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ALTOONA — For the second straight year, the
Clearfield Bisons will open the state playoffs with District 6’s
Johnstown. The Bisons and Trojans meet at Altoona’s Mansion Park
Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
It’s officially called a PIAA Class AAA
Play-In game, but state playoff game either way. The difference
this year is that the 9-1 Trojans didn’t play anybody last week
to win the District 6 title. The only other Class AAA team in
District 6 was 1-9 Bellefonte.
Clearfield (10-1) is coming off its eighth
District 9 title after beating St. Marys last week, 28-7. The
win helped Bisons head coach Tim Janocko tie the District 9
coaching wins record of 204 held by Coudersport’s Paul Simcoe.
To get the district-record 205th
win, the Bisons will now try to beat the Trojans for the second
straight year. Last year, the Bisons dealt the Trojans a 28-12
setback in DuBois.
The Bisons intercepted Johnstown
quarterback Gervan Simon three times. Simon, a senior, is back
this year. He’s thrown for 1,563 yards with 17 touchdowns and 19
interceptions while rushing for 504 yards and eight touchdowns.
Simon’s top receivers, both seniors, are
Dwight Andrews (24 catches, 509 yards, 7 TDs) and Mark Watson
(24-433, 2 TDs). Watson has five interceptions on defense.
The Trojans’ running game is led by senior
Tim Odum, who’s rushed for 1,022 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Johnstown’s lone loss is a 7-6 decision to
Central Cambria in Week 7.
The Bisons also has their starting
quarterback returning in senior Curtis Frye, who passed for over
1,700 yards each of the last two years. Frye’s 4,310 career
passing yards rank ninth in District 9 history, but he’s not
throwing for big numbers this year as he’s completed 32 of 103
passes for 703 yards with eight touchdowns and five touchdowns.
But the lessening of Frye’s passing load
this year — he’s completed 10 or more passes in a game just once
this year — might have a lot to do with the poor fall weather
and the Bisons’ running game that’s averaging an impressive
295.6 yards per game.
Senior Beau Swales has rushed for 1,679
yards on 229 carries with 22 touchdowns and his yardage ranks
second in the district only behind Curwensville’s Alex Holland’s
2,334 yards. Swales isn’t alone in the running game. Christian
Lezzer has rushed for 630 yards and 10 touchdowns while Frye has
chipped in with 394 yards and six touchdowns.
Lezzer is also the top receiver with 15
catches for 302 yards.
Defensively, Swales leads the team in
tackles from his linebacker spot at nine stops per game. Fellow
linebacker Rob Myers is second with 8.4 tackles per game.
The Bisons made a deep run into last year’s
state playoffs. After beating Johnstown, they beat Shikellamy,
42-26, before falling to Allentown Central Catholic in the state
quarterfinals, 55-20. Two weeks later, Allentown Central won the
state title with a 28-27 win over Bishop McDevitt.
Clearfield is 5-8 lifetime in the PIAA
playoffs, all under Janocko. Last year’s two wins in the state
playoffs was the first two-win performance by a District 9 team
since Bradford’s run to the PIAA Class AAA semifinals in 2003.
The Owls lost to Neil Walker’s Pine-Richland squad, 37-7.
Smethport is the only other District 9 team
to win two or more state playoff games in the same season. The
Hubbers did it in 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1998. The 1991 Hubbers
won three games,
losing in the Class A state finals to Scotland School.
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