Bobcat 9th Graders Drop Game To The Elkers; Back On Track After Union Win (09/23/14)

The 9th Grade Football Team went 1 and 1, in recent games. Coach Dan Alderton shares these summaries of the contests:

The Clarion Area Freshmen Football team lost their first game of the season to the Ridgway Elkers on September 11th. The Bobcats and Elkers were knotted at 0 after the 1st quarter. Ridgway started the scoring and went up 6-0. The Bobcats responded with a long pass from Keevan Weaver to Traeson Douglas. With under a minute in the first half, the Bobcats kicked to the Elkers. The Ridgway return man picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown right before the half. Adding another touchdown in the second half, the Elkers made the score 20 – 6.

Bobcats Back on Track
The Freshmen Bobcats got back on the winning track with a 35 – 8 win against the Union Knights. Starting off the scoring was Cam Craig. Craig followed each Clarion touchdown with an extra point. Keevan Weaver found Tom Hearst on the next possession for a long pass. The score was 14 – 0. The Knights then found the end zone and converted the 2-point conversion to bring the score to 14 – 8. Clarion wasn’t finished yet! Another touchdown run by Craig and another added on by Sterling Conner made the halftime score 28 – 8. Clarion kicked off at the beginning of the game, so they received the second half kickoff. Union kicked the ball on the ground. They did not expect Korbin Schill to pick up the ball and return it virtually untouched for another Bobcat touchdown, bringing the score to the final score of 35 – 8.

The Bobcat defense played an excellent game. Led by great performances on the defensive line by Noah Meyers, Trevor Crownover, Schill, and Nick Cherico. The defensive ends, Colt Stimmell, Jacob Selker, and John McSwain also did an exceptional job of keeping the Union running backs to the inside. The linebackers had plenty of tackles and hard hits on the Knights. Zak Bauer, Christian Smith, Seth Nellis, and Traeson Douglas led the way and set the table to many unattainable conversions for Union. Because of the score, Union was forced to try the air to move the ball. Weaver, Hearst, Craig and Ryley McMaster came up big for the Bobcats. In the second half, Clayton Adams and Austin Hummell had interceptions.

Notes from Coach Alderton: I thought the 9th graders responded well after their loss to Ridgway. We got a lot of kids playing time against Union and didn’t miss a beat. In the second half vs. Ridgway, Adams and Frank Weber had some pass defenses and a break-up or two. I like what I see from all the kids that are getting playing time in the 9th grade games. Regarding the kicking game, having Cam is a huge asset! He has had 2 or 3 touchbacks this year and he converted each extra point he has tried.

The Clarion Junior High team is back in action on Wednesday at home with the 7/8th grade playing against the Brockway Rovers and the Freshmen playing the AC Valley Falcons.

(Thanks to Coach Alderton for this article.)