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Clearfield loses King of the Mountain trophy to DuBois
Saturday, September 05, 2009
By Rich Murawski Assistant Sports Editor
HYDE - A nightmarish third quarter saw the Clearfield football team's 13-point halftime lead over DuBois turn to an 8-point deficit as a handful of momentum-turning plays loomed large.
The result was a 35-21 Beaver win Friday night at the Bison Sports Complex in both team's season openers.
The victory was DuBois' 70th in the 103-game series, and the Beavers also walked away with the King of the Mountain Trophy for 2009.
Clearfield led 13-0 at halftime, holding the Beavers to less than 100 yards
of total offense. But DuBois exploded in the third quarter for 204 yards in scoring drives of 69, 59 and 76 yards.
The Beavers also came up with a pair of interceptions - one a controversial play that led to a score and the other late in the quarter that set up a DuBois touchdown 26 seconds into the final stanza.
"We played a real good first half," Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko said. "But we didn't make plays in the third quarter, and that gave them the momentum."
DuBois scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, going 69 yards in seven plays.
Adam Sanko went the final 23 yards for the Beavers' first touchdown.
After the Bisons went three-and-out, DuBois took the lead on its next possession.
It only took the Beavers four plays to travel 59 yards with quarterback Cam Kelly finishing the drive with a four-yard score with 4:49 to go in the quarter. Kelly rumbled for 42 yards the play before. He finished the game with 124 yards on 16 carries.
Clearfield picked up a pair of first downs on its next possession, but had the drive snuffed out by a controversial interception.
Beaver defensive back Tony Powers was awarded the pick along the Clearfield sideline at the 24-yard line although it appeared he came down out of bounds.
After a Kelly 3-yard run and quarterback Josh Means' 24-yard hookup with Dew Spicher, the Beavers got another huge play.
Means went back to pass and had a Bison defender all over him. Somehow Means spun out of the tackle, bounced off two more Clearfield players and raced down the sidelines for a 49-yard score. Max Hine's extra point gave DuBois a 21-13 lead with 1:32 still left in the third quarter.
"We missed a tackle that would have gone for a big loss, and then he's running 50 yards down the sidelines," Janocko said. "That was a turning point. It comes down to three or four plays that didn't go our way. We have to get that fixed."
DuBois got an interception four snaps later, as Kelly picked off Bison sophomore quarterback Curtis Frye at the DuBois 43-yard line on the next to the last play of the quarter.
It took the Beavers just three snaps to reach the end zone, as Means capped things off with an 11-yard score.
Means had 95 yards on 13 carries and threw for 98 more, completing six of his eight passes.
Trailing 28-13 with nearly all of the fourth quarter in front of them, the Bisons went to work. Clearfield went 59 yards in nine plays, getting a pair of highlight reel catches from Trey Campman along the way.
On first-and-10 from the DuBois 48, Campman ran a pattern down the sidelines and got behind the DuBois defense. Frye's pass was slightly underthrown, and the DuBois defender reached up to knock the ball away.
The ball bounced off his hands, and Campman was able to somehow snag the ball out of the air as he was falling to the ground. The play covered 32 yards and put Clearfield in business at the 16.
Five plays later, Campman wrestled the ball away from a DuBois defensive back in the corner of the end zone on a fade pattern. Frye found Danver for the 2-point conversion and the Bisons were back in the game, trailing the Beavers 28-21 with 7:41 to go.
Campman caught six passes for 116 yards.
"That's what we need him to do," Janocko said of Campman's big night. "He made plays."
Frye completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 201 yards. He tossed a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions.
After struggling through the third quarter, the Clearfield defense came up with a big stop on the next DuBois possession. It forced the Beavers to go three-and-out, making DuBois punt the ball back with six minutes left in the contest.
Clearfield started its drive at the 36 and moved all the way to the DuBois 34 before disaster struck once more. A snap sailed over Frye's head and bounced around for some time before Jack Mellgard fell on it 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Frye connected with Derek Danver for 20 yards on the next play, but his next two passes fell incomplete and DuBois took over on downs at midfield.
Kelly scored on a 32-yard touchdown run with 1:33 left to seal the game for DuBois.
"We fought back and were in the game," Janocko said. "We slugged it out with them."
Clearfield opened the scoring, putting together a 73-yard drive that culminated with a Campman 3-yard run. Campman also had a 37-yard reception in the series when Frye found him in stride on a slant.
The Bisons upped their advantage to 13-0 with 27 seconds left in the second quarter when Frye hit Danver in the corner of the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown.
That score was set up by the Bison defense as Andre Buck recovered a Means fumble after Bison linebacker Ryan Hertlein drilled him and forced the turnover.
"We made some big plays," Janocko said. "We did a lot of good things. This isn't the end of the world. We want to improve every week. We'll get back to practice and then come out next week and play four quarters."
Clearfield is back in action Friday, playing host to Philipsburg-Osceola.
NOTES: DuBois amassed 301 yards rushing on 41 attempts and compiled 399 total yards ... Clearfield rushed for just 65 yards on 37 carries and totaled 266 yards ... Danver caught four passes for 52 yards ... Derek Morgan was the leading rusher for the Bisons, toting the ball 13 times for 52 yards. DuBois 35
Clearfield 21 Score By Quarters
DuBois 0 0 21 14-35
Clearfield 7 6 0 8-21 First Quarter
C-Campman 3 run, (Zurat kick), 8:02.
Second Quarter
C-Danver 15 pass from Frye, (kick failed), 0:27.
Third Quarter
D-Sanko 23 run, (Hine kick), 8:42.
D-Kelly 4 run, (Hine kick), 4:49.
D-Means 49 run, (Hine kick), 1:32.
Fourth Quarter
D-Means 11 run, (Hine kick), 11:34.
C-Campman 10 pass from Frye, (Danver pass from Frye), 7:41.
D-Kelly 32 run, (Hine kick), 1:33. TEAM STATISTICS
D C
Total First Downs 16 14
Rushes-Yards 41-301 37-65
Comp-Att-Int 6-9-0 12-18-2
Passing Yards 98 201
Total Plays-Yards 50-399 55-266
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Punts-Avg 3-40.3 4-36
Penalties-Yards 3-15 4-30 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
DuBois-Kelly 16-124, Means 13-95, Sanko 3-29, Newpher 1-13, Bish 3-40, Sunealitis 2-4, Bogacki 1-0, Team 2-(-4).
Clearfield-Morgan 13-52, Frye 11-19, Campman 9-15, Danver 3-4, Team 1-(-25).
Passing
DuBois-Means 6-of-8, 98 yds.; Sleigh 0-of-1.
Clearfield-Frye 12-of-18, 201 yds, 2 TD, 2 Int.
Receiving
DuBois-Spicher 3-71, Bogacki 1-11, Newpher 1-10, Bish 1-6.
Clearfield-Campman 6-116, Danver 4-52, Zurat 1-19, Redden 1-14.
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