Speed vs. Speed: Central Clarion and Redbank Valley Both Have Fair Share of Burners When They Clash on Friday

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Ashton Rex has been busy rewriting the record books.

The speedy senior receiver for the Central Clarion football team has just about all of them now. Touchdowns. Yards — in a career and in a single season.

His monster year makes one more regular-season stop at Redbank Valley on Friday night.

(Pictured above, Ashton Rex finds some running room/photo courtesy of the Central Clarion Wildcats Football Boosters)

“Just an unbelievable season he’s had,” said Central Clarion coach Dave Eggleton. “He’s one of the leading receivers in the state in any class.”

Try to single-cover Rex at your own risk. With his speed, he’s nearly impossible to blanket one-on-one.

His numbers speak to that with 47 reception for 1,204 yards and 10 touchdowns.

He now has 68 catches for 1,649 yards and 15 TDs in his career.

But if there is a team that can match up with the speed of Rex and the rest of his teammates, it may be Redbank Valley.

The Bulldogs are also blessed with a fair share of burners.

“This is the only team I think that going into the game that we can’t definitely say our athletes have the advantage,” Eggleton said. “I think athletically they are very deep and have several guys who are very good.”

Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold said he may rest several of his nicked-up starters this week with the District 9 Class A playoffs looming.

“This is an exhibition game,” Gold said. “It appears that this game will have no impact on playoff seeding, so it’s a good chance for us to sit down some regulars who are banged up a bit in preparation for next week’s playoff opener. In doing that, it will provide an opportunity for some of our backups to compete against the best team in the district.

“While we are singularly focused on doing what we need to do to compete for a district championship, whoever we put on the field Friday night will be expected to compete at a high level,” Gold added.

(Photo by Madison McFarland)

Braylon Wagner will get the start at quarterback for Redbank Valley. The freshman has impressed in his first two starts after taking over the reins of the offense.

Last week, Wagner threw for 221 yards in a 34-28 win over Ridgway.

“We had two freshman QBs coming into this season that we knew were above average for their age,” Gold said. “Coach (Jason) Kundick spent more time than he’s ever spent developing freshman QBs with those two guys this past summer.”

The other freshman is Jaxon Huffman, who was lost for the season with an injury.

“When we lost Jaxon, Braylon began getting double the reps and it has benefitted him now,” Gold said. “What he’s displayed the last two weeks is what we see every week from him at practice when he gets his handful of reps with the ones.”

Eggleton has already seen Wagner in action this year. The young Redbank quarterback stared a junior varsity game against Central Clarion’s JV earlier this season.

“Without a doubt, he’s the future of that program,” Eggleton said. “He’s shown that he’s ready to do it now. He’s already a pretty darn good quarterback. He moves well in the pocket and he had a big arm, so he can lay it out there for those receivers who can run out and get it.”

Eggleton has first-hand experience watching young quarterbacks blossom.

He has his own in Jase Ferguson, who started last year as a freshman and has taken his game to whole new levels this year as a sophomore.

Ferguson has completed 107 of 183 for 2,177 yards and 27 touchdowns this season. He’s also shown he is dangerous with his legs, rushing for 366 yards and five more scores.

“Jase is really starting to realize he can hurt teams with his feet, too,” Eggleton said. “That’s where he has really matured. He’s getting to his second and third reads and if they aren’t there, he’s just gonna take it and go and see what he can get.”

Gold has certainly been impressed with Ferguson.

“(He’s) definitely the most complete quarterback we have seen this season,” Gold said. “His ability to make plays with his arm and legs make him a real challenge to defend. The guys around him can flat out fly. We worked out with them multiple times this past summer so we were able to see that speed on full display.”

Ferguson also hasn’t been shy about dishing out his own punishment as a runner — sometimes to the dismay of Eggleton.

“He’s a big, strong kid and we’ve kind of talked to him a little bit about, ‘Hey, you don’t have to try to run everybody over. You can go out of bounds,’” Eggleton said, chuckling. “But he has that mentality. He’s a competitor, so he doesn’t want to give up anything.”

Central Clarion has made the opponent give up the ball.

A lot.

Through nine games, the Wildcats have forced a staggering 38 turnovers (20 interceptions and 18 fumble recoveries).

“A lot of that, too, comes because we have such an explosive offense and we get ahead of teams, they feel pressure to keep up,” Eggleton said. “They maybe start to do things they’re not comfortable doing and take some chances.

“Our defense has just been fantastic, just doing their job and being in the right position and making plays.”

For Redbank Valley, that makes ball security even more paramount this week.

“They take the football at a high level, but we always stress to our guys that we need to win the possession battle at the end of the night,” Gold said. “You can’t give a team like them extra possessions by turning the ball over.”