Seniors Lead Central Clarion Past Punxsy On The Pitch Securing District Nine Playoff Birth
(Photos courtesy of Mark Bettwy) Above Wildcat seniors (L-R) Quinn O’Neill, Samson Gao, Ky Clark, Wyatt Watterson, Nathan Frederick, Brendan Bettwy and Dany Schweitzer
(By Mark Bettwy)
It took just 30 seconds to see the first score change on Monday’s (October 13th) Senior Night as six Central Clarion seniors led the team to an easy victory against the Punxsutawney Chucks.
The Wildcat class of 2026 includes; Wyatt Watterson, Dany Schweitzer, Quinn O’Neill, Samson Gao, Nathan Frederick, Kylan Clark, and Brendan Bettwy.
Central Clarion started with the ball and immediately pressed against an unusual formation that saw 10 Chucks packed into their own defensive box. Regardless, Quinn O’Neill found Brendan Bettwy with a perfect pass between two defenders. Before they could close on him though, Bettwy hit Dany Schweitzer who buried his shot in the back of the net.
Punxsy restarted play but their brief attempt to push thru the Wildcats ended when Ky Clark intercepted the pass and quickly sent the ball up to Samson Gao in the midfield. Gao, with his skilled footwork, played it to O’Neill and the attack was on again.
Speedy Nathan Frederick had several nice crossing passes and a couple of shots from the right corner but the stubborn Chuck defense wasn’t to be made fools of, and the Wildcat offense was repeatedly repelled.
On offense, Punxsy wasn’t able to get past midfield often and when they did, the Wildcat defense quickly shut them down. It wasn’t until twenty minutes left in the half that Central Clarion would find pay dirt again on another shot by Schweitzer.
The pattern continued with the Chucks defending attack after Wildcat attack until Schweitzer found Martin Ormeno atop the goal mouth with twelve minutes to go. The tap in led to the first half ending score of 3-0.
Other Wildcats joined the fray after the break, but the second verse was the same as the first.
Lucas Klugh nearly scored on a shot just seconds after he entered the match, Gao and Clark each had attempts, Mason Nimelli, Laken Smith and Cash Gilmore all pushed forward while Matt Weaver, Christopher Beverage, Kason Keihl, Trey Hooks, Isaac Hogue, and Chris Kim controlled the field and kept the ball away from goalie Tyler Brown. Brown had to stop only one serious Punxsy shot on goal during the match.
Central Clarion was awarded a penalty kick halfway through the second when Bettwy was tripped from behind in the box. The score remained 3-0 though after the Chuck goalie made a nice save on the Trey Hooks penalty kick attempt.
The final tally of the night saw a Gilmore feed connect with Schweitzer for the hat trick, giving him 5 goals in the just two games.
The Wildcats enter the post season with a 9-9 record but, with a healthy roster and peaking at the right time, the team is better than their record indicates.
Disctict IX will announce the playoff bracket later this week so the Wildcats must wait to see where their next game will be held. With North Clarion and Ridgway likely to get a first round bye in the tournament, potential opponents for the away game include Elk County Catholic, Redbank Valley and Brockway.
Playoffs begin statewide on Monday, October 20th.
(Way To Go, Wildcats!!!! Congratulations to Seniors, Dany, Quinn, Brendan, Nathan, Ky, Sampson and Wyatt!!!! Have A Great Playoff Run!!!! Thanks to Mark Bettwy for this fine article and photos!!!!)