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Bobcats Down Clarion-Limestone, Get Coach Wiser 200th Win (09/26/16)

The Clarion Bobcats hosted Clarion-Limestone on Friday night (September 23rd), at Memorial Stadium. The game took on a playoff atmosphere, with both teams coming in at 3-0, a brand new trophy “The Black and Blue Brawl” Cup at stake and the possibility of the Bobcats notching career victory number 200 for Coach Larry Wiser, as the Black and Orange’s mentor.

The Cats' proudly display the 'Black and Blue Brawl' Trophy and Coach Wiser's 200th win photo/plaque

The Cats’ proudly display the ‘Black and Blue Brawl’ Trophy and Coach Wiser’s 200th win photo/plaque

The stadium was filled with fans for both teams, both in the stands and along the fences. I would estimate the attendance at between three and four thousand, hearkening back to the days when both schools enjoyed huge success and often turned out that sort of huge crowds. With the Blue and Gold getting stronger year after year again, I think we can expect more games with this sort of excitement and overflow crowds.

When the dust cleared at the end of the game, Clarion had indeed notched that 200th win for Coach Wiser, by prevailing 34-14. The milestone is a testament to not only Coach Wiser’s long term commitment to the team, but to all the players and coaches who have been a part of the team’s “Not me, but we” philosophy that has carried them to much success throughout the years.

Clarion-Limestone got on the board first, as they drove down the field for a touchdown at 6:48 in the first quarter. The score came on a  14 yard Brenden Makra to Riley Hummel pass. Mike MacAfee ran for the two-point conversion, giving the Lions an 8-0 lead.

Logan Chernicky, Thomas Plummer, Ian Corbett, Ethan Straffin and Cody Hearst - just some of the Bobcat Alumni on hand

Logan Chernicky, Thomas Plummer, Ian Corbett, Ethan Straffin and Cody Hearst – just some of the Bobcat Alumni on hand

The Bobcats would answer, when Michael McCloskey ran the ball in, untouched from thirty-seven yards out, his first of five touchdowns on the evening, with 2:23 left in the quarter. Spencer Miller hit Ryley McMaster with the conversion, to knot the score at 8-all.

With 7:45 left in the second quarter, Miller threw a five yard touchdown pass to McCloskey, giving the Cats a 14-8 lead.

McCloskey, who scored all of Clarion’s touchdowns in the game, found paydirt twice more in the half. McCloskey had a five yard touchdown run at 4:56 and Miller ran in for the conversion. McCloskey had a two yard run with fifty seconds left in the half and the Cats went to the locker room with a 28-8 lead.

Clarion’s last points came when McCloskey had a two yard touchdown run at the nine minute mark of the third, moving the score to 34-8, Bobcats. McCloskey had five carries in all, with four of them going for touchdowns. He gained 67 yards on the ground, a 13.4 yard per carry clip. Miller threw only four passes, completing two for twenty-one yards and the score, with an interception. He also ran for twenty-four yards.

Coach Larry and Annie Wiser

Coach Larry and Annie Wiser

So even though McCloskey had a huge night with his yards per carry and touchdown totals and Miller only needing to throw sparingly, how did the Bobcats control the game so well? Well, enter number 40, Colton Rapp. With nary a touchdown, Rapp ‘only’ ran for 207 yards on 24 carries. The workhorse did major damage picking up big yardage, behind the line’s super blocking and carried out some fine fakes, on McCloskey’s scores. Again a tribute to the ‘Not me, but we’ philosophy.

All you have to do is read the CAT QUOTES below to see, how much all of these guys care for each other as individuals and the team as a whole. Whatever it takes to win. Quite a brotherhood here.

The Lions closed out the scoring, with Makra hitting Hummel on a beautiful pass play, covering 42 yards, for the score to set the 34-14 final.

Part of the huge crowd on hand

Part of the huge crowd on hand

After the game, Bob Dunkle from ExploreClarion.com presented the Bobcats with the ‘Black and Blue Brawl’ trophy and the Bobcat Football Boosters presented Coach Wiser with a photo/plaque signed by team members and flowers to Mrs. Wiser in recognition of win number 200.

Other key Clarion Stats: McKloskey- 8 total tackles; 2 for loss, McMasters- 7 total tackles and a pass defense; Rapp- 11 total tackles; Karlin Hiles – 7 total tackles, 1 for loss, forced fumble; Thomas Wurster- 8 total tackles, 3 for loss, 1 sack, 3 passes broken up; Colt Stimmell- 5 total tackles, 2 for loss with a sack; Miller- in the 2nd, leaping interception, 27 yardd return; Brendan Zerfoss 50 yard kickoff return.

