Bobcats Defeat Panthers, Coach Wiser Sets Conference Career Wins Record (09/28/14)

On a night that saw Major League Baseball history being made, with Derek Jeter, hitting a game winning walk off single, in his last at bat at Yankee Stadium, the Clarion Bobcat Football Team made a little history of their own, Thursday (September 25) evening, at Knox.

Coach Wiser being carried off field by players

On this night, they would secure Coach Larry Wiser’s 184th career victory, by defeating the Keystone Panthers 46-0. With the win Coach Wiser becomes the Little 7-12/KSAC All-Time Career Wins leader. Coach Wiser passed late Union Golden Knights coaching legend Rich Vidunas, who held the record for nearly three decades with 183 wins.

The Bobcats came into the game without the services of starting quarterback and defensive back Brendan “Bo” Miller, who sustained a season ending injury, in last week’s game at Karns City. Miller was All-State on defense last season.

Replacing Miller was Taylor Smith, who filled in admirably. Smith completed 4 of 9 passes for 89 yards and three touchdowns, including a scoring strike to Adrian Weber, on Smith’s first throw as a varsity starter, on the Bobcats first possession of the game. On a first and ten, at the Panthers 25, Smith dropped back and threw an arching pass to Weber, who beat his man and caught the ball in stride at the back of the endzone, dead center under the goal post, giving the Cats a 6-0 lead at 7:03 of the first quarter.

(Bri Nellis photo) Destin Strauser

The Bobcats next score came as Ian Corbett took a handoff around the right end for an 80 yard touchdown, for a 12-0 lead at 1:42 of the quarter. Fellow running back Jacob Troutman had a nice block on the play, to spring Corbett, who had an absolutely monster night. This would be the first of four straight touchdowns for Corbett, who would finish the game with 238 yards on only seventeen carries. He now has 650 yards and nine touchdowns on the season.

Corbett followed some nice blocking on a fifteen yard run, at 9:47 of the second quarter, to give the Cats an 18-0 lead. He added another score a 15 yard run, highlighted by several great moves. That touchdown, coupled with a PAT by Ty Burford, gave Clarion a 25-0 lead, with 6:49 left in the half. The drive was set up by a Zack Huet recovery of a Keystone fumble, and featured a nice pass hookup between Smith and Destin Strauser.

Strauser recovered a Keystone fumble and ran it back 46 yard, to the Panther one yard line and then lead the way from the fullback slot as Corbett carried it in up the middle, to score on the next play. Burford was successful again and the Cats led 32-0 at 4:58 of the second, a lead they would carry into a halftime, that featured the Keystone and Clarion Bands joining forces for a great rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop.”

Clarion and Keystone Bands join forces

The second half saw the Cats score two more times. Several plays after an interception by Corbett, Miller hit Plummer in stride on the right side of the endzone, and with the PAT, Clarion held a 39-0 lead with 2:12 left in the third.

The Bobcats’ final score came on a 14 yard, Smith to Weber hookup in the back, right side of the endzone. Burford’s kick set the final at 46-0.

Just after the game ended, PA announcer Fran Nesta informed the crowd of Coach Wiser’s milestone and in a real show of class, the Keystone faithful gave the Clarion Mentor a rousing ovation right along with the Clarion fans.

Then after the postgame handshakes, several Bobcat players carried Coach Wiser to the endzone and after the postgame talk, Clarion Booster Club President David Hartley, presented Coach Wiser with a banner recognizing the accomplishment.

Other Bobcat stats:
Jacob Troutman finished just under the century mark, rushing for 99 yards on six carries.

Defensively Troutman had 12 tackles and a half sack. Colton Rapp had 11 tackles, Plummer had 9 and Michael Bartley and Ethan Straffin had seven each. Bartley had 1.5 sacks and Straffin had a 49 yard interception return.

Keystone Band Director and PA Announcer, Fran Nesta directing combined bands

Luke Nellis, Spencer Miller, Strauser and Corbett had six tackles each. Nellis had two sacks and Miller had an interception.

The Bobcats had 381 rushing yards and 76 passing yards for 457 total yards, while holding the Panthers to 146 total yards.

In the last 20 games (15 last season and the first 5 this season) the Bobcats have outscored opponents 1012-126. They also recorded shutouts in 10 of their last 12 regular season games.

The Bobcats will host Moniteau for the Homecoming Game, on Friday (October 3rd) at Veterans’ Memorial Stadium.

