By Chris Rossetti

RIMERSBURG – In a tune-up for its first-place KSAC showdown at Karns City next week, Clarion had some ups and downs but still got a 52-14 win at Union Friday night.

“I thought for one quarter we played focused both offensively and defensively,” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. “I’d like to be sharper. We weren’t sharp the whole game. I think that was obvious. In the second quarter things started to break down, just one thing or another. Until I get to look at film, I can’t put my finger on it.”

The small breakdowns included 12 penalties for 105 yards and the Bobcats (5-1 overall, 5-1 KSAC) failing to score three times in Union territory in the second quarter including twice inside the 20-yard line.

But then again, maybe those hiccups had more to do with the fact the game was pretty much out of hand by the second quarter as it did with anything else. After all, Clarion scored on its first four possessions and led 25-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“I think it’s hard to keep focus (when you score 25 points in the first quarter),” Wiser said.

And despite the somewhat sloppy play at times, the Bobcats still managed 591 yards of total offense including 521 on the ground. Three different Clarion runners went over 100 yards including 175 yards by Bubba Rue, 104 by Bobby Boyer and 100 by Kevin Grejda, who also scored three touchdowns. Kris Burkhart added 83 yards rushing.  

 “We had some kids who really ran well,” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. “Bubba broke some great runs, and Kris (Burkhart) had some great runs.”

Clarion also rotated two quarterbacks most of the game with Dan Walters and Brandon Heeter, who relieved Walters in the fourth quarter last week and led the Bobcats to four unanswered scores in a 28-7 win over Redbank Valley, splitting time evenly. Sometimes it was split one series at a time, other times it was split one play at a time and yet at other times the rotation seemed to go two or three plays for one and then one or two for the other one. And it is a trend that is likely to continue next week and beyond.

 “I think so,” Wiser said when asked if he planned to continue to rotate his quarterbacks as the season goes on. “I think it’s at the point where they both deserve to be on the football field. Danny Walters had probably one of the best games in that first game (at Moniteau). After Brandon’s game last week, he deserves to be on the football field. Each of them offers us something different in the offense. We will try to specialize to the things they are each better at doing. ”

Clarion’s first quarter touchdowns came on runs of one yard from Grejda, 44 yards by Burkhart, 19 yards by Grejda and one yards by Rue.   

Then leading 25-0 at the half, the Bobcats put the Mercy Rule into effect in the third quarter when Grejda scored on a 37-yard run and Heeter hit Cody Renninger with a 29-yard scoring pass to make it 39-0.

Union cut the lead to 39-14 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Trent Corle to Taylor Smith and a 66-yard pass from Corle to Zach Traister that saw Traister take a short pass and outrace the Clarion defense for the touchdown.

 “I have to give Union a lot of credit,” Wiser said. “I think (Union coach) Al (Pryor) took his kids down there when it was 25-0, and he must have given them a real heart-to-heart talk. They came out with a lot of resolve offensively and defensively.”

But Clarion scored the game’s final two touchdowns on a 7-yard Lewis Armstrong run and a 74-yard scamper by Boyer.

CLARION 52, UNION 14

Score by Quarters

Clarion 25 0  

Union 0 0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Kevin Grejda 1 run (Cameron Slike kick), 10:18

C – Kris Burkhart 41 run (Slike kick not good), 9:57

C – Grejda 19 run (Slike kick not good), 7:35

C – Bubba Rue 1 run (Slike kick no good), 1:55

Third Quarter

C – Grejda 37 run (Cody Renninger pass from Dan Walters), 11:00

C – Renninger 29 pass from Brandon Heeter (Boyer run failed), 5:22

U – Taylor Smith 26 pass from Trent Corle (Zach Traister pass from Corle), 1:21

Fourth Quarter

U – Traister 66 pass from Corle (pass failed), 8:38

C – Lewis Armstrong 7 run (Mitch Rhoades kick failed), 4:50

C – Bobby Boyer 74 run (Slike kick), 25.4

C                     U

First Downs                        22                    10

Rushes-Yards                     45-529             22-45

Passing Yards                     62                    120

Passing: Comp-Att-Int       3-10-0              7-16-0

Total Yards                                    591                  165

Fumbles-Lost                     0-0                   5-3

Punts-Avg.                         1-33.0              5-37.8

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Clarion: Bubba Rue 12-175, Kris Burkhart 7-83, Dan Walters 5-19, Marcus Smerker 4-28, Lewis Armstrong 2-20, Bobby Boyer 4-104, Cameron Kirkland 1-7, Kevin Grejda 9-100, Brandon Heeter 1-negative 7. Union: Mike Harris 6-13, Zach Traister 4-8, Trent Corle 6-31, Taylor Smith 2-negative 5, Brody Pollock 1-4, Keenan Rankin 2-negative 2, Team 1-negative 4.

Passing – Clarion: Dan Walters 2-for-4, 33 yards; Brandon Heeter 1-for-5, 29 yards, 1 touchdown; Bubba Rue 0-for-1. Union: Trent Corle 7-for-16, 120 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Receiving – Clarion: Cody Renninger 1-29, Kevin Grejda 1-20, Erik Hartle 1-13. Union: Zach Traister 4-80, Ron Cary 1-7, Brody Pollock 1-7, Taylor Smith 1-26.