By Andy Close 

SHARPSVILLE—In its final tune-up before the District 9 Class A playoffs, Clarion was unable to get anything going on offense as they fell 28-0 to District 10 Sharpsville on Friday.

“We just couldn’t get anything going on a consistent basis on offense,” said Clarion head coach Larry Wiser.  “A lot of things didn’t go our way tonight but I am pretty proud of my kids.”

Despite forcing five turnovers on defense, Clarion (7-3 Overall, 7-2 KSAC) was unable to convert any of them into offense, as they totaled just four first downs for the game.

Sharpsville (8-2 Overall, 6-2 D10 Region 1) drove the ball inside the Clarion 20-yard line to start the game before the Bobcats forced a fumble that was recovered by Gavin Griffin.  The momentum was short-lived, as quarterback Dan Walters would fumble an attempted hand-off on the first offensive play of the game for Clarion.  Clarion recovered the ball in the end zone after a mad scramble forcing a safety and an early 2-0 deficit.

Things would go from bad to worse for the Bobcats as the Blue Devils Nathaniel Titus took the handoff on the first play after the free kick and raced up the middle 45 yards untouched for a touchdown and a 9-0 Sharpsville lead.

“We just had a couple plays there where we made some mental errors on defense,” Wiser said.   “For the most part though I thought that we were able to shut down their running game."

The Bobcats appeared to turn the tide early in the second quarter, as the ball was stripped from Marcus Llewellyn at midfield, but forward progress was ruled dead and Clarion was assessed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play.

Sharpsville would score two more times in the first half on touchdown runs from Llewellyn and Frank Joseph to make it 22-0 at halftime.

Things didn’t go much better for the Bobcats in the second half.  Despite intercepting Blue Devil quarterback Frank Joseph three times, they were unable to muster any sort of consistency on offense, mustering just one first down.

The Bobcats were without the services of two of their starting lineman as well as quarterback Brandon Heeter, all out due to illness.

Bubba Rue and Kevin Grejda each finished with 27 yards rushing to lead the Bobcats offensively. 

Cody Renninger had two second half interceptions while Rue added another.

Clarion, the number two seed in the District 9 Class A playoffs will host Elk County Catholic in a rematch of last season’s Class A semifinal which Clarion won in dramatic fashion.

“We are going to turn this into a positive,” said Wiser.  “If we are fortunate enough to come out of the playoffs and see a team like this again then we will have a good idea of what to expect.” 

Sharpsville 28, Clarion 0

Score by Quarters

Sharpsville- 9 13 0 6- 28

Clarion- 0  0  0  0-0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

S- Team Safety (9:48)

S- Nathaniel Titus 45 run (Jonathan Wilson kick) 9:32

Second Quarter

S- Frank Joseph 11 run (Kick failed) 5:36

S- Marcus Llewellyn 2 run (Wilson kick) 3:19

Fourth Quarter

S- Joseph 13 run (Kick failed) 3:13 

Game Stats

                  C  S

First Downs  4  14

Rushes-Yards  28-10  48-201

Passing Yards  32  47

Comp-Att.-Int.  3-11-0  4-11-3

Total Yards  42  248

Penalties-Yards 5-45  4-25

Fumbles-Lost  3-1  2-2

Punts-Avg.  7-29.0  2-29.5 

Individual Stats

Rushing

Clarion: Bubba Rue 10-27, Kevin Grejda 5-27, Corbin Ragley 4-1, Dan Walters 3(-)-18, Kris Burkhart 4(-)11, Lewis Armstrong 1-(-)2, Team 1(-)14.  Sharpsville: Nathaniel Titus 20-116, Marcus Llewellyn 14-31, Matthew Totin 3-8, Frank Joseph 7-51, Cameron Christopher 2-3, Julian Russell 1(-)7, Team 1(-)1.

Passing

Clarion: Dan Walters 3 of 11, 32 yards.  Sharpsville: Frank Joseph 4 of 11, 47 yards, 3 ints

Receiving

Clarion: Cody Renninger 2-28, Bubba Rue 1-4.  Sharpsville: Chad Piccirilli 2-24, Marcus Llewellyn 1-7, Justin Dunlap 1-16.