By Rich Rhoades

CLARION — Failing to avoid two costly traits that usually spell defeat — turnovers and missed opportunities — the Clearfield Bison came up short in their chance to win a District 5-6-8-9 Sub-Regional championship.

University Prep didn’t exactly follow the script either with a slew of penalties that certainly had Wildcats fans seeing yellow. However, when your quarterback throws five touchdown passes, the constant flagging was just a nuisance in the end.

Quarterback Akil Young completed 24 of 37 passes for 351 yards and dissected the Bison defense for his five touchdowns, three coming in the first half and two in the fourth quarter to hold off a Bison rally for a 36-22 win at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon.

University Prep (8-3) advances to the PIAA Class AAA playoffs to take on District 4 champion Selinsgrove (9-3), which won its district title game Friday night with a 31-0 shutout of Milton, this Friday or Saturday at site and time to be determined.

Young’s performance overcame University Prep’s ridiculous problem with penalties — 18 flags for a whopping 142 yards — and it outshone Bison quarterback Christian Lezzer, who threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns. Lezzer also tackled Prep running back Abner Roberts for a safety late in the first half.

However, University Prep limited the Bison running game to just 78 yards, making Clearfield’s comeback efforts that much more difficult. It was Clearfield’s inability to hold on the ball that hurt the most. The Bison committed six turnovers as Lezzer was intercepted three times.

With that, Clearfield’s unbeaten season came to a halt at 11-1 in a sloppy game filled with nine turnovers and 26 penalties for 223 yards. The Bison were flagged eight times for 71 yards themselves.

Clearfield’s giveaways contributed to the Bison lack of capping scoring opportunities as well. The Bison had the ball inside the University Prep 35 five times and could only score one touchdown through the first three quarters, three of those drives ending on turnovers.

Still, Lezzer’s second of three TD passes to Trey Jordan on a 16-yard pass nine seconds into the fourth quarter got the Bison within 22-15.

 “You are six points down in the fourth quarter, you’ve got a chance,” said Bison head coach Tim Janocko, referencing a one-score difference. “They came back and made some plays. They are very athletic.”

From there, University Prep answered the Bison with touchdowns of its own as Young continued to throw over and through a depleted Clearfield secondary. Clearfield did intercept and sack Young twice each, but it wasn’t enough.

 “We were trying to get as much pressure on the quarterback as we could,” Janocko said. “At times we did and at times we didn’t. When we didn’t, and you give him enough time he makes you pay.”

The Bison were already playing without one starting safety in injured Dylan Graham. They lost their other safety and 1,000-yard rusher in junior Tyler Stratton to an injury at the 5:23 mark of the second quarter. Stratton finished with nine yards on just four carries.

With Stratton and Graham gone, Young made life tough on the Bison. He threw two TD passes to Myles Catlin covering 15 and 40 yards in the first half along with a 29-yarder to Clay Moorefield to start the game’s scoring with 3:41 left in the first quarter. Young hooked up with Michael Wright on an 8-yarder to answer Clearfield’s first touchdown of the fourth quarter.

 “Not having Dylan is hard because he is a main stay in our secondary,” Janocko said. “Then losing Stratton, we didn't have both safeties against a team that throws the ball. I'm not making excuses, but that is tough to overcome.”

After Lezzer threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jordan to get Clearfield back to within 30-22 following Spencer Herrington’s point-after kick with 4:51 remaining, Prep needed just four plays to find the end zone on Young’s third TD pass to Catlin on a 19-yard hookup. Marcus Johnson’s 53-yard kick return set the drive up with good field position. The final points of the game gave Prep a comfortable 14-point advantage with 2:13 remaining.

NOTES: Jordan finished with six catches for 180 yards, pushing over 1,000 yards for the season. He finished with 33 receptions for 1,117 yards and 18 touchdowns. His 180 yards receiving rank third in District 9 playoff history behind Brockway’s Mike Vervoort’s 224 yards on 12 receptions in the 2009 Class AA semifinals and Friday night’s 205-yard by Tyce Miller on eight catches in Port Allegany’s 48-7 win over Elk County Catholic in the Class A semifinals. … Clearfield fell to 1-4 against District 8 (Pittsburgh City League) teams in playoff games. The only win was a 24-21 win over Brashear in 2008. … Prep’s Young went over 2,000 yards passing for the season at 2,229 yards with 26 touchdowns. He threw for 462 yards and six touchdowns in last week’s 47-38 win over Somerset. … Lezzer finished with 1,446 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns and 1,445 yards passing and 20 touchdowns. Defensively, Lezzer finished with 12 ½ sacks. … Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Mike Logan was an assistant coach for University Prep. He was a member of the 2005 Steelers who beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

UNIVERSITY PREP 36, CLEARFIELD 22

Score By Quarters

University Prep         14        8          0          14        -           36

Clearfield                   0          9          0          13        -           22

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

U – Clay Moorefield 29 pass from Akil Young (Dan Dillinger kick), 3:41.

U – Myles Catlin 15 pass from Akil Young (Michael Wright pass from Akil Yong), :07.

Second Quarter

C – Trey Jordan 71 pass from Christian Lezzer (Spencer Herrington kick), 10:55.

U – Myles Catlin 40 pass from Akil Young (Ryan Daniels run), 6:18.

C – Safety, Abner Roberts tackled in end zone, :42.

Fourth Quarter

C – Trey Jordan 16 pass from Christian Lezzer (kick failed), 11:51.

U – Michael Wright 8 pass from Akil Young (Ryan Daniels run), 8:16.

C – Trey Jordan 4 pass from Christian Lezzer (Spencer Herrington kick), 4:51.

U – Myles Catlin 19 pass from Akil Young (run failed), 2:13.

TEAM STATISTICS

                                                C                                 UP

First Downs                            13                                19

Rushes-Yards                          38-78                           19-53

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            8-24-3                          24-37-2

Total Yards                             313                              404

Fumbles-Lost                          3-3                               1-1

Penalties-Yards                       8-71                             18-142

Punts-Avg                               2-23                             2-29

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Clearfield: Christian Lezzer 24-44, Seth Ford 10-25, Tyler Stratton 4-9. University Prep: Ryan Daniels 6-52, Abner Roberts 5-19, Michael Wright 1-2, Clay Moorefield 1-(-5), Curtis Williams 1-(-7), Akil Young 4-(-7), Team 1-(-1).

Passing – Clearfield – Christian Lezzer 8-of-20, 235 yards, 3 TDs, 3 Ints.; Tyler Woomer 0-of-4. University Prep – Akil Young 24-of-37, 351 yards, 5 TDs, 2 Ints.

Receiving – Clearfield – Trey Jordan 6-180, Shawn Lord 1-33, Seth Ford 1-22. University Prep: Clay Moorefield 7-72, Michael Wright 6-73, Myles Catlin 5-90, Marcus Johnson 3-70, Abner Roberts 3-46.

Interceptions – Clearfield: Jake Wingate, Seth Beardsley. University Prep: Marcus Johnson, Mauree Clemm, Nicholas Stallworth.