Wildcats Down Bulldogs On Senior Night
Photos courtesy of Cheryl Marshall – Above: Wildcats break through Senior Night Banner.
The Central Clarion Wildcats downed the Redbank Valley Bulldogs 55-0, on the Wildcats Senior Night, at Clarion Area’s Wiser Field on Friday (October 18th). With the win, Central Clarion moves to 9-0 on the season.
Central Clarion scored 13 points in the first quarter and 22 more in the second, to have the Mercy Rule running clock in play in the second half, where the Wildcats got 21 more points, 13 in the third and seven more in the final stanza.
Two big performers for the Wildcats were quarterback Jase Ferguson, who completed 35-of-41 passes for 532 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions and slot back Ethan Rex. Just when you thought he’d never see another game, like the previous week, where he caught 12 passes for 113 yards and 5 carries for 25 yards, Rex had 18 catches for 203 yards and a touchdown. He also carried twice for fourteen yards.
The Wildcats first score came as Ferguson hit Mason Burford down the right side, for a 23 yard touchdown at 6:52 of the first quarter. Brendan Bettwy’s kick was good and Central Clarion had a 7-0 lead. Burford also had a big night receiving, with 6 catches for 131 yards. He also had an interception.
Ferguson then hit Charlie Hepfl with a shuttle pass from five yards out, to give the Wildcats a 14-0 lead later in the first.
With 9:07 on the second quarter clock, Ferguson ran up the middle from 8 yards out for the touchdown and also scored on a two- point conversion. Central now had a 21-0 lead. Ferguson had an interception at 5:18, with the Wildcats’ possession ending, when he hit Kohen Kemmer, on a post pattern in the front of the endzone. Bettwy’s kick was good and Central Clarion now had twenty-eight points on the board. Kemmer nearly broke the 100 yard reception mark, with 7 catches for ninety-six yards.
Another interception by Ferguson later in the second, led to a 13 yard touchdown by Burford, in the front center of the endzone. With Bettwy’s kick the Wildcats now had a 35-0 edge.
More of the same in the third quarter. Ferguson scored on a two-yard run to the left at 9:23, moving the total points to forty-one for the Wildcats. He then hit a wide open Rex at the Redbank 22, who took it the rest of the way. Bettwy’s kick was good and Central had 48 points.
The Wildcats final points came as Ferguson hit Kemmer who ran a post pattern at 10:32 of the final stanza. Bettwy’s point after was good and the final was set at 55-0.
Central Clarion accumulated 636 yards (532 passing, 104 rushing).
Some other Wildcats stats of note: Briggs Beckwith – 2 runs for16 yards; Braylon Beckwith – 1 catch for 33 yards. Jesse Siwiecki caught two passes for 64 yards.
Wildcats head coach Davey Ferguson had this to say about his team’s performance, “I am proud of the way our team continues to play. I thought we were very physical tonight.
“We controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Our secondary played tight press coverage all night.
“Pitching another shut out was a big accomplishment against a high powered offense like Redbank.
“Jase did a great job distributing the ball to our athletes. He made great decisions all night long and had a huge game.”
The Wildcats will finish the regular season as they travel to Butler to meet the Golden Tornado, next Friday (October 25th) at 7:00 p.m.
(Way to go, Wildcats!!!! Thanks to EYT for use of their broadcast and to Steve Smail for his stats for notes, etc. and to Cheryl Marshall for her photos!!)