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Clearfield rumbles past Lewistown
Saturday, October 03, 2009
By Rich Murawski Assistant Sports Editor
HYDE - The Clearfield defense made a fourth-quarter stand, and the Bisons scored a pair of late touchdowns 15 seconds apart to blow open a close game against visiting Lewistown.
The result was a 35-14 win Friday night at a wet Bison Sports Complex as Clearfield improved to 3-2 at the halfway point of the regular season.
"We knew this would be a game. They're a much-improved team," Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko said. "2-2 is 2-2. There is a reason they had two wins."
The Bisons held a precarious 21-14 lead with 11:49 left in the fourth quarter and had Lewistown pinned at its own 9-yard line after a 27-yard coffin-corner kick from punter Chad Zurat.
But the Panthers went on a 16-play drive that chewed up 8:11 from the play clock, and marched all the way to the Clearfield 30-yard line, converting a third down and a fourth down along the way.
Clearfield stopped the Panthers' drive when Bison Andrew Redden chased quarterback Kody Stein out of the pocket and forced the fourth-down pass to sail over his target's head.
Five plays after the turnover on downs, Derek Morgan found a crease in the Panther defense and ripped off a 59-yard touchdown run to up the Bison advantage to 28-14 after Zurat's PAT with just 1:34 left in the game.
"When he gets a crease, he can go," Janocko said of Morgan. "It was tough in these conditions, but it was the same conditions for both sides of the ball."
Morgan carried the ball 22 times for 153 yards and scored three touchdowns. He added an 11-yard reception, and completed a 10-yard pass on a fake punt in the game's first drive.
After the ensuing kickoff, Lewistown set up at its own 25-yard line. But on the next play, Bison defensive back Trey Campman picked off an errant pass and waltzed into the end zone from 24 yards out to put the exclamation point on the Clearfield win.
"That's what it takes to win games," Janocko said of the team's late fourth-quarter heroics.
"We didn't do that a couple times this year, but we're learning, and we did it tonight. That's part of the growing up. We had a big stop and then we take it back and put some points on the board."
Clearfield rushed for 203 yards on 42 carries, getting 52 yards from Frye to complement Morgan's 153.
"That was something we wanted to do - start running Curtis a little bit more," Janocko said.
"We didn't want to do it in the early part of the season because he is a sophomore and he had enough on his plate to begin with. But as we evolve in the offense, we're hoping he carries the ball a little bit more."
Frye only passed for 43 yards, completing four passes in nine attempts as the rain and the Panther defense pushed the Bisons to the ground game.
"The conditions were difficult," Janocko said. "It was very hard to throw the football. Mud, rain ... it was just very tough. And Lewistown was dropping a lot of people off into coverage. When they drop off, we have to run the ball.
"We ran the ball well enough. Our offensive line (Andre Buck, David Hoover, Brady Dixon, Corey Knepp and Dan Coll) played well."
The Bisons opened the scoring in the first quarter, putting together a 12-play, 62-yard drive that culminated with a Morgan 2-yard plunge. Clearfield converted a fourth down on the drive when Morgan found Jack Mellgard for a 10-yard completion on a fake punt.
Clearfield also made good on a third-and-15 play when Frye hit Derek Danver for a 16-yard completion. The Bisons had 15 more yards tacked on due to a personal foul penalty.
Lewistown answered the Clearfield touchdown, getting a big play of its own to set up the score.
Stein connected with tight end Daniel Wheeler over the middle for a 69-yard gain that put the Panthers at the Bison 17. Four plays later, Stein found Austin Scheffel alone in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown on fourth down.
After a Bison punt, Lewistown set up at its 42-yard line. But after a 1-yard run, Buck and Hoover combined to sack Stein for a 5-yard loss. On the next play, defensive back Zurat intercepted Lewistown's other quarterback, William Madden, and returned the ball 40 yards to the Panther 6-yard line.