For Clarion-Limestone, Makray was 18 of 32 for 216 yards. MacAfee had 13 carries for 62 yards and Hummell had 5 catches for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Bobcats will travel to Moniteau on Friday night (September 30th).

CAT QUOTES

Colton Rapp (about going over 200 yards): Well, obviously that’s all my line. They’re working really hard in practice and they’re going, ‘We’re going to step it up. We’re going to hit those blocks better. We’re going to learn how to block two or three different defenses. We’re going to be ready for anything.’ Without those guys, pretty much, I wouldn’t see any numbers like that. That’s what I always like. The biggest thing is my line. And having Burford last week, catching those big passes, that opens me up, too. The whole thing is just being diverse, having everybody working together, to open up everybody else. That is why our offense is doing so good right now. We have so many threats this year.

Thomas Wurster, on the team aspect of Clarion’s game: It is good to have a team out their, too. I’m not the best one out there. If we have everyone we’ll do fine. I’m a good team player here. I don’t care what I have (stats).

Zack Bauer: (On a number picking Clarion to lose the game): That drove us more. The line’s been trying to prove something week in and week out. I think this win over C-L proves something, that we are a team and we are a team to be afraid of. That stems not only from our line. I don’t think we deserve all the credit. You know the backs are breaking tackles. Ty and Spencer are taking so much pressure off of us, with the danger of the deep ball. They make us look good, but we really bust our butts week in and week out to make sure we have this team ready. for each team we face.

Colton Rapp (On winning the trophy and 200 wins): Just the amount of history in itself. When you think how many guys are a part of that when you go back and think how many people took part in getting us to where we are today, hitting 200. That’s just unreal. I just have so much respect for coach Wiser, to be able to be so successful year in and year out. Even when he’s not in the best situation, to be successful, he somehow gets those guys to work together for a common purpose and get it done.

Zack Bauer: Like Colton said, just us winning the 200th game doesn’t come to show any of the athletes before that. We all worked, every single athlete, year in and year out for Coach Wiser. We have a really good respect for him. He’s a great coach, loved by everyone on the team. It’s really nice to be able to sign our names on that 200th win.

Thomas Wurster: It’s really good to be part of history, like Colton said. It kind of brings you an uplifting feeling. We have a team here. We’re ready for everybody.

Michael McCloskey (on five touchdowns): It was great. We came out at the beginning of the game. Colton told the team that each guy next to you is your brother. And you are going to fight for your brother. We wanted to win this game, not only for us personally, but for Coach Wiser. Just to go down in the record books for that. For his 200th win, that was something special. I’ll never forget it the rest of my life. Colton faking all night, getting me the good runs into the end zone. I couldn’t ask for a better team this year.

It feels great, just to be a part of this team, tonight, to be out on the field. All the alumni were here. They were supporting Coach Wiser. Just to be out on this field was really different. You knew what you had to do and you knew you had to get it done for Coach.

Coach Wiser (Not me, We way of going about business): I was telling the kids before the game, ‘I can remember the first game as head coach. It was kind of a last minute thing. We put together a coaching staff. What I remember about that team was, we had one or two returning starters, that beat the Karns City team that was a really good team. Those kids, from the time we came together, pulled together as a group. Kirby Emery and Scott Kindel and my quarterback Mike Taylor and so forth.  And the Girvan’s. It’s always kind of a we thing. I’ve been lucky enough to have some good coaches around me, a community that supports the program and some great players.

And they’ve bought into this thing… Mike had five touchdowns tonight. But he’ll be the first one to give everybody else the credit for what he did. Colton got probably a couple of hundred yards tonight and he’ll turn around and thank the line and so forth.

My guys, my staff is pretty tremendous. They work hard. So we’ll get to enjoy this tonight a little bit and probably about two o’clock in the morning, I’ll start looking at Moniteau tape a little bit and get ready for next week.

It was a good win. They did a great job over there at C-L, going down and scoring. We caught our breath. But our team tonight was a we thing and not a me thing.

(Thanks to Matt Buchanan for contributing to this article and to Forest Madison Mills and Kelsey Wolf for their photos. Congratulations to Coach Wiser and the Bobcats!!!!)