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ROARING SPRING -- Few left Roaring Spring Athletic Field feeling shortchanged Friday night.
Central and Clearfield entered unbeaten and the Bison nearly delivered an early knockout punch, leading 17-0, before the Dragons gamely regrouped to take the lead in the fourth quarter, 21-17, and energize their large home crowd only to fall in the last two minutes, 24-21.
Clearfield moved 70 yards in 10 plays with standout sophomore quarterback Oliver Billotte capping a strong performance on a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:54, and the Bison defense capped the victory with one last stand.
Play of the game: Central QB Braden Kitt lofted a beautiful 35-yard TD pass to Josh Biesinger to put the Dragons up 21-17 with 11 minutes remaining and cap a comeback from an early 17-0 deficit.
Player of the game: Billotte accounted for 233 yards of total offense -- 119 on 19 rushes and 114 on nine completions. He scored three TDs.
Unsung hero(es): Clearfield WR Jake Lezzer caught seven passes for 83 yards, including four in the second half and two on the game-winning drive. Central's Zach Imler rushed eight times for 58 yards and recovered a key fumble caused on a big hit at the goal line by Demetrious Harbaugh as Clearfield was ready to go up 24-14.
Most vital statistic(s): In building its 17-0 lead, Clearfield ran 26 plays to Central's seven during the game's first 14 minutes.
Central coach Dave Baker: "We just couldn't quite close it at the end. We had couple opportunities in the fourth quarter, and we could not possess the ball. We certainly improved our team tonight. We proved to ourselves we can compete against a quality team like Clearfield. It was definitely a step forward for us. We know we have a ways to go, and this was a step forward, although it's disappointing to lose it after we had pretty much taken control of the game."
On the play ruled a touchback after Imler's fumble recovery in which he had running room, down 17-14, Baker: "The rule is you can pick up a fumble or an interception and run it out. I couldn't tell."
Imler: "They called me down, but I didn't think I was. I thought I was scoring."
Clearfield coach Tim Janocko: "We were playing a lot of young kids. They have a young team, too. It was a heckuva high school football game, a lot of fun. Those guys always do a great job coaching. You come here, you know it's going to be tough, and it was tough. They made plays, we made plays, but we had the ball at the end and were able to punch it in."
Notable: The Dragons recovered two Bison fumbles in the second half … Central freshman backup QB Jeff Hoenstine went 2-for-3, including an 8-yard TD to Hunter Klotz … The Bison came in averaging 43.5 points per game … The two head coaches have a combined tenure of 74 years -- Baker