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Punxsutawney upends Clearfield, 34-28, in District 9 Class AAA Championship
Saturday, November 14, 2009
By Josh Mlot Sports Writer
DUBOIS - One play both defined the game and made it secondary, as Clearfield and Punxsutawney clashed in the District 9 Class AAA final on Friday night.
With 16.6 seconds remaining in the contest, the Bisons faced fourth-and-10 at the Punxsy 18, down by six. After three incomplete attempts into the end zone,quarterback Curtis Frye dropped back and went to go-to target Trey Campman on a slant pattern.
The throw was right into Campman's arms at the 1-yard line, but before the receiver could go any farther a sharp hit jarred the ball loose and left the Bison wideout lying on the ground.
Moments of silence ended only when Campman raised a hand to the crowd as he was carried off on a stretcher, stabilized but able to move all his extremities.
"He's going to be OK," Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko said. "It's precautionary. He was out, and any time you go out we want to make sure everything is OK."
The scary play overshadowed the fact that the defensive stop preserved a 34-28 victory for Punxsutawney in a back-and-forth thriller at E.J. Mansell Stadium.
"It was a great game," Janocko said. "Hats off to Punxsutawney, they played a great football game. Our kids battled the whole time, we just came up a little bit short. That's just the way it goes.
"But it was a hard-fought game, both teams played well and some big plays were made. It was a great high school football game."
It was a game of big plays, as Clearfield erased a 12-0 first-quarter deficit to take a 14-12 lead going into halftime, only to see that advantage erased as the Chucks scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Punxsutawney scored on rushes of 51 and 22 yards, while the Bisons' air attack got into the end zone on a 64-yard toss down the left sideline from Fry to Campman in the third quarter.
Campman finished with 134 receiving yards, and Frye was 14-of-25 for 216 yards, three touchdowns - one passing and two rushing - and an interception.
The difference was that Punxsutawney seemed to be able to run the ball at will (6.3 yards per carry), while Clearfield never got its ground game going (2.4 ypc).
The Chucks found the Bison offense difficult to deal with as well, but they also came up with defensive stops at some critical moments, with their last-moment red zone stand and an interception in the end zone in the third quarter.
"That hurt," Janocko said. "There's no question that when you get down there you've got to try to put some points on the board. We just didn't make some plays there."
Punxsutawney rushed for 260 yards, with big backs Brennan Niver (95 yards) and Ben Blazavich (81) seeming to find room wherever they wanted to.
"I don't think it was anything we were doing wrong," Janocko said. "They were physical and had some big, tough backs. They know how to use them, and they did it well."
When quarterback Logan Weaver danced past the defensive rush and broke downfield for a 51-yard TD on the game's second play from scrimmage, the Chucks seemed to answer all questions about whether a weak schedule masked the team's true ability.
"We weren't saying that," Janocko said. "I know Alan (Nichol, Punxsy head coach), and I knew he was going to have them ready. We've scrimmaged them and we knew they were talented.
"We're not saying a word about the schedule, and they're not saying a word about the schedule. They play who they play and we play who we play; two teams met tonight and it was a great football game."
Less than five minutes later, Weaver hit receiver Braedon Pennington for the first of two touchdown connections and a 12-0 advantage. Weaver and Pennington were successful on another scoring pass with 1:16 left to go in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 1 at 21-20.
A 64-yard drive by Clearfield late in the first quarter looked to get the Bisons on a roll, but instead a fumbled pitch on fourth-and-goal at the 2 left them high and dry.
The second quarter held better things for the red-and-black offense, as a quick-snap sneak by Frye allowed the QB to plunge into the end zone and cut the deficit by more than half.
Moments later, Derek Danver forced a fumble that Brandon Hogue recovered at midfield, and before long Frye once again found himself driving into the end zone from the 1-yard line to give his side a 14-12 lead.
"We made some adjustments on offense and some adjustments on defense, and we got things under control," Janocko said. "We knew it was going to go back and forth, and we kind of just felt that whoever had the ball last was going to end up winning."
Back and forth it was, with Clearfield opening the second half with a commandeering drive down the field, only to watch Weaver step in front of a pass to Campman in the end zone and pick it off.
Two plays later, David Hoover recovered another Chuck fumble, and the Bisons took advantage of strong field position to set up a 3-yard, untouched scamper by running back Derek Morgan with 4:20 left in the third.
That was enough time for some more offensive fireworks, with Weaver finding Pennington in the end zone for the second time with 1:16 in the third. Clearfield fired right back 24 seconds later, with Frye finding Campman for a sideline bomb and a 28-20 Bison lead.
That's how things went into the fourth quarter, but Weaver found Zak Dickey for a 29-yard sliding catch, putting Niver in a position to do what he did all night - break tackles - on a 22-yard scoring run.
Clearfield went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, when a delay-of-game penalty snatched away an opportunity to run a fake punt.
Instead, the Bisons kicked the ball away and watched the Chucks march 68 yards to the end zone, most of which came on a phenomenal one-handed grab by Blazavich out of the backfield. The sturdy back then smashed his way two yards over the goal line for the game-winning touchdown with 1:41 left to play.
That was enough time for the Bisons to move down the field, but not to cap off the drive.
"It was great to be here," Janocko said. "A lot of people thought we weren't going to be very successful this year because we lost so much from last year. We had a lot of kids step up, and 7-4 is a pretty good year, especially with the competition we play every week.
"We're happy to be here, and obviously we didn't want to end it this way, but hey, that's the way it happens."
Punxsutawney will now face District 8 champ Schenley, 34-32 winners over Oliver, in the PIAA play-in round on Friday.
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