Bobcat Gridders Down Clarion-Limestone, Move To 3-0; Coach Wiser Ties Wins Record (09/14/14)
The Clarion Area Bobcats continued their impressive play on Friday (September 12) night at Memorial Stadium, as they downed next door neighbor Clarion-Limestone 67-0, in a KSAC Small School Division Game to move to 3-0.
(Photo by G. Chad Thomas) Brendan being escorted to the endzone
This was win number 183 for Clarion Coach Larry Wiser and places him in a tie with the late Union legend, Rich Vidunas for the All-Time Little7-12/KSAC Career Wins Record.
The Bobcats, who haven’t surrendered a point yet this season, played solid defense throughout, limiting the Lions to under 50 total yards, while the offense finished with 348 yards.
The first Bobcat score came on a 51 yard interception return down the left sideline by Brendan Miller. Ty Burford kicked the extra point and Clarion led 7-0 at 10:22 of the first quarter. The play came just after a big second down sack by Jacob Troutman.
Later Zack Huet and Ethan Straffin combined for a sack on third down, forcing the Lions to punt. Clarion set up shop at the C-L 19 and on the first play from scrimmage, Ian Corbett, followed a nice block from Troutman and went in untouched, for the touchdown. The PAT was blocked and Clarion led 13-0 at 7:53 of the first.
On Clarion’s next possession, Miller ran 28 yards, on a keeper, to the Lion two yard line. Jacob troutman took it in from there, on a run through the middle. C-L’s Brady Himes broke up the pass attempt for the conversion and the score stood at 19-0, at 4:02.
The Bobcats next score was set up when Michael Bartley blocked a punt, his first of three in the game, all coming in the first half. Then on second down, Corbett took a pitch from Miller, and ran through a huge hole for the touchdown. Pulling guard Alexander Burkhart had a nice block on the play. Burford’s kick was good and at 1:25 of the first, the Cats led 25-0.
(Photo by G. Chad Thomas) Thomas goes into the endzone. A fine block by Ethan
The Bobcat defense again held and Clarion took over on the C-L twenty-seven. On the first play Miller hit Thomas Plummer down the left sideline, for a score. The PAT was good and Clarion led 32-0 at 10:35 of the second.
Bartley’s second punt block of the night gave the Cats the ball at the Lions’ twenty-three. Several plays later, Miller scored on a keeper and with the PAT again successful the score was moved to 40-0, at 9:11 of the second. The score moved to 47-0 at 5:25 of quarter number two, as Corbett took a pitch and ran 19 yards for the next score and Burford was successful again.
Bartley blocked his third punt and it was recovered by Straffin at the C-L twenty. Corbett ran the ball in from there, going off tackle to the right, for his fourth score of the night, at 3:12 left in the half. The PAT was unsuccessful, moving the score to 53-0.
Clarion’s first possession of the second half was stopped when C-L’s Kyle Robertson, who had a fine game on both sides of the ball, recovered a fumble on third down. (Robertson who along with Corbett was named C-93’s Players of the Game had some bruising runs for the Lions while racking up 57 yards on fifteen carries.)
But the Lions were forced to punt again. This time, Plummer returned the ball for a touchdown and the score went to 60-0 at 3:19 of the third.
The last score came on forty-seven yard run by freshman Colton Rapp as he ran untouched down the right side and made a nice move to avoid the tackle at about the five. The PAT was successful and the final was set at 67-0.
(Photo by G. Chad Thomas)
Colton on his touchdown
Ian Corbett led the Cats in rushing, with 112 yards on seven carries. Miller had 75 yards on 4 carries and Rapp had 74 yards on five carries. Miller was 2 for 4 passing for 33 yards. Plummer caught two passes for 33 yards and had 107 return yards.
Defensively, Miller had the interception. Rapp had sixteen tackles and .5 sacks.
Straffan had 10 tackles, 2 sacks and the fumble recovery. Troutman had 8 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Bartley had six tackles. Luke Nellis had 7 tackles and Burkhart had six.
The Bobcats will travel to Karns City, this Friday (September 19), for the much anticipated matchup between the 3-0 Bobcats and the 3-0 Gremlins. A Clarion win will give Coach Wiser the career wins record outright.
Wolf’s Auto Outlet, Community First Bank, The Lerch Group, Burford & Henry Real Estate, Luton’s Plumbing, Heating, AC, Computer Support, The Carpet Barn, Jizzy Jam Boutique, McClaine Design
Former Bobcat Lineman and Saint Francis University All-American Brad Larson and his young son attended the game.
CAT QUOTES
Michael Bartley: (on three blocked punts, in first half) “It felt great. We had the timing down. We practice it a lot. That’s the results. We just practice to perfection. We might not be perfect as individuals, but we’re perfect as a team for now.
“(We) just play hard in practice and it shows on the field.”
Brendan Miller:
On the interception return: “They tried a trick pass. We were expecting it. We saw it coming. We just covered it and it came right in my arms.”
On the rushing touchdown: “We practice that play. We blocked well. It just opened up. The line did well.
