DUBOIS, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Sophomore quarterback Jase Ferguson had another solid game for Central Clarion, rushing for two touchdowns while throwing for nearly 300 yards with three more TDs as the Wildcats rolled to a 45-7 victory over DuBois on Friday evening.
(Central Clarion quarterback Jase Ferguson surveys the field against DuBois/photo courtesy of the Central Clarion Wildcats Football Boosters)
Ferguson completed 14-of-20 passes for 296 yards.
Ashton Rex caught five passes for 131 yards while Dawson Smail added five catches for 107 yards with two scores.
Connor Kopnitsky rushed 10 times for 54 yards with a score. Brady Quinn added 47 yards on three carries.
“We spread the ball around quite a bit tonight,” said Central Clarion head coach Dave Eggleton. “We’ve actually spread the ball around the last couple of weeks. We have three running backs we feel pretty comfortable with back there. Conner (Kopnitsky) was a bit banged up tonight, so we limited his carries a bit, but he did a nice job when he was in there.”
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After forcing a punt on the Beavers’ first possession, the Wildcats took over at their own 32.
After a five-yard gain by Quinn on first down, Ferguson connected with Rex on a 49-yard pass play, which would have been a touchdown, but Rex fell as he was making the catch at the 19. The Wildcats moved the ball to the 8 before a penalty backed them up to the 18, where Ferguson connected with Smail from 18 yards out for the first score of the game. Thomas Uckert made the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead at the 6:07 mark of the first.
DuBois gained one first down before turning the ball over on downs from the Central Clarion 38.
Ferguson connected with Rex again on a 39-yard pass play on the first play of the ensuing drive. The drive would stall at the 6, where Uckert booted a 23-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-0 after one quarter.
After another punt early in the second quarter by DuBois, the Wildcats took over at their own 30. Eight plays later Ferguson scored from 3 yards out to give Central Clarion a 17-0 lead at the 8:04 mark.
Central Clarion then recovered a fumble on the kickoff, but the Wildcats were unable to capitalize and were forced to punt.
Ryan Hummell then intercepted a pass to set Central Clarion up at the Beavers’ 31-yard line. Six plays later, Ferguson plunged into the end zone from a yard out to push the lead to 24-0 with 1:12 to play.
Another interception by Quinn gave Central Clarion the ball back at the DuBois 38 with 20 seconds to play in the half. Ferguson connected with Rex for a 27-yard gain down to the 11 where the Wildcats called their final timeout of the half with eight seconds remaining.
Ferguson then connected on an 11-yard touchdown pass to Mason Burford, his first catch of the season, which increased the lead to 31-0 at halftime.
“They were playing a two high safety early on and once we had some success with our running game,” Eggleton said. “They switched to a one high safety, which then opened up the passing game more.”
Central Clarion took the opening kickoff of the second half and took nearly half the quarter clock to eventually score on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to Smail. The PAT kick pushed the score to 38-0 with 6:48 to play in the third quarter and set the mercy rule running clock into motion.
The key play of the drive was a fake punt by Smail, who rushed for 24 yards on the play for the first down to keep the drive alive.
After forcing a three-and-out by DuBois, which would ironically be their only possession of the quarter, the Wildcats took over at their own 25 and drove from there to the Beavers’ 10 to close out the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Kopnitsky scored from 10 yards out to push the score to 45-0 with 11:55 to play in the game.
Central Clarion had their junior varsity defense in the game when backup quarterback Trey Wingard connected with Nathan Kougher for a 61-yard touchdown pass. Cullen McCallister made the PAT kick to account for the only points for Dubois on the evening.
Central Clarion (8-0) will travel to St. Marys (6-2) next Friday
“I’m so happy for the guys as they had a great offseason,” said Eggleton. “They come in each and every week and work their tails off. They set some lofty goals for themselves, and I think they realize this is the team that can reach those goals.”
Central Clarion football coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
