By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Camron Kirkland accounted for 179 yards of offense and four touchdowns, as Clarion secured its second KSAC Small School Division title and with it the top seed in the District 9 Class A playoffs with a 54-0 win over winless A-C Valley Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

Kirkland, who recorded his first career four-touchdown game, ran for a game-high 102 yards on just four carries and caught three passes for 77 yards. He scored on runs of 28 and 50 yards and caught touchdown passes of 21 and 48 yards from Brandon Heeter, who was 4-for-6 for 100 yards and the two scores. Kirkland also added an interception on defense, one of four interceptions of A-C Valley quarterback Colton Cunningham for the Bobcats.

Senior lineman/linebacker Ian Matson added his first two career touchdowns for Clarion (5-2 overall, 4-0 KSAC Small School) scoring on a 25-yard interception return in the first quarter and adding a 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Clarion, which scored four times in just over six minutes in the first quarter to go up 28-0 after one including twice in 11 seconds, also got rushing touchdowns from Marcus Smerker and Tyler Allen with Allen’s fourth-quarter touchdown run being the first of his career.

Mike Suto led A-C Valley (0-6, 0-4) with 57 yards rushing on nine carries, while Ben Babington added 90 yards on five carries for Clarion.   

NOTES – Clarion gets the top seed in the District 9 Class A playoffs by virtue of being the top Class A team out of the KSAC Small School Division. Starting last season, District 9 pre-seeded the Class A playoffs. Last year, the AML’s top Class A school received the top seed and this year the KSAC’s top Class A school receives the top seed … The Bobcats will be the top seed in the playoffs for the first time since 2000 and the KSAC will have the top seed for the first time since Clarion-Limestone was No. 1 on its way to the District 9 title in 2003. Clarion last won a D9 title in 2009 as the No. 2 seed … The top seed in the playoffs has won eight of the last nine District 9 Class A titles with Clarion’s victory over fourth-seeded Coudersport in 2009 being the only time it didn’t happen during that span. Coudersport had beaten top seeded Curwensville in the semifinals that season ... The win was Clarion's 13th straight over A-C Valley including seven by shutout.

CLARION 54, A-C VALLEY 0

Score by Quarters

A-C Valley 0 0 0 0 – 0

Clarion 28 14 6 6 – 54  

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Camron Kirkland 28 run (kick failed), 7:55

C – Marcus Smerker 40 run (Smerker pass from Brandon Heeter), 4:57

C – Ian Matson 25 interception return (Tanner Klein kick), 4:46

C – Kirkland 21 pass from Heeter (Klein kick), 1:13

Second Quarter

C – Kirkland 48 pass from Heeter (Klein kick), 10:44

C – Matson 4 run (Klein kick), 6:02

Third Quarter

C – Kirkland 50 run (kick failed), 9:59

Fourth Quarter

C – Tyler Allen 3 run (run failed), 7:05

            A         C

First Downs    8          19

Rushes-Yards  35-168 33-348

Passing Yards 3          128

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            1-10-4  5-8-0

Total Yards     171      476

Fumbles-Lost  1-0       1-1

Penalties-Yards           3-19     3-20

Punts-Avg.      5-26.4  1-26.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – A-C Valley: Mike Suto 9-57, Kodie Rose 5-49, Dallas Wingard 7-43, Andrew Strauser 6-18, Colton Cunningham 5-4, Kevin Kaufman 2-0, Team 1-minus 3. Clarion: Camron Kirkland 4-102, Ben Babington 5-90, Marcus Smerker 2-42, T.J. Armstrong 5-38, Tyler Allen 4-32, Damien Slike 3-22, Bobby Boyer 4-18, Riley Gunter 2-7, Ian Matson 1-4, Team 1-minus 3, Tanner Corbett, 2-minus 4.

Passing – A-C Valley: Colton Cunningham 1-for-10, 3 yards, 4 interceptions. Clarion: Brandon Heeter 4-for-6, 100 yards, 2 touchdowns. John Katis 1-for-2, 28 yards.

Receiving – A-C Valley: Mike Suto 1-3. Clarion: Camron Kirkland 3-77, Bryce Straffin 1-28, Marcus Smerker 1-23.

Interceptions: Clarion: Tanner Klein, Ian Matson, Camron Kirkland, Cody Hearst.