Clearfield falls flat in second half in 23-14 loss to Tyrone
Saturday, September 26, 2009
By Jon Fleck For The Progress
TYRONE - Clearfield's high-octane offense had the Bisons off to a 2-1 start entering Friday's game at Tyrone, but even the best performing engines break down from time to time.
Clearfield averaged nearly 35 points a game through three weeks, but Tyrone's solid defense combined with a slew of Bison penalties slowed Clearfield down enough for the Golden Eagles to pull out a 23-14 win.
"You just can't have as many penalties as we had and put a lot of points on the board," Clearfield coach Tim Janocko said.
"It's tough to win anywhere let alone a tough place like Tyrone with that many penalties. That was the difference in the game."
Clearfield was penalized nine times, several of which wiped out large gains or put the Bisons in poor field position.
With the loss, Clearfield falls to 2-2, 1-1 in the Mountain Athletic Conference Nittany Division. Tyrone improves to 3-1, 2-0 in the division.
Clearfield also committed three turnovers, and one fumble they got back resulted in a safety. Quarterback Curtis Frye fell on a fumbled shotgun snap in his own end zone to give Tyrone a 2-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Clearfield answered back, sandwiching two long scoring drives around a Levi Reihart 45-yard touchdown run to go up 14-9 at the half.
The Bisons went to their ground game in the second quarter to take advantage of a Tyrone defense that was overplaying the pass. Clearfield went 85 yards on five plays - all rushes - to take a 7-2 lead.
"Our linebackers were eager to drop back into the passing lanes because their passing attack is so explosive," Tyrone coach John Franco said. "They took advantage of that with their running game."
Clearfield started at its own 15, but a 9-yard run by Trey Campman combined with a 15-yard facemask penalty got the Bisons moving. One play after Derek Morgan broke off a 16-yard run, Campman took a receiver sweep around right end for a 36-yard touchdown. Late in the half, the Bison offense put together its best drive of the game, using both the run and the pass to move 90 yards in 13 plays. Morgan ripped off a 15-yard run and a pair of 9-yard runs, and Frye completed three passes covering 31 yards.
On fourth-and-10 at the Tyrone 27, Frye rolled right and found Campman on the sideline for a 12-yard gain. One play later, Frye hit Campman again, this time over the middle in traffic for a 15-yard touchdown.
"We played pretty well in the first half," Janocko said. "We really hurt ourselves in the second half. We didn't get the job done."
Tyrone turned in a strong second half on both sides of the ball. The defense limited Clearfield to just 77 yards in the final two quarters, and the offense mounted two scoring drives to pull out the win.
The Golden Eagles' defense set the tone on the opening drive of the third quarter with a three-and-out. Clearfield helped with a 15-yard holding penalty that pushed the Bisons back to their own 10-yard line.
"We had a chance to come out and really grab the momentum, but the holding penalty backed us way up," Janocko said. "It wasn't a poorly officiated game. We deserved each and every one of the penalties. We'll get to work on correcting that."
Following the Bison punt, Tyrone took over near midfield and marched 49 yards on seven plays to take the lead. Steve Franco, who completed just one of 10 passes in the first half, went 3-for-3 on the scoring drive.
After short completions to Zach Gault and Eric Desch produced first downs, Franco found Christian Getz in the left flat for 24 yards, setting up a first-and-goal from the Clearfield 1.
Gault scored on the next play to put Tyrone ahead 16-14.
The Tyrone offense stalled after that, prompting coach Franco to switch quarterbacks. Former signal-caller Levi Reihart moved from tailback to quarterback and jumpstarted the stagnant offense.
Reihart led Tyrone on a 12-play, 74-yard drive that took almost six minutes off the clock.
On fourth-and-8 from the Clearfield 20, Reihart found Desch over the middle for a 19-yard gain and a first down. Reihart scored on the next play to put Tyrone up by nine with just over three minutes to play.
"We had a blown coverage," Janocko said. "If we hold them there, we get the ball back with three-and-a-half minutes left and down just two points."
The Bisons host Lewistown on Friday.
Tyrone 23 Clearfield 14
Score By Quarters
Clearfield 0 14 0 0-14
Tyrone 0 9 7 7-23
Second Quarter
T-Safety, 10:48.
C-Campman 36 run, (Zurat kick), 7:12.
T-Reihart 35 run, (Templeton kick), 6:50.
C-Campman 15 pass from Frye, (Zurat kick), :44.
Third Quarter
T-Gault 1 run, (Templeton kick), 7:26.
Fourth Quarter
T-Reihart 1 run, (Templeton kick), 3:22.
TEAM STATISTICS C T
Total First Downs 17 12
Rushes-Yards 30-167 38-142
Comp-Att-Int 11-25-2 6-17-0
Passing Yards 131 87
Total Plays-Yards 55-298 55-229
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Punts-Avg 4-42.3 6-43.7
Penalties-Yards 9-46 6-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Clearfield-Morgan 15-88, Campman 6-80, Swales 1-0, Frye 8-(-1).
Tyrone-Reihart 22-104, Gault 9-23, Franco 5-8, Walker 1-4, Getz 1-3.
Passing
Clearfield-Frye 11-of-25, 131 yds., TD, 2 Int.
Tyrone-Franco 4-of-14, 54 yds; Reihart 2-of-3, 33 yds.
Receiving
Clearfield-Campman 6-58, Danver 2-40, Morgan 2-18, Redden 1-15.
Tyrone-Desch 3-41, Getz 1-24, Walker 1-13, Gault 1-9.