And on the Td pass: “I hit Plummer. He just blew past his guy. The line gave me good protection. Plum made a nice catch and took it in.”
On being part of Coach Wiser tying Coach Vidunas: “That’s pretty awesome. That feels great to be part of that, especially for him. He’s done it for so long. It’s great.”
(Photo by G. Chad Thomas) Officials, Team, Cheerleaders and Elementary Cheerleaders honor our country during the National Anthem.
Will Staub:
On the offensive output and touchdowns: “It just feels great to have so many talented running backs that we can drive for. We feel happy to do that.”
On his favorite play: “I always look forward to the traps, the traps up the middle, because that’s my play, where I have to open up that hole.”
He added, “It’s just a great experience when you have someone run up right beside you and score, knowing you did that.”
On looking forward to Karns City: “We have a lot of work to do before Karns City, but I think we can rise to the occasion.”
On being in on 183: “It was a special moment. I didn’t realize that we did that. I think that’s pretty cool.”
(Photo by Bri Nellis – Bri Nellis Photography) Luke Nellis with a sack
Coach Wiser: “I had no expectations going into the game. You lose a player the caliber of Destin Strauser… We ended up changing things around offensively and defensively. New personnel needed to come in and get some work the last couple of weeks.
“But just starting out: defensively Bo (the interception), that was actually a breakdown in coverage. Bo picked up that first interception and ran it back. That was a real spark. Then our punt block team gave us great field position all night.I’m not sure. I think most of our (starting) field position was inside the fifty. For sure, in the first half.
“Players continue to step up. Bo (Brendan Miller) obviously had a great game at quarterback. Taylor made a great hit in the endzone. Ethan Straffin continued to play at a high level at defensive end.
Michael Bartley blocking a punt
“Give Luke Nellis a shout out, because he went in for Destin today. And that was part of their inside game, that trap game with their fullback. I thought that was one of keys that we needed to shut down. We wanted to force them into some of the jets and things like that that they were doing on the outside game because we put a few wrinkles in out there.
“The offensive line continues to step up. Zach Huet, I thought played a great game, defensively. I always wait for Nate (Line Coach, McClaine) to give me the grades on offense. But they didn’t have that many yards.
“And what do you say about Ian Corbett. He played a half and I think four touchdowns, over a hundred yards and so forth. He was ready to play this week.
(Photo by Bri Nellis)
Jacob Troutman with a sack
Then the JVs coming in and making a nice stand defensively and moved the ball quite well offensively, with Colton Rapp.
“Our kicking game, to special teams, from defense to offense, we weren’t making many mental errors. There were a few penalties. You’ve been around the program enough to know, we’ve messed up a few games (in the past) with holding penalties, here and there.
The kids have done a good job with that.”
On Michael Bartley: “Three blocked punts! I don’t know if we’ve ever had that happen before. It’s got to be a first. He just had an outstanding game. He went out and challenged the young (Josh)Kriebel, who is his partner out there. He (Kreible) said, ‘Coach, they keep wanting to take me,’ which opened up Michael and Michael just came in and came hard at anybody who came out in front of him to block him, he pushed him back into the punt. It brings up great field position, we get the short fields.
“A blocked punt to me is always a moral boost. So we work quite hard on punt blocks. We came close the first couple of games. Tonight we came through.”
(Photo by Bri Nellis) Colton running the ball
On C-L’s Robertson: “That’s the kid we’ve been worried about. Wearing that lineman (51) number, someone said today, they put him up a couple of times on the line, to run waggles and traps and so forth. He’s a solid runner. He’s pretty much a straight ahead type of runner. A Taylor, Green Bay, Destin (Strauser) type of runner. I know we hit him a couple of times in the backfield and he broke tackles.
“He played a great game for C-L.”
On his former assistant, C-L Coach David Eggleton: “Although this is a cross-town rivalry, Davie was on our staff and after today we’ll begin rooting for him again. Last week we rooted for him. Dave and his staff do such a good job out there.”
On his quarterback: He broke a couple of good runs for us tonight. He’s able to run the ball. He’s able to throw the ball. The timing between him and his receivers is getting better each week.
“The offensive line did a good job giving him protection back there, when we did throw the ball.
“What really impresses me is his ability to go to his second and third receiver. Donnie Skunda, a volunteer coach with us this year, has done a nice job with Bo.”
(Photo by Bri Nellis) Ian running for a touchdown
And on next week: I feel good going into Karns City as the underdog. The first three games have given us a chance to look at some of our other kids. Ed (Karns City Coach Conto) is going to do whatever he can. We’re probably going to have to throw the ball more, than we have to this point. But we’ll be working hard to do that.
“The big thing is to try to get our kids extended today. We wanted to see Corbett today. Last week he played a quarter, the week before, a quarter and a half. We pulled him out with about 2 minutes to go in the first half. So it was good to see him get out there.”
(Thanks to Matt Buchanan for spotting for me and helping conduct interviews, to G. Chad Thomas and Bri Nellis for photos and to Ray Burkhart for Clarion stats. [Kyle Robertson stats from D9Sports.com]. Go Get KC!!!!)