By Andy Close

BROCKWAY – D is for dominant.

The Clarion Bobcat defense was dominating limiting Cameron County to 98 yards of total offense on their way to an 18-0 shutout victory in the District 9 Class A semifinal at Frank Varischetti Field in Brockway Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve been playing really solid defense for the past five or six weeks,” said Clarion head coach Larry Wiser.  “We really had to emphasize gap control defense. They got outside on a couple of runs there but we were able to contain them for the most part.”

Offensively, Clarion (9-3) used their rotating quarterback system with great precision, as sophomore Brandon Heeter and junior Dan Walters combined to throw for 141 yards and one touchdown.

“They both hit key passes and made some great decisions,” Wiser said of his two quarterbacks.

Cameron County (9-2), the defending District 9 Class A champs who beat Clarion 18-8 in last year's title game, drove the ball inside the Clarion 40-yard line on its opening drive of the game before the Bobcat defense made one of its many big plays on the day.  Quarterback Jason Blose was pressured out of the pocket on a third-and-2 and the pressure caused him to throw a bad pass that was intercepted by Cody Renninger and returned to the Clarion 40-yard line.

The Bobcats quickly capitalized on the mistake. Consecutive completions from Walters to Renninger along with a 7-yard run from Kevin Grejda put Clarion inside the red zone at the Red Raider 16-yard line.  Bubba Rue finished off the drive, breaking a tackle and racing into the end zone from 16 yards out to make it 6-0.

Neither team was able to muster much offense the rest of the half. But just as it looked liked it would be a 6-0 game going into halftime, Clarion’s defense came up with another big play. 

Blose attempted a swing pass to Andy Lippert that was deflected by Gavin Griffin and ruled a lateral and thus a fumble. Bubba Rue pounced on the ball at the Cameron County 6-yard line with just under two minutes remaining in the half.

“Gavin made a great play,” said Wiser. “That wasn’t something that he is normally supposed to cover with our safety up but they changed their formation and Gavin made a key play.”

The Walters to Renninger connection worked again this time for a 3-yard touchdown strike that gave Clarion a 12-0 lead and all the momentum heading into halftime.

“Our kids just watched it, and you can’t give them a cheap touchdown like that,” Cameron County head coach John Fragale said. “Two turnovers, two touchdowns and that’s the ball game.”

If the Red Raiders spirits weren’t crushed at halftime, they were just four minutes into the second half.

Clarion got good field position to start the half and was able to take advantage.  It was Heeter’s turn to shine as the Bobcats came out throwing.  Completions to Grejda and Erik Hartle took the ball into Red Raider territory.

Two more completions to Renninger along with a Bubba Rue run set up Clarion with a goal-to-go situation at the Cameron County 1-yard line.  After four completions on the drive, Heeter used his legs to finish it off  to make it 18-0 and essentially put the game away.

“We made some good passes and the kids made some key receptions,” Wiser said. “That was probably the most balanced drive we have had all year and it showed that we were coming out to win the game not to not lose the game.”

Cameron County managed just four first downs in the second half.

“You have to give Clarion credit,” Fragale said. “They did a good job of taking away our perimeter running game which is what we were looking to establish.”

Heeter completed 6 of 10 passes for 101 yards to go long with his rushing touchdown, and Walters finished a perfect 4 of 4 for 40 yards.

“I though we took a big step forward offensively today,” said Wiser. 

Renninger was the favorite target of both quarterbacks with seven catches for 107 yards.

Clarion moves on to the Class A Title Game for the second straight season where they will meet Coudersport, a 28-21 winner over Curwensville in the nightcap.

CLARION 18, CAMERON COUNTY 0

SCORING SUMMARY

Clarion- 6 6 6 0-18

Cameron County- 0 0 0 0-0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C- Bubba Rue 16 run (Kick failed) 4:21

Second Quarter

C- Cody Renninger 3 pass from Dan Walters (Conversion failed) :57

Third Quarter

C- Heeter 1 run (Kick failed) 8:04

Team Stats

                                    CL                              CC

First Downs                15                                9

Rushes-Yards              38-132                         39-98

Passing Yards             141                              0

Comp.-Att.-Int                        10-14-1                        0-4-1

Total Yards                 273                              98

Fumbles-Lost              2-0                               1-1

Penalties-Yards           6-49                             2-20

Punts-Avg.                  3-33.5                          3-38.0

Individual Stats

Passing: Clarion: Brandon Heeter 6 of 10, 101 yards, 1 INT.  Dan Walters 4 of 4, 40 yards, 1 TD. Cameron County: Jason Blose 0 of 4, 1 INT.

Rushing: Clarion: Bubba Rue 19-60, Kevin Grejda 8-34, Kris Burkhart 6-31, Dan Walters 2-7, Erik Hartle 1-3, Brandon Heeter 3(-)-3.  Cameron County: Andy Lippert 15-57, Jason Blose 13-27, Hunter Bardo 2-11, Tanner Johnson 7-30, Team 2(-)-27.

Receiving: Clarion: Cody Renninger 7-107, Kevin Grejda 1-13, Gavin Griffin 1-11, Erik Hartle 1-10.

Interceptions: Clarion: Cody Renninger. Cameron County: Brett Malize