Putting out the fire

ROARING SPRING - Rain brought about the cancellation of Central High School's homecoming parade early Saturday.

The Clearfield Area football team came to a cold and windy Roaring Spring Athletic Field on Saturday night and finished what Mother Nature started.

The Bisons washed away whatever enthusiasm remained for the Scarlet Dragons' celebration with a tidal wave rush, scoring touchdowns on a blocked punt and a sack to knock Central from the unbeaten ranks for the second consecutive year, 27-13.

"This makes you get sad and depressed,'' Central senior Jordon Saylor, who had a 40-yard reception to set up a Dragon touchdown and turned away deep Clearfield drives with an interception and a pass deflection, said quietly after the loss that dropped his team to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the Nittany Division of the Mountain Conference.

Central, which only trailed once in the second half all year, never led the Bisons after a Lucas Runk punt was blocked and Andrew Redden recovered for Clearfield in the end zone less than three minutes into the game. The Dragons were held to a season-low 198 yards, just 27 of which came in the second half.

The Dragons also turned the ball over five times. They had only given the ball away 11 times in their first seven outings.

"They have some players, and they made some plays. It just seemed like we were trying to fight from behind all night and had our chances but couldn't execute,'' Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said.

The play of Clearfield's defensive line was a big reason. The Bisons sacked Runk eight times - including three by Redden. The last of those resulted in Andre Buck's fumble recovery for his first career touchdown with 2:10 remaining to effectively ice Clearfield's win.

At one point in the second half Runk had 102 yards rushing, but Central's standout junior quarterback/running back finished with 62 yards on 24 carries because of Bison tackles in the backfield.

The Bisons blocked an extra-point as well, enabling them to take a one-point lead into the half. Clearfield then drove 47 yards after Morgan's 35-yard return of the second-half kickoff for the first third-quarter score against Central in seven games, a 17-yard option pass from Trey Campman to Derek Danver.

Buck, like Redden, was a fixture in the Dragon backfield most of the night.

"We had a lot of good coaching during the week on how to contain Runk. We did what we were supposed to do, and it just happened,'' Buck, a 6-foot, 228-pound senior, said. "We wanted to keep him in the pocket.''

Clearfield improved to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the division. The Bisons, who pinned the first loss on Central in week 8 last year, themselves had been an upset victim a couple of weeks ago against previously winless Bald Eagle Area. They rebounded to crush Penns Valley on Monday, 42-6, in a game postponed for three days because of the freak snowstorm that hit Centre County.

"Our kids just rose to the occasion,'' Clearfield coach Tim Janocko said. "We were fortunate enough to come out on the winning end.''

Central appeared to have recovered from the blocked punt, marching 73 yards for the tying points on Runk's 32-yard run after Saylor's 40-yard catch in traffic.

That started a string of three straight possessions on which the teams traded scores: Clearfield's Curtis Frye capped a 72-yard Bison march on a 5-yard run, but Runk found Shane Cafferty from 10 yards out to get the Dragons back to within a point before the blocked PAT at 6:35 of the second quarter.

The game marked the first of three tough Nittany Division home games to close out the regular season for the defending District 6 Class AA champion Dragons. Central hosts 6-2 St. Marys on Friday, then has a showdown with 7-1 Tyrone on Nov. 6.

"I don't think it was lack of effort. I just think we have to fix some things up,'' Hoenstine said. "Hopefully this opened up some of our guys' eyes. We'll have to have a good week of practice.''

Game notes: Central only allowed 240 yards. ... Cafferty was crowned homecoming king before the game, while Shelby Burns was homecoming queen. ... On Thursday, Cafferty's mother, Deenie, was named the alumni homecoming queen. Shane Metzler was alumni homecoming king. ... Clearfield's Chas Zurat picked off two passes.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Clearfield7 7 7 6 - 27

Central7 6 0 0 - 13

First quarter

CF-Redden blocked punt recovery in end zone (Zurat kick), 8:35.

CN-Runk 32 run (Hollar kick), 1:46.

Second quarter

CF-Frye 3 run (Zurat kick), 9:43.

CN-Cafferty 10 pass from Runk (kick failed), 6:35.

Third quarter

CF-Danver 17 pass from Campman (Zurat kick), 10:40.

Fourth quarter

CF-Buck fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed), 2:10.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Clearfield-Frye 18-53, Morgan 8-52, Campman 5-20, TEAM 2-(-3). Central-Runk 24-62, Knisely 4-23, Blattenberger 3-10, Keefer 3-7.

PASSING: Clearfield-Frye 9-16-1-101, Campman 1-1-0-17. Central-Runk 8-26-3-96.

RECEIVING: Clearfield-Danver 5-76, Zurat 3-23, Campman 1-12, Meligard 1-7. Central-Cafferty 4-26, Knisely 2-18, Saylor 1-40, Hardy 1-12.

INTERCEPTIONS: Clearfield-Zurat 2, Campman. Central-Saylor.

TEAM STATISTICSCFCN

First downs1318

Yards rushing33-12234-102

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)10-17-18-26-3

Yards passing11896

Total yards240198

Fumbles lost1-15-2

Penalties-yards8-859-68

Punts-avg.4-29.04-31.5