By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – It was a nightmarish Friday the 13^th for the Elk County Catholic Crusaders Friday night, as Clarion dominated both sides of the ball in getting a 29-2 win in the District 9 Class A quarterfinals at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

The Bobcats (8-3), who will play Cameron County in the semifinals, outgained ECC (4-6) 274 yards to 85 while picking up 12 first downs to the Crusaders five. Clarion also had the ball for 30:19 of the 48-minute game.

“They played a good game,” ECC head coach Travis Skrzypek said. “It’s a tough ballclub. I give (Clarion head coach) Larry (Wiser) all the credit in the world, his guys came out right from the start and where ready to play. They played a real tough ballgame and did some things on defense shutting down (Ricky) Pearsall and making us get in some uncomfortable situations.”

Clarion’s defense was the star of the game forcing five turnovers including picking off four passes. The Bobcats also limited District 9’s sixth-leading rusher Pearsall to his second-lowest output of the season holding the junior star to 42 yards on 15 carries. He entered the game with 1,169 on the season, an average of 129.9 yards per game.  

 “Our defense played a spectacular game,” Wiser said. “We took away a lot of their bread-and-butter plays. (Ricky) Pearsall never got outside, and our kids did a good job on their wrap-around draw. You could hear our kids yelling their plays out. We spent a lot of time on film this week. They just did a great job.”

ECC’s passing game was even worse gaining just 17 yards while throwing more interceptions (4) than completions (2) on 13 attempts.

 “It’s tough when you can get that going,” Skrzypek said of the passing game. “All year we relied on the passing game for key first downs when we needed them. Obviously, we didn’t get those tonight.”

On offense, Clarion used a ball-control approach that produced 224 rushing yards on 47 carries. Bubba Rue led the way with 23 carries for 176 yards and two touchdowns and also threw a touchdown pass on a halfback option.

Clarion took a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Gavin Griffin blocked a David Bojalad punt out of the end zone. The Bobcats then made it 8-0 early in the second quarter when Rue scored on a 2-yard run on a fourth-and-goal play.

The score moved to 15-0 at halftime thanks to a 2-yard Kris Burkhart run with 3:14 left in the half before Rue’s second score made it 22-0 late in the third.

Clarion’s final touchdown came on a fourth-and-goal play from its 11-yard line when Rue hit quarterback Dan Walters on a halfback option play. The Bobcats had started the drive at the ECC 6-yard line after the Crusaders failed to convert a desperation fourth-and-5 play from the 6.

ECC’s lone points came when it returned the blocked punt favor on Clarion blocking a Brandon Samulewski punt in the end zone that Samulewski recovered in the end zone before being tackled for two points.

NOTES - Clarion defensive end Gavin Griffin had a big game knocking down at least two Jacob passes including one that was intercepted by teammate Ian Matson and also sacking Jacob and forcing a fumble on the final play of the first half. Walters picked up the fumble and nearly returned it for a touchdown before being caught at the 15-yard line ... The game was a rematch of last season's District 9 Class A semifinal contest won 18-12 by Clarion in double overtime ... Clarion also beat ECC 20-16 in the 2005 District 9 Class A quarterfinals ... The Bobcats are making their fourth appearance in the District 9 Class A semifinals since 2004. Clarion is 2-1 in the previous three semifinal appearances since 2004 losing to Curwensville in 2004, beating Clarion-Limestone in 2005 and beating ECC last year ... Clarion also won D9 semifinal games in 1999 and 2000 but hasn't won a D9 title since 1997.

CLARION 29, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 2

Score by Quarters

ECC 0 0 0 2 – 2

Clarion 2 13 7 7 – 29

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Blocked punt goes out of the end zone, 5:36

Second Quarter

C – Bubba Rue 2 run (Kick failed), 11:24

C – Kris Burkhart 2 run (Cameron Slike kick), 3:14

Third Quarter

C – Rue 3 run (Slike kick), 2:49

Fourth Quarter

C – Dan Walters 11 pass from Rue (Slike kick), 7:11

E – Blocked punt that led to safety, 3:38

                                           E                      C

First Downs                        5                      12

Rushes-Yards                     26-68               47-224

Passing Yards                     17                    50

Passing: Comp-Att-Int       2-13-4              5-13-0

Total Yards                                    85                    274

Penalties-Yards                  3-15                 9-77

Fumbles-Lost                     1-1                   1-0

Punts-Avg.                         4-31.5              4-26.0

Individual Statistics

Rushing – ECC: Ricky Pearsall 15-42, Kyle Gerber 7-36, Joe Jacob 4-negative 10. Clarion: Bubba Rue 23-176, Kevin Grejda 7-35, Dan Walters 6-16, Kris Burkhart 8-12, Corbin Ragley 1-negative 8, Brandon Heeter 1-negative 9, Lewis Armstrong 1-2.

Passing – ECC: Joe Jacob 2-for-11, 17 yards, 3 interceptions. Kyle Schneider 0-for-2, 0 yards, 1 interception. Clarion: Dan Walters 3-for-4, 31 yards. Brandon Heeter 1-for-8, 8 yards, Bubba Rue 1-for-1, 11 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving – ECC: Robby Wortman 1-10, Kyle Gerber 1-7. Clarion: Cody Renninger 3-31, Erik Hartle 1-8, Dan Walters 1-11.

Interceptions – Clarion: Cody Renninger 2, Bubba Rue, Ian Matson