 6 run (Slike kick), 10:06

Fourth Quarter

C – Rue 29 run (Slike kick), 10:54

C – Kris Burkhardt (Slike kick), 5:04

M – Jay Wiles (Miller kick), 0:33

Team Statistics

                               C         M

First Downs            16        15

Rushes-Yards         35-225 41-143

Passing Yards         214      66

Passing: Comp-Att-Int       7-12-0  4-12-0

Total Yardage        439      209

Fumbles-Lost         5-1       2-1

Penalties-Yards      11-108 7-66

Punts-Avg. 2-70     6-182

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Clarion: Bubba Rue 12-91, Kevin Grejda 6-36, Kris Burkhart 7-65. Dan Walters 5-negative-6, Erik Hartle 2-44, Team 3-negative 5. Moniteau: James Shope 16-67, Kyle Armagost 8-negative 12, David Campbell 4-18, Devin Wheeler 1-2, Jay Wiles 8-57, Keith Beatty 2-11, Zach Wheeler 1-5, Austin Hogsett 1-negative 5.  

Passing – Clarion: Walter 5-for-9, 175 yards, 2 touchdowns; Rue 2-for-2, 39 yards, 1 touchdown; Brandon Heeter 0-for-1. Moniteau: Armagost 4-for-12, 66 yards.

Receiving – Clarion: Hartle 1-58, Corbin Ragley 1-30, Cody Renninger 3-87, Walters 2-39. Moniteau: Tony Campbell 1-39, Z. Wheeler 2-14, Victor Santoyo 1-13.

Punting – Clarion: Brandon Samulewski 2-70. Moniteau: Brayden McCorry 6-182.

Sacks – Clarion 5 (T.J. Armstrong 3.5, Gavin Griffin 1, Rue 0.5). Moniteau 2 (Jacob Boy 1, Robert Moore 0.5, Armagost 0.5).