Wildcats Down Bulldogs In Regular Season Finale Battle Of Unbeatens, Will Now Play Winner Of Karns City – Bye This Week For Central Clarion, Will Face Karns City – Brookville Winner In District Nine Class-AA Championship At Neutral Site Weekend Of November 10th And 11th
Photos by Maria Wilson – Above: Touchdown!
The Central Clarion Wildcats traveled to New Bethlehem to face the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, on Friday (October 27th), on Redbank’s Senior Night and the District Nine Football League season finale for both.
The game, was tight through the first three quarters, and played on a muddy field and in inclement conditions during some of the contest. In the end the Wildcats were victorious, 35-14, in a reversal of last year’s regular season finale, which resulted in a 47-38 Bulldogs win.
The Bulldogs had sustained drive in the first quarter and looked to score, but the Wildcats held on downs at their own one yard line. After the change of possession, Central Clarion mounted a sustained drive of their own, which finished out the first and ate up a good chunk of the second and resulted in a 7 yard run through the middle of the line for a touchdown by quarterback Jase Ferguson. Thomas Uckert was good on the point-after giving Central a 7-0 lead at 9:29.
Two key plays in the drive were a Ferguson to Dawson Smail pass hookup from the Wildcats twenty-three to midfield, followed by Ferguson to Quinn pass down the right side to the Bulldogs thirty-four.
Redbank tied the game 7-all at 6:19, with Drew Byers taking the ball from 3 yards out combined with Mason Clouse’ point after.
Central answered with a 2 yard touchdown through the middle by Braylon Beckwith, with 20 seconds left on the clock. Uckert was true on the kick again and the Wildcats led 14-7 at the half.
The Bulldogs scored the first points of the second half at 7:57 of the third, when Braylon Wagner hit a wide open Ashton Kahle along the left side for a 67 yard touchdown. With Clouse’ kick the score was knotted 14-14.
Later on a first-and-goal from the two, the Wildcats scored on a Ferguson followed some great blocking by the offensive line on a sneak through the middle. With Uckert’s PAT, Central Clarion led 21-14 at 1:49 of the third.
The fourth quarter saw the Wildcats score twice more.
Burford intercepted a pass on the first play of the stanza and returned it to the Redbank twenty-eight. Brady Quinn ran the ball to the fifteen. Later Ferguson hit a leaping, twisting Burford on the left corner of the endzone, for the 15 yard touchdown at 10:32. With Uckert’s kick, the Wildcats led by two touchdowns, 28-14.
Redbank turned the ball over on the first play after receiving the kickoff, with Matt Alston recovering at the Bulldogs forty-eight. The ensuing drive culminated as Noah Harrison followed up on his own long run to the two, punching it in from there and Uckert’s kick at 7:38, setting the 35-14 final. Ferguson had a nice twenty-one yard keeper on the drive.
The Wildcats had 435 total yards (221 passing, 214 rushing) to the Bulldogs’ 190 total yards.
Ferguson led Central in both rushing, with 28 carries for 141 yards and passing, completing 14-of-21 for 221 yards, 1 touchdown and one interception.
Quinn had 4 carries for 27 yards and 3 receptions for 50 yards. Harrison ran the ball 7 times for 29 yards.
Burford had 5 catches for eighty-four yards. Quinn had 3 receptions for fifty yards. Smail caught three passes for 46 yards and Tommy Smith had 3 receptions for 41 yards.
Braylon Wagner completed 12-of-20 passes for 180 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception for the Bulldogs.
Wildcats Coach Davey Eggleton had this to say, “I really thought we controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
“Our defense stepped up immensely this week. Our secondary played their best game of the year.
“I am proud of how hard these young men have worked to accomplish everything they have this season. They put the time in all offseason in the weight room to prepare for this season and their hard work has been evident.”
The Wildcats will now enter the District Nine Class-AA Playoffs. They will be off this week with a bye and then will face the winner of the Karns City – Brookville semifinal matchup, which will take place on Friday (November 3rd) at Miller Stadium in Kane, the following weekend (November 10th-11th), at a neutral site, with the location, day and date, and time to be determined.
(Keep up the good work, Wildcats!!!! Thanks to Maria Wilson for her photos and Steve Smail for his stats!!)
(Stats provided by Steve Smail.)
Central Clarion 35, Redbank Valley 14
Score by Quarters
Central Clarion 0 14 7 14-35
Redbank Valley 0 7 7 0-14
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
CC-Jase Ferguson 7 run (Thomas Uckert kick), 9:29
RV- Drew Byers 3 run (Mason Clouse kick), 6:19
CC- Braylon Beckwith 1 run (Uckert kick), :20
Third Quarter
RV- Ashton Kahle 67 pass from Braylon Wagner (Clouse kick), 7:57
CC- Ferguson 2 run (Uckert kick), 1:49
Fourth Quarter
CC- Mason Burford 15 pass from Ferguson (Uckert kick), 10:32
CC- Noah Harrison 2 run (Uckert kick), 7:38
CC RV
First Downs 25 7
Rushes-Yds 46-214 14-10
Passing Yds 221 180
Comp.-Att.-Int. 14-21-1 12-20-1
Total Yardage 435 190
Punts-Avg. 1-15 2-53
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yds 12-101 5-38
Individual Statistics
Rushing- Central Clarion: Jase Ferguson 28-141, Noah Harrison 7-29, Noah Naser 4-15, Brady Quinn 4-27, Braylon Beckwith 2-3, Team 1-(-1).
Redbank Valley: Drew Byers 5-1, Braylon Wagner 2-8, Ashton Kahle 5-1, Brock George 1-1, Team 1-(-1).
Passing- Central Clarion: Jase Ferguson 14-of-21 221 Yds 1 TD 1 Int.180 Yds 1 TD 1 Int.
Redbank Valley: Braylon Wagner 12-of-20 180 Yds 1 TD 1 Int.
Receiving-Central Clarion: Dawson Smail 3-46, Mason Burford 5-84, Tommy Smith 3-41, Brady Quinn 3-50.
Redbank Valley: Ashton Kahle 5-91, Mason Clouse 5-74, Ashton George 1-7, Rylan Rupp 1-8.
Interceptions: Central Clarion (Mason Burford), Redbank Valley (Mason Clouse).