CAT QUOTES:
Coach Wiser (On 184 wins) “It’s another week for me. But to reflect back on all the guys that have played for me and have coached with me, I want to take a moment to thank them for getting me to this point.

“It was and will always be a team effort and I’ve been lucky enough to surround myself with good people…

“I think about Alex (longtime line coach Alex Arth) and guys who are no longer with me; George (longtime assistant George White) and others who have done a great job with me and also all the teams. There have been a lot of fun moments, over those years. And obviously agonizing losses at times, but those were always things that kids learn from.

(Bri Nellis Photo)
Jacob Troutman

“Also the community has been very supportive of Clarion Football over the years, from our Golf Outing to our Booster Groups. They’ve pretty much given us the kind of things that we needed to put a good program out there.”

(On passing Coach Rich Vidunas, who Coach Wiser has the highest respect for) “Rich was just from a competitor standpoint, it was always he had that neat little twinkle smile on his face, when he did something to you. But those were always great games between Union and Clarion, when I coached against him.

“If Rich was sitting here today, he would be talking about John Harris (longtime Union assistant) and all those guys that coached with him, that got him to where he got.”

(On Ian Corbett’s performance) No question Ian had a great game. I think he would definitely give credit to the linemen. But he’s something special… He’s entertaining to watch.”

(On overcoming injuries and illness) “We dealt with adversity losing last week and we came back, replacing people at different positions, replacing the quarterback and free safety. We had a couple other people we moved in.

“I’ve got to give Thomas Plummer a lot of credit too. He was out with a fever yesterday. He wasn’t very good but he came back and played a heck of a game.”

(On it being good seeing Coach Dan Reed back on the Keystone sideline) “Dan and Jason Nellis (another former Keystone Coach and current assistant), they’re good coaches. They’re going to turn this program around.

“Watching them last week, their kids didn’t give up and they didn’t give up tonight. They came back and played hard that second half.”

(On Keystone’s returning All-Conference lineman, Josh Servey (6’3” 290) and running back/linebacker Zach Stiglitz) “I like Josh. I’ve always liked Josh. But I’d hate to be mom and dad feeding him. And Stiglitz ran hard tonight. He’s a good solid linebacker. You hate to center on one kid, but he had some good hard runs, kept his feet moving, when I thought we had him tackled.”

Will Staub: (on getting number 184 for Coach Wiser) It feels great. Coach Wiser is one of the best Coaches I’ve played for.”

(And on the line’s play) “We had to be doing something right if we got that score.”

Zach Huet: “The defensive line played real good tonight. Ian ran good tonight, that’s all I can say. We looked good. We looked a lot better than we did last week, not as many mistakes. I can’t wait to see what the season turns out to be.

“It felt real good winning it for Coach. It’s a lot of victories. We carried him off the field. That was pretty cool. (On being part of History) Can’t beat it.”

Ian Corbett: “A little more power running this week than usual. It was fun to mix it up.” (On lead blockers out of the backfield, Destin Strauser and Jacob Troutman)

“They were blocking pretty well. I was proud of them for that.” (On Coach’s 184th) “That’s impressive. It feels good. I’m excited for him too. (Felt) good to be on the field.”

(On Taylor Smith’s play) “I was really proud of Taylor tonight. He stepped up and played pretty well. I’m excited to see where he takes it. He looked really good.”

Jacob Troutman: (On good runs by backs and line’s blocking) “Yea pretty good. But I give credit to the line, though. That’s where it really was at… Shout out to the line, couldn’t get the runs without them blocking for me. We couldn’t have done it without them.” (On getting 184) “It was awesome, especially when we got to pick him (Coach Wiser) up. That was probably the coolest thing I’ve done. I got to be the distraction. I got to stop him so they could pick him up.”

Taylor Smith: (On Brendan Miller) “It’s a big loss. He was doing a great job for us. And our guys have to step up even bigger, now, because he was really doing good for us, throwing well, great on defense.”

(On the offense’s play) “Good blocking by our line. Good running by our running backs. Our linemen really did a great job tonight. Ian ran the ball well. Troutman ran the ball real well.”

(Thanks to Bri Nellis of BriNellisPhotography.com for her photos, including the feature photo at top and to Coach Burkhart, Coach Smith and Chris Rossetti of D9Sports.com for stats. Congratulations Coach Wiser and All Bobcat players, coaches and staff who were a part of the 184 wins!!!!)