By Chris Rossetti

RIMERSBURG – Behind two consecutive drives sandwiched between halftime, Clarion beat Union 28-7 in a battle of unbeatens Friday night in Rimersburg.

Trailing 7-0 and limited to 19 yards and no first downs with under a minute to play in the first half, the Bobcats (5-0 overall, 3-0 KSAC Small School Division) tied the game with a six-play, 71-yard drive that ended when T.J. Armstrong fumbled at the 1-yard line only to have teammate Destin Strauser recover the ball in the end zone for the game-tying score.

“I reached out with the ball, and my hand got hit,” Armstrong said. “I fumbled it, and Destin Strauser fell on it.”

The officials huddled and determined the fumble happened before Armstrong was on the ground thus the touchdown call.

“I thought the (referees) did a pretty good job,” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said. “I’m glad they huddled. Probably Green Bay wished they had huddled Monday night. That was huge. It wiped out some of the momentum they had after we turned the ball over four times in the half.”

Clarion then took the second-half kickoff and marched 74 yards on 17 plays taking 8:30 off the clock and went up 14-7 on a 1-yard Armstrong touchdown run. Clarion converted two fourth downs on the drive including a 4-yard fake punt run by Damien Slike and a 29-yard screen pass from John Katis to Cody Hearst on fourth-and-27 from the Union 30.

‘There is no question, that drive had an emotional impact,” Wiser said.

Clarion’s defense made sure the lead held up limiting Union (4-1, 2-1) to 10 second-half yards and two first downs in the half, both after the game was 28-7.

“You want to look back and want to say that was a big play at the end of the first half, but it wasn’t,” Union head coach Dave Louder said. It was 0-0 going to the second half. We have to step up and play. We got dominated. It’s back to square one. We don’t know where we are. What are we going to do now? Are we going to bow our head and give up? Or are going become the team that got us to 4-0?”

Clarion made it 21-7 when Armstrong, who ran for a career-high 206 yards, scored his second touchdown of the game on a 60-yard run early in the fourth quarter. He broke a tackle at the line then hurdled a Union defender on his way to the end zone.

“That’s the first time I ever hurdled a kid,” Armstrong said. “I liked it. Coach Wiser yelled me all week to run low and pick up my feet, and I’d be a lot better. Apparently, I need to listen to Coach Wiser a little bit more.”

The Bobcats capped off the scoring when Cody Hearst picked off a Brody Shick pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown a little over a minute after Armstrong’s lone run.

“Our defense plays great,” Armstrong said. “It wins us games. “We don’t give up points.”  

Union, which scored on a 9-yard Shick to Keenan Rankin touchdown pass six seconds into the second quarter following a Shick interception of Katis, one of two picks by the Union senior, wasn’t able to capitalize on any of Clarion’s other four turnovers.

“We wasted opportunity after opportunity,” Louder said. “Nothing worked for us offensively in the second half.”

The Golden Knights may have been hurt in the second half by the fact they didn’t have an opportunity to make normal halftime adjustments because of Union’s homecoming activities at halftime. Four key Golden Knights – Shick, Rankin, Keenan McGregor and Aaron Graham – were all on the field as part of those festivities, which lasted most of the 20-minute halftime period.

“It can’t happen,” Louder said. “We are trying to make adjustments at halftime, and the entire senior class is out there (on the field). It’s (the ceremony) is great and more for the school, but boy that really hurt us to because we are trying to make adjustments during the two-minute stretch. Something has to change. The dance could be the crowning. The football team can’t be out there (at halftime).

NOTES – Armstrong added seven tackles, including 3 ½ for a loss, tying Ian Corbett for the team lead … The win was the Bobcats 15^th consecutive conference victory. Clarion is 13-0 all-time in KSAC Small School Division play … The win was the 18^th straight for Clarion over Union … Eric Seary led Union with 7 stops including 3 ½ for a loss … Clarion outgained the Golden Knights 331-54, including minus 2 yards on the ground. It is the second time in five weeks a Bobcat opponent has been in negative yards rushing … Union honored its 1962 unbeaten team prior to the game. Many Golden Knight greats including quarterback Tom Sherman, who went on to quarterback at Penn State, were on hand for the ceremony.

CLARION 28, UNION 7

Score by Quarters

Clarion 0 7 7 14 – 28

Union 0 7 0 0 – 7

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

U – Keenan Rankin 9 pass from Brody Shick (Rankin kick), 11:56

C – Destin Strauser 0 fumble recovery (Antonio Troese kick), 0:00

Third Quarter

C – T.J. Armstrong 1 run (Troese kick), 3:25

Fourth Quarter

C – Armstrong 60 run (Troese kick), 8:27

C – Cody Hearst 29 interception return (Troese kick), 7:23

                                                C                     U

First Downs                            14                    6

Rushes-Yards                          42-258             24-(-2)

Passing Yards                         73                    56

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            4-10-3              8-23-1

Total Yardage                         331                  54

Fumbles-Lost                          4-2                   2-0

Punts-Avg.                              3-38.3              8-39.1

Penalties-Yards                       7-66                 3-22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Clarion: T.J. Armstrong 25-206, Ian Corbett 3-20, Damien Slike 4-16, Camron Kirkland 6-13, John Katis 1-3, Tyler Allen 1-2, Team 2-minus 2, Destin Strauser 0-0. Union: Cody Kline 11-16, Keenan Rankin 6-15, Aaron Graham 1-0, Kaden McGregor 2-minus 2, Brody Shick 4-minus 31.

Passing – Clarion: John Katis 4-for-10, 73 yards, 3 interceptions. Union: Brody Shick 8-for-23, 56 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception.

Receiving – Clarion: Camron Kirkland 1-32, Cody Hearst 1-29, Jason Boenke 1-9, Damien Slike 1-3. Union: Keenan Rankin 3-27, Kaden McGregor 2-15, Aaron Graham 1-9, Dylan Shirey 1-7, Brett Thirhart 1-minus 2.

Interceptions – Clarion: Cody Hearst. Union: Brody Shick 2, Aaron Graham.