Information for this story courtesy of Bradford Era

BROCKWAY – Christian Lezzer ran for three touchdowns and threw for a fourth to lead Clearfield to its third straight District 9 Class AAA title with a 49-0 whitewashing of Bradford Friday night at Brockway.

Lezzer scored on runs of 4, 5 and 4 yards and threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Lord to help the Bison (10-0) their fourth Class AAA title in five years, their ninth Class AAA title all-time and their 10^th District 9 crown (they have also won one in Class AAAA). It is the first time a District 9 Class AAA team has won three straight district titles. Clearfield is just the second District 9 school to win three straight football titles – Karns City has done it twice (1999-2001 and 2007-2009).

The Bison took advantage of turnovers and strong special teams play to Mercy Rule Bradford (4-6), which sees its season come to an end.

Clearfield, which led 42-0 at halftime, scored following two Owls interceptions, a fumble, a blocked field goal and a solid punt return by Trey Jordan.

Lezzer got the ball rolling for the Bison on a 4-yard run with 4:51 left in the first quarter after Clearfield blocked a Ty Riley 30-yard field goal attempt at the end of Bradford’s first drive giving the Bison the ball at the Clearfield 42-yard line.

A 5-yard Lezzer run with 52 seconds left in the first quarter made it 14-0, and then a Clearfield interception of Bradford quarterback Matt Yurkewicz led to a 21-yard Tyler Stratton touchdown run less than two minutes into the second quarter making it 21-0.

Bradford had a chance to get back in the game driving inside the Clearfield 10-yard line where it had first-and-goal from the 8. But the Bison defense stiffened and caused a turnover on downs at the 15.

Ten plays later, Lezzer scored for the third time on the ground on another 4-yard run to make it 28-0 with 4:29 left in the first half.

Jordan then returned a punt 33 yards to the Bradford 22 setting up Stratton’s second touchdown run of the game, this time from three yards out, to make it 35-0 with 1:40 left in the half.

The Bison weren’t done in the half quite yet.

A Seth Beardsley interception gave Clearfield the ball at the Bradford 24-yard line, and Lezzer hooked up with Shawn Lord on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds left in the half to make it 42-0 Bison at the break.

The score remained 42-0 until early in the fourth quarter when Seth Ford scored on a 1-yard run to close out the scoring.

NOTES – The 49-point margin of victory is the highest ever in a District 9 Class AAA title game passing the 35 points Clearfield beat A-C Valley by (35-0) in 1998. It is also the second-highest margin of victory in any District 9 title game passed only by Brockway’s 50-0 win over Brookville in 2010. The 49 points scored are also the third most ever in a District 9 title game behind Brockway’s 50 in 2010 and Karns City’s 50 in 2007 (50-14 over Moniteau). It is just the third shutout in a D9 Class AAA title game (Clearfield 35-0 over A-C Valley in 1998 and Bradford 17-0 over St. Marys in 2007) and only the 12^th ever shutout in a District 9 title game regardless of classification  … Clearfield now moves on to the District 5-6-8-9 PIAA sub regional and will face University Prep out of the Pittsburgh City League (District 8) next week at a time and place to be determined. University Prep plays Perry for the City League title Saturday.

CLEARFIELD 49, BRADFORD 0  

Score by Quarters

Bradford 0 0 0 0 – 0

Clearfield 14 28 0 7 – 49

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Christian Lezzer 4 run (Spencer Herrington kick), 4:51

C – Lezzer 5 run (Herrington kick), 0:52

Second Quarter

C – Tyler Stratton 21 run (Herrington kick), 10:44

C – Lezzer 4 run (Herrington kick), 4:29

C – Stratton 3 run (Herrington kick), 1:40

C – Shawn Lord 21 pass from Lezzer (Herrington kick), 0:37

Fourth Quarter

C – Seth Ford 1 run (Herrington kick), 11:17

TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL STATS  NOT AVAILABLE