Bobcat Gridders Conclude Fine Season With Loss In District Championship Game (11/14/16)

The Clarion Area Bobcat Football Team saw their season come to an end Friday night (November 11th), as they dropped a hard fought, 21-14 decision to the Kane Wolves, at Frank Varischetti Field in Brockway, in the District Nine Class-AA Title Game.

(Photo by Tina Buchanan) Bobcat Defense lines up against Wolves Defense

(Photo by Tina Buchanan) Bobcat Defense lines up against Wolves Defense

With the loss the Bobcats finished the 2016 campaign at 9-2. The only two blemishes on their season came to District Nine Champions, Kane in Double-A and Karns City in Triple-A.

Kane broke on to the scoreboard first, with Frank Truden capping the opening drive, with a 7 yard run at 6:11 of the first. Joe Johnson added the PAT to give the Wolves a 7-0 lead.

Clarion came back with a touchdown on a hook and ladder play. Archer Mills hit Ryley McMaster, who sent the ball back to a trailing Michael McCloskey. McCloskey ran the ball the rest of the way, for a 50 yard touchdown. Mills kick was good and the game was knotted at 7-all.

Kane took the lead again, at 7:40 of the second period, when Reed Williams hit Ray Maze with a 25 yard scoring pass. Johnson’s extra point made the score 14-7, Kane.

Kane moved out to a two touchdown lead when Reed Gardner scored on a two yard pass from Williams, with 4:45 left in the third quarter and with Johnson’s kick, the Wolves led 21-7.

But the Cats weren’t done. Colton Rapp, who finished game with 145 yards rushing and a touchdown and the season with 1651 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing, ran the ball in from the 8 yard line with 3:20 left in the game. Mills’ kick set the final score.

The Bobcats had some other opportunities to score, but came up short. But this Bobcat Team did anything but come up short on drive and determination this season. Many people didn’t expect this team to do near as well as they did. They took that as motivation all season to prove the naysayers wrong. And this will go down as one of the more memorable Bobcat seasons, in recent memory.

Some key stats: the Bobcats outgained the Wolves 288-266, including a 155-147 rushing edge. Mills finished 10-for-17 passing, with a touchdown and an interception. McCloskey had three catches for 51 yards. Ty Burford had three catches for 51 yards and McMaster had three catches for thirty-six yards.

Defensively: Rapp had 12 tackles. Colt Stimmell had 11 tackles including a sack. Thomas Wurster had 10 tackles, Kyle Patterson had 9 tackles and Sterling Conner had eight tackles.

CAT QUOTES:
Coach Larry Wiser: “Now I have a chance to reflect back on it. Tonight was a night that we just made too many mistakes, in a game of this magnitude. I’m so very, very proud of our kids. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance to even win the game, I thought. They (Clarion players) didn’t believe that stuff about white noise. We talked before the game about Black and Orange noise.

“I thought our kids came out and played physically hard. There were mistakes, here and there. Not to take anything away from Kane. They played a heck of a ball game also.

“I’m proud of my coaches. Obviously, I’ve got a great support staff.

“It’ll be nice to look back at some of the things that this group did. I think they accomplished quite a bit. I’d have liked to have been able to hang that District Nine Title for this group. We just came up short today.”

(Thanks to Matt Buchanan for his help this season and to his wife, Tina for the photo. FINE, FINE SEASON, BOBCATS!!!!)