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Jordan and Lezzer combine to lead Bison over Bearcats
Saturday, September 22, 2012
By Andy Stine Sports Writer
HUNTINGDON - If the duo of Clearfield's Christian Lezzer and Trey Jordan didn't excite anybody before Friday evening, Bison fans may have a new opinion of the quarterback and wide receiver.
Lezzer and Jordan hooked up for four touchdown passes for Lezzer's only four completions of the night.
Meanwhile, Tyler Stratton racked up 164 yards on the ground and found the end zone twice to help the Clearfield football team defeat Huntingdon, 41-24 at War Vets Field.
"I thought we executed very well with everybody involved," said Bison head coach Tim Janocko. "Our offensive line did a good job blocking. Trey ran some great routes, and Christian threw some great balls. I think we just executed very well with the passing game."
The Bearcats received the opening kickoff and put together an impressive drive. Huntingdon quarterback Josh Foster completed three passes of 10, 14 and 18 yards to move the Bearcats down to the Bison 10-yard line.
But the drive stalled on an incomplete pass on third-and-goal from the 6-yard line. Kicker Devon Claar split the uprights from 23 yards to put Huntingdon up 3-0.
On Clearfield's first drive, Stratton and Lezzer split carries down the field to put their team on the 27-yard line. That's where Lezzer hit Jordan for their first touchdown strike of the evening.
Devin Bell took the ensuing kickoff down to the Clearfield 46-yard line, but again the Bearcats drove down the field and stalled in the red zone.
The Bison defense stuffed a Huntingdon running back on first down and forced two incomplete passes. On fourth down, Foster hit Claar down the sideline, but a Bison defender forced out Claar two yards short of the first down for the turnover on downs.
Clearfield lost the ball on a fumble on the next possession near midfield. But the Bison forced a turnover on the third play on an errant pass that was picked off by Seth Beardsley.
The turnover allowed the Bison to go on a 10-play, 62-yard drive that was capped on a Stratton 26-yard run. The Clearfield junior took the handoff and sprinted down the left side for his first of two scores.
The Bison had 282 rushing yards on the night.
"He had a big night," said Janocko of Stratton. "We put some yards up and put some points on the board. We got a lot of kids in the game. It was a good night. There are just some things that we have to get better at."
The Clearfield defense forced a three-and-out on the next Huntingdon possession to put the Bison in prime field position at the Bearcat 44-yard line.
On the second play of the drive, Lezzer found running room and gained 28 yards all the way down to the Bearcat 14. Lezzer found Jordan again on a fade route for a touchdown to put Clearfield up 21-3.
Shawn Lord came up with a big sack on third-and-6 on Huntingdon's next drive to help set up another scoring drive.
On the second play after a 43-yard punt from Claar, Lezzer found Jordan over the middle on a slant. Jordan outran the Huntingdon secondary for a 67-yard touchdown that put Clearfield up by 24 points at the half.
The Bison offense was stopped on the opening drive of the second half when Lezzer was sacked by Josh Kormanic on second down, which led to Clearfield having to punt.
Foster found Claar for a 33-yard gain down to the Clearfield 5. Then on third-and-goal, Foster found Greg Kurtz from five yards out for the score.
"I think we had a little bit of a letdown," said Janocko. "It's tough to stay up here after last week. We were coming on the road and we're up at halftime with a pretty solid margin. That's no excuse. Huntingdon executed.
"We had to come back, and we put together a good drive and put it away."
Clearfield ran the ball with a purpose on the next drive on nine plays. Stratton capped it off with his second touchdown of the night, leaping over the pile at the goal line.
Lezzer hooked up with Jordan again for the fourth time early in the fourth quarter for a 28-yard strike to put the Bison up 41-10.
Huntingdon put up two late touchdowns to close the scoring.
The first came on a Foster 14-yard pass to Claar with just 3:47 left in the game.
Foster had a 1-yard plunge on a keeper to close the scoring. Clearfield ran the clock down after the attempted onside kick to secure the victory.
"Give credit to Huntingdon," said Janocko. "I knew they were going to come out and play hard. I knew after last week (a 71-6 loss to Tyrone) they were going to be a lot better than that, and they were."
Clearfield stayed unbeaten at 4-0 on the season and hosts Central Mountain next week. The Wildcats were a 50-14 winner over Bellefonte last night.
Huntingdon dropped to 0-4 and travels to Penns Valley, which lost 42-7 to Central, on Friday.
Clearfield 41
Huntingdon 24
Score By Quarters
Clearfield 7 20 7 7-41
Huntingdon 3 0 7 14-24 First Quarter
H-Claar 23 field goal, 6:53.
C-Jordan 27 pass from Lezzer, (Herrington kick), 4:46.
Second Quarter
C-Stratton 26 run, (Herrington kick), 6:24.
C-Jordan 14 pass from Lezzer, (Herrington kick), 3:14.
C-Jordan 67 pass from Lezzer, (kick blocked), 1:23.
Third Quarter
H-Kurtz 5 pass from Foster, (Claar kick), 6:52.
C-Stratton 2 run, (Herrington kick), 2:37.
Fourth Quarter
C-Jordan 28 pass from Lezzer, (Herrington kick), 10:56.
H-Claar 14 pass from Foster, (Claar kick), 3:47.
H-Foster 1 run, (Claar kick), 1:37. TEAM STATISTICS
C H
Total First Downs 14 13
Rushes-Yards 45-282 35-79
Comp-Att-Int 4-5-0 15-26-1
Passing Yards 136 203
Total Plays-Yards 50-418 61-282
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0
Punts-Avg 3-11.3 2-36.0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 2-10 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Clearfield-Stratton 21-164, Lezzer 14-107, Graham 1-1, Rosa 4-9, Woomer 5-1.
Huntingdon-Bell 12-47, Foster 13-33, Claar 3-7, Stetchock 5-7, Team 2-(-15).
Passing
Clearfield-Lezzer 4-of-5, 136 yds., 4 TDs.
Huntingdon-Foster 15-of-26, 203 yds., 2 TDs., Int.
Receiving
Clearfield-Jordan 4-136.
Huntingdon-Kurtz 5-58, Stetchock 2-32, Claar 6-99, Shope 2-14.
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