Clearfield punched it in three plays later as Morgan scored from three yards out on the first play of the second quarter.
The Bisons marched 43 yards to the Lewistown 28, but lost a fumble to put a halt on the drive.
Lewistown kicked right back to the Bisons, but Campman muffed the punt in the wet conditions and Lewistown took over on the Panther 47-yard line.
Campman atoned for the mistake on the next play, dropping Stein for a 7-yard loss. After two incompletions, the Panthers set up to kick back to the Bisons, but Dustin Kemp blocked the Stein punt and Hoover fell on the loose ball at the Panther 31.
Unfortunately for the Bisons, a 15-yard offensive pass interference penalty wiped out the good field position and Clearfield punted back to the Panthers.
Zurat just missed placing a perfect punt to the coffin-corner, booting the ball to the 10 and watching it roll to and touch the pylon just before going out of bounds.
Lewistown got the ball at the 20 and used a 39-yard scamper from Kirby Moist, a 9-yard Stein run and a 15-yard penalty on the Bisons to move all the way to the Clearfield 19 with under a minute to go.
But Lewistown had a big penalty of its own on the next play, getting called for a hold that wiped a 19-yard touchdown pass off the board.
The Panthers struck quickly in the second half, scoring a touchdown just 19 seconds in when Moist burst through the middle of the Bison defense and got loose in the secondary on his way to a 47-yard touchdown. Moist finished the contest with 119 yards on 11 carries.
After forcing the Bisons to punt, Lewistown looked to be in good shape at its own 40, but Stein fumbled and Hoover pounced on the ball at the Panther 37.
Clearfield took advantage of the field position eight plays later as Frye found Campman for an 11-yard score to give the Bisons a 21-14 lead with 5:12 to go in the third.
The teams traded punts after that, setting up the long Lewistown drive and subsequent Bison touchdowns.
"We got a lot of big plays defensively," Janocko said. "We had two interceptions ... one set up a touchdown and one was a touchdown. The blocked punt was big.
"It's a good, solid win for us at home. We're halfway through the season and we're 3-2. We're definitely building here. This was just a total team effort tonight."
Clearfield hosts Bald Eagle Area on Friday. Clearfield 35
Lewistown 14 Score By Quarters
Lewistown 7 0 7 0-14
Clearfield 7 7 7 14-35 First Quarter
C-Morgan 2 run, (Zurat kick), 6:59.
L-Scheffel 14 pass from Stein, (Stein kick), 3:23.
Second Quarter
C-Morgan 3 run, (Zurat kick), 11:56.
Third Quarter
L-K. Moist 47 run, (Stein kick), 11:41.
C-Campman 11 pass from Frye, (Zurat kick), 5:12.
Fourth Quarter
C-Morgan 59 run, (Zurat kick), 1:34.
C-Campman 24 interception return, (Zurat kick), 1:19. TEAM STATISTICS
L C
Total First Downs 9 12
Rushes-Yards 33-115 42-203
Comp-Att-Int 5-16-2 5-10-0
Passing Yards 90 53
Total Plays-Yards 49-205 52-256
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2
Punts-Avg 4-31.8 4-31.8
Penalties-Yards 4-35 7-70 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Lewistown-K. Moist 11-119, Stein 16-28, Scheffel 1-(-5), Madden 3-(-7), Team 2-(-20).
Clearfield-Morgan 22-153, Frye 14-52, Campman 3-6, Hertlein 1-1, Team 2-(-9).
Passing
Lewistown-Stein 3-of-6, 89 yds., 1 TD; Madden 2-of-10, 1 yd., 2 Int.
Clearfield-Frye 4-of-9, 43 yds., 1 TD; Morgan 1-of-1, 10 yds.
Receiving
Lewistown-Wheeler 2-75, Scheffel 1-14, K. Moist 1-3, Stein 1-(-2).
Clearfield-Danver 2-21, Morgan 1-11, Campman 1-11, Mellgard 1-10.
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