Wildcats Down Chucks In D9 Football League – Region 1 Action On Clarion Area Homecoming Night
Above photo courtesy of Cheryl Marshall: 2024 Clarion Area Homecoming set to begin
The Central Clarion Wildcats defeated the visiting Punxsutawney Chucks 45-0, in a District Nine Football League – Region 1 matchup at Wiser Field on Clarion Area’s Homecoming night, Friday, October 12th.
The Wildcats posted twenty-one points in both the first and second quarters and three points in the third.
The Wildcats recovered a fumble at the Punxsutawney forty-eight, ending the Chuck’s first possession at 8:27 of the first quarter. Quarterback Jase Ferguson scored from 42 yards out, with a beautiful spin move and moving to the right side and down the sideline. Thomas Uckert kicked the first of his six extra-points (without a miss) and Central Clarion led 7-0 at 7:35 of the first.
The Chucks’ second possession ended in a punt. The Wildcats culminated the possession with a with Ferguson connecting on a play action pass with Jesse Siwiecki, who caught the ball in stride inside the five yard line, on the left side and took it in from there. The play covered 33 yards, and with Uckert’s kick, the score was 14-0 at 3:17.
Braylon Beckwith intercepted a Punxy pass on the left side of the field, and set the Wildcats up at the Chucks’ twenty-six with 2:26 on the clock. The drive ended with Ferguson connecting with Beckwith over the middle from three yards out in the back in the back of the endzone, with 1:30 left in the opening stanza. With Uckert’s PAT, Central now had twenty-one points on the board.
Central Clarion’s second quarter scoring began with Ferguson hitting Ethan Rex, who took the ball in untouched down the left side from nine yards out, at 10:43. Uckert’s kick moved the Wildcats’ points to twenty-eight.
Ferguson hooked up with Mason Burford, in stride and behind the defenders down the left side, at the Punxy thirty-six, with Burford taking it to the thirty-four. The play, which started at the Central thirty-six, covered 50 yards. On the very next play, Ferguson dropped back to pass and with pressure from a Chucks defender, tucked the ball in and scrambled to the left side and and in for the score. Ucker’s Kick moved Central’s point total to 35 with 7:36 remaining before halftime.
The Wildcats next drive was all through the air, as Ferguson used three receivers to move the ball 80 yards for a score, utilizing the width of the field. He hit Rex on each sideline on consecutive throws, Beckwith on the left side and Kohen Kemmer over the middle. Those passes combined to set the ball on the Punxy seventeen. From there Fergusen hit Rex on the left side at the about the fifteen and Rex took it the rest of the way. Uckert’s kick moved the score to 42-0 at 2:56.
That took things to halftime and Clarion Area Homecoming festivities.
Last year’s King and Queen, Brady Quinn and Gia Babington were on hand to crown this year’s Royal Couple. Brady crowned Carter Brown as King and in what must be a real rarity, Gia crowned her sister Sophie as King.
There was a running clock for the second half, with the only score coming from the foot of Uckert, a 32 yard field goal at 3:14 of the third. which set the 42-0 final.
The now 9-0 Wildcats finished with exactly 500 total yards (353 passing, 147 rushing), while giving up just 113 yards.
Central Clarion’s offensive and defensive lines were both dominant.
Ferguson, who finished with a hand in all six Wildcat touchdowns, completed 24-of-34, for 334 yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception. he ran for another 66 yards on two carries.
Some other important Central Clarion stats:
Rex had an almost unheard of 12 catches, which covered 113 yards, to go along with 5 carries for twenty-five yards. Mason Burford had the 1 catch for fifty yards. Siwiecki caught 3 passes for 73 yards. Noah Harrison had 3 carries for 24 yards and 2 catches for thirty-three yards.
Beckwith caught 4 passes for fifty-one yards, to go along with his interception. Kemmer had 30 yards on two catches. Carter Hindman completed both passes he threw. Brody Beggs had an interception.
Central Clarion head coach Davey Eggleton had this to say about the Wildcats performance, “I thought we came out with great intensity the first half.
“Our defense has been playing great physical football the past 3 weeks. Our offense found a great rhythm as well Jase did a fantastic job of distributing the ball around to our many athletes and they made great plays when given the opportunity.
“We still need to work on coming out in the second half with the same intensity as the first. It has been difficult with the lopsided scores, but we will eventually need to do better with this.”
Two Punxsutawney players stats of note:
Quarterback Zaden Gould was 10 of 19 for ninety-one yards Beau Thomas had 58 yards on three receptions.
The Wildcats are scheduled to host the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, at Redbank, next Friday (October 19th), on Senior Night.
(Nice game, Wildcats!!!! And Congratulations, Sophie and Carter!!!! Thank you to YDL for use of their broadcast for notes and Steve Smail for his stats and to Brinley Kiskadden-BK Media, Cheryl Marshall and Roderick Showers for their photos!!)