By Rich Rhoades

CLARION – With their defense keeping their opponent under wraps, the Clarion Bobcats eventually pulled away with a 19-0 win over visiting Brookville Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

Thanks to their second straight shutout win, the Bobcats (7-2) secured the top Class A seed out of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference for the District 9 playoffs.

They’ll finish up the regular season next week at District 10’s Sharpsville before heading to the postseason as at least the No. 2 seed.

Meanwhile, the Raiders (3-6) were knocked out of the Class AA playoff race. It will be just the second time since 1991 that the Raiders won’t participate in the postseason. The only other year was 2001 when the Raiders went 1-8.

Clarion, despite outgaining the Brookville 342-83, took just a 6-0 lead into the fourth quarter.

Just prior to mounting on an 84-yard drive for their second score, the Bobcats stopped the Raiders on downs at the 16 after the Raiders came close to scoring on Jared Heschke’s 67-yard interception return.

A 14-play drive that ended with quarterback Dan Walters’ 27-yard touchdown pass to Cody Renninger with 9:45 left in the game put the Bobcats up 12-0. They added another touchdown on their next possession, capping an eight-play, 68-yard drive with another Renninger TD catch, this time from 12 yards out from quarterback Brandon Heeter.

Clarion’s first score came on its second possession of the game when Heeter pushed his way into the end zone from one yard out, finishing off another long drive of 55 yards on 12 plays.

The Bobcats’ first time with the ball ended with the Bobcats being stopped on downs at the Raiders’ 15 on a 13-play drive.

In all, the Bobcats had the ball most of the game, or 29:22 compared to the Raiders’ 18:38. Both Clarion quarterbacks played well with Walters completing 3 of 5 for 47 yards and Heeter completing 6 of 10 throws for 75 yards. Renninger caught five of the completed passes for 69 yards.

Kris Burkhart led the Bobcats with 102 yards rushing on only nine carries. His final carry of 42 yards came on Clarion’s final scoring drive. Bubba Rue was the workhorse, gaining 84 yards on 27 carries against a stubborn Raiders defense that got no help from the offense.

The Bobcats limited the Raiders to 50 yards in the first half and 33 in the second half. Until the Raiders put in their backups for their final six offensive plays, they were held to minus-6 yards in the second half.

Still, the Raiders were a big play away from finding the end zone considering that six of their nine possessions reached Bobcats territory. That big play never happened, although it almost happened with Heschke’s pickoff that started to develop like James Harrison’s interception return in last season’s Super Bowl.

With the Bobcats at the Raiders’ 7 on second-and-six, Heeter got off a pass as he was hit by Josh Frondek. The wobbling throw was grabbed by Heschke and returned deep into Bobcats territory.

But it didn’t turn into any points and the Raiders were shut out for the first time this year.

NOTES - Clarion has posted back-to-back shutouts. It marks the second straight year the Bobcats have had back-to-back shuouts, the first time that has happened since 1999 and 2000. 

CLARION 19, BROOKVILLE 0

Score By Quarters

Brookville     0          0          0          0          —        0

Clarion          0          6          0          13        —        19

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

C — Brandon Heeter 1 run (pass failed), 9:28.

Fourth Quarter

C — Cody Renninger 27 pass from Dan Walters (pass failed), 9:45.

C — Cody Renninger 12 pass from Brandon Heeter (Cameron Slike kick), 4:11.

                                    B                     C

First Downs               8                      14

Rushes-Yards          32-62              49-220

Passing Yards          21                    122

Comp-Att-Int             4-14-0             9-15-1

Total Yardage           83                    342

Punts-Average         3-33.3             2-27

Fumbles-lost             3-2                  0-0

Penalties-Yards       4-23                8-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Brookville: Steven Kennedy 2-20, Ryan Kerr 6-19, Kyle Galbraith 3-16, Dylan Zimmerman 4-6, Ethan Harmon 8-3, Wade Brentham 1-2, Dustin Dombrowski 1-(-2), Tyler Dombrowski 7-(-12). Clarion: Kris Burkhart 9-102, Bubba Rue 27-84, Dan Walters 5-13, Corbin Ragley 3-11, Kevin Grejda 3-10, Brandon Heeter 1-1, Team 1-(-1).

Passing — Brookville: Tyler Dombrowski 4-for-13, 21 yards; Jared Heschke 0-for-1. Clarion: Brandon Heeter 6-for-10, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Dan Walters 3-for-5, 47 yards, 1 TD.

Receiving — Brookville: Brock Bietz 1-9, Jacob Snyder 1-9, Jared Heschke 1-4, Quran Norris 1-(-1). Clarion: Cody Renninger 5-69, Gavin Griffin 1-28, Erik Hartle 1-11, Bubba Rue 1-9, Corbin Ragley 1-5.

Interceptions — Brookville: Brock Bietz.

Sacks — Brookville 1. Clarion: T.J. Armstrong, Bubba Rue.

Kick returns — Brookville: Quran Norris 2-56, Jacob Snyder 1-10, Dustin Dombrowski 1-1. Clarion: Kris Burkhart 1-18.

Punt returns — Clarion: Cody Renninger 1-0.

Punting — Brookville: Wade Brentham 2-67 (long 37), Ryan Kerr 1-33. Clarion: Brandon Samulewski 2-54 (long 30).