Bobcats Down Flying Dutch In Senior Night / Regular Season Finale (10/30/16)
The Clarion Area Bobcats closed out the regular season, in fine fashion, on Friday (October 28th), as they downed the St. Marys Flying Dutchmen 40-7, on Senior Night at Memorial Stadium. The Bobcats will now travel to Brockway, this coming Friday, (November 4th) to face the Rovers in the First Round of the District Nine Class AA Playoffs.
(Photo by Matt Buchanan) Bobcat senior Tyler Finefrock with his mother
The win featured some fine performances, noteably: Junior Colton Rapp rushed for 147 yards, moving his season total to 1337, moving him to number ten all-time in the team rushing list. His career total now stands at 2626; Junior Spencer Miller threw for 121 yards, moving his season total to 1035,only the fifth Bobcat quarterback to eclipse 1000 passing yards in a single season, with four touchdowns passing and one rushing: Ty Burford had three catches for 64 yards and three touchdowns and went over the 500 yard receiving mark. He now stands in sixth place on the Bobcats’ single season receiving yardage list; Also, Thomas Wurster had a superb nigh on defense with 10 tackles (5 for loss), 3 sacks, 1 fumble caused and a pass knockdown and Colt Stimmell had 10 tackles.
The Bobcats first score came on their first possession, with Miller hitting Burford with a five yard strike at 8:50 in the first quarter, giving the Cats a 6-0 lead.
The Bobcats recovered St. Marys fumbles on the first play of each of St. Marys next two series, both leading to touchdowns. The first saw Miller run the ball in from the 12 yards out, at 7:40 of the first. The second came when Michael McCloskey scored on an 11 yard run. McCloskey caught a pass from Ryley McMaster for the two point conversion. The Cats now led 20-0, with 4:49 left in the first.
Rapp finished the first quarter scoring on a big 81 yard romp at 3:00. Archer Mills kicked the PAT, moving the score to 27-1 after one.
The Bobcats defense came up big at the end of the first and start of the second, with three straight sacks.
Miller and Burford hooked up for two more scores in the third quarter, first on a 31 yard pass at 9:19. Mills kicked the PAT. The duo’s second score of the quarter came at 6:15, from nineteen yards out. The Bobcats now led 40-0.
St. Marys dented the scoreboard with 8:51 left in the game, on a 6 yard run by Pat Schlimm. Morgan Holtzhauser’s kick was good and the final was set at 40-7.
Bobcats and Dutchmen join for 22Kill Pushups
After the game, the Bobcats and St. Marys joined near midfield for 22 pushups, part of the 22Kill program, which draws awareness to the fact that 22 veterans, on average, die each day from suicide. The program is designed to provide to help veterans by providing counseling etc.
The win also was Coach Larry Wiser’s 204th, tying him with former Coudersport Coach Ron Simcoe for Number Two All-Time in District Nine Coaching wins and came on a night when the Bobcat Football Boosters gave the Bobcat mentor a party recognizing his 200th career victory. The 200th win came in the Bobcats’ win over Clarion-Limestone several weeks ago.
Banner recognizing Coach Wiser’s 200 Wins milestone
The party in the tent at behind the east end zone featured 200 cupcakes, one for each victory.
Some other Key Bobcat Stats: McCloskey – 6 tackles (1 for loss), Zack Bauer – 5 tackles (1 for loss), Rapp – 5 tackles (1 for loss), Sterling Conner – 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, Tyler Finefrock 4 tackles – 1 fumble recovery.
CAT QUOTES:
Coach Wiser: “It started out with our kickoff return team. Our special teams played pretty exceptionally, our kickoff team especially. We were holding them inside the thirty-five. They were giving them poor field position. On top of that the defense was just smothering out there. Kind of a take off from last week and a continuation into this week.
“We were very concerned watching them move the ball against a lot of different teams this year. Our front four, our linebackers and also our secondary got us some turnovers in the beginning of the game. I thought that was significant because we got some short fields.
Annie and Coach Wiser with Booster President Chris Hearst who organized the special event
“Spence was on fire tonight. He was picking the right receivers. Ty Burford had some great catches. Combined with the fact that our line, with the exception of one or two plays; they were bringing six people. It was neat watching them. I know coach Nate (McClaine) and I sat down last week and we spent a lot of time trying to figure a lot of things out on the board, because they hurt us in the scrimmage, coming off the edge. In fact we lost Spence. I don’t think Spence got a lot of pressure. He got a helmet on his elbow and I don’t even know how that happened. I thought we did a good job of protecting him tonight. I think both of us our getting more comfortable with each other, in terms of how we’re setting up the offense, how we’re blocking things. And then the kids are executing.
“What I thought was really nice tonight was, we were able to get the ball down the middle of the field, get the ball down the sidelines. We got that one short pass to Mike. That’s a pass that we’ve had in all year and this may have been the second time we’ve ran it. It looked really good, that one boot pass.
“We were able to do a few things, a few gadget plays. Ryley throwing that two-point conversion was pretty neat to see.
“I’m proud of this senior class and how they’ve provided some great leadership, coming in this year. the result every week is to get out here and work. The reward now is we are going into the post-season.”
(On the Football Boosters honoring him after the game): “It was exceptional. You know that’s not me (seeking the limelight). But it was so nice to see a lot of people, some of my former coaches Alex Arth and George White, (also) Rich Martin and a number of former Boosters that came there at the end. Chris and the band, performing, that was pretty neat.
“Some of those pictures (from the past) were just awesome to see. I think it had my first team. I thought it was so nice to recognize my wife too. She is so good putting up with my absence from home and allowing me to do some things that I really have a lot of fun doing.”
Spencer Miller: “The line had a great game, I didn’t really ever had someone in my face which helped me out quite a bit. Colton’s fakes on those play action passes also makes it easy for me having that free safety step up, he has done a great job with that all year.
“I thought all of the receivers had a great game. They were catching pretty much everything, so all I really had to do was get it close to them and they would go get it. And that was also a really big game for our defense, with those turnovers, and I don’t think that they had many yards against us which is great.”
Colton Rapp: “It’s an unreal experience. It’s awesome to see coach get that. That’s what we worked for. We wanted to make him look good. He makes us look good a lot, through all the hard work he puts in. It’s good to return the favor for him, a little bit and helping get to where he’s at today.”
(On Coach Wiser being one win away from sitting alone at number-two all-time in D9 Coaching victories): “That would be really sweet and I think that is something we can accomplish. Just going to hit it hard in practice this week, and get ready to take it to Brockway.”
“It was a good game. That was exactly what you need right before the playoffs, just going out there and dominating a team.
“The Brockway guys were in the stands and that was good. I think we got them thinking, ‘OK. This isn’t the Clarion team that everyone’s been talking about.’ Because I think we are pretty underrated. When we came in at the beginning of the season, I don’t think anybody really expected a whole lot from us. We’ve just been kind of using that as motivation to take it out their every week. Everybody’s counting us out, so we’re going to give them another reason to count us in.”
On doing the “22Kill” pushups (meant to draw attention to the twenty-two veterans [on average] who die from suicide each day): “That’s great. I love it. No matter how tired I am after a game, I’ve got enough energy to crank out twenty-two pushups. That’s coming together for something bigger than yourself. I think it’s awesome that we’re doing that.
“I’m just glad that every team is participating with us. Two teams working together for a common goal. That’s to help bring awareness to that situation.”
(Thanks to Matt Buchanan for helping with this article and for his photo. Keep it going, CATS!!!!)