CLARION – Damien Slike accounted for 176 yards and three touchdowns, as Clarion moved into the District 9 Class A semifinals with a 34-7 win over visiting Smethport in the opening round of the postseason Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

Slike ran 12 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 27 yards and a score.

Clarion, which is 11-0 for the first time in school history, led 14-0 at halftime before pulling away in the second half scoring the first 20 points of the second 24 minutes.

In the process of getting the win, junior quarterback John Katis became Clarion’s single-season passing leader with 1,352 yards. He was 8 of 14 for 106 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the win and broke the previous single-season mark of 1,263 yards set in 1968 (44 years ago) by Drew Zwald.

Katis, who needed 17 yards coming into the game to tie Zwald, set the record on his first pass of the game, an 18-yard scoring strike to Slike that put the Bobcats up 7-0 less than five minutes into the game.

Another Katis touchdown toss, this time a 33 yarder to a diving Cody Hearst, gave the Bobcats a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Smethport then embarked on an 18-play drive that took the final 6 ½ minutes of the first half, but the Hubbers (4-6) failed to score when a 39-yard Dario Caminiti field goal as time expire in the half hit the crossbar.

The Hubbers actually had the ball inside the 5-yard line at one point late in the drive only to have a 15-yard personal foul for a chop blocked called and then a 5-yard penalty for too many men on the field forced the longer field goal attempt.

Clarion took advantage of Smethport’s failure to score by getting the ball to start the second half and marching 60 yards in 13 plays with Slike plunging in from a yard out to make it 21-0.

Slike scored on a 39-yard run four minutes later to make it 27-0 before Tanner Corbett’s 16-yard scoring run with 6:47 left in the game made it 34-0.

Smethport finally got on the board with 4:51 to play when Caminiti caught a 33-yard pass from Clay Schuler a play after Karl Lightner stripped Tyler Allen and recovered the fumble at the Clarion 33.

But the touchdown pass from Schuler was one of the few highlights for the Hubber senior signal caller. Schuler, who came into the game with 1,011 yards rushing was sacked six times and finished with minus 16 yards rushing, a season low. He was 8 of 18 for 94 yards and the touchdown with the 18 pass attempts being a season high.

Ryan Stratton led Smethport 85 yards rushing on 15 carries.

NOTES – Clarion outgained Smethport 388-165 including 282-71 on the ground … Penalty flags were a story as well with 19 penalties for 162 yards called. Clarion had 11 for 99 and eight for 63 yards on the Hubbers … Clarion suffered a potential significant injury loss in the game when T.J. Armstrong went down in the fourth quarter. Armstrong’s status at the end of the game was unknown … Cameron Kirkland had four catches for 39 yards and went over the 1,500-yard receiving mark for his career. With 1,510 yards, he is believed to be the first Bobcat receiver over 1,500 yards ... It was the first meeting between Clarion and Smethport since the 1999 semifinals, which Clarion also won. It was the fifth postseason game between the schools with Clarion now holding a 3-2 lead ... The Bobcats are in the D9 semifinals for the second straight year and for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

CLARION 34, SMETHPORT 7

Score by Quarters

Smethport 0 0 0 7 – 7

Clarion 7 7 13 7 – 34

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Damien Slike 18 pass from John Katis (Antonio Troese kick), 7:17

Second Quarter

C – Cody Hearst 33 pass from Katis (Troese kick), 6:45

Third Quarter

C – Slike 1 run (Troese kick), 6:27

C – Slike 39 run (Kick failed), 2:25

Fourth Quarter

C – Tanner Corbett 16 run (Troese kick), 6:47

S – Dario Caminiti 33 pass from Clay Schuler (Caminiti kick), 4:51

            S          C

First Downs    14        18

Rushes-Yards  42-71   38-282

Passing Yards 94        106

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            8-18-0  8-14-1

Total Yardage 165      388

Penalties-Yards           8-63     11-99

Fumbles-Lost  2-0       1-1

Punts-Avg.      6-30.7  1-39.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Smethport: Ryan Stratton 15-85, Dustin Zetwick 1-1, Karl Lightner 1-1, Clay Schuler 17-minus 16. Clarion: Damien Slike 12-149, T.J. Armstrong 9-40, Camron Kirkland 6-38, Ian Corbett 5-33, Tanner Corbett 1-16, Tyler Allen 4-6, John Katis 1-0.

Passing – Smethport: Clay Schuler 8-for-18, 94 yards, 1 touchdown. Clarion: John Katis 8-for-14, 106 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception.

Receiving – Smethport: Karl Lightner 2-23, Dario Caminiti 2-41, Jordan Johnson 1-13, Jake Abrams 1-10, Drew Burdick 1-7. Clarion: Camron Kirkland 4-39, Damien Slike 2-27, Cody Hearst 1-33, Kevin Wolbert 1-7.

Interceptions – Smethport: Jordan Johnson 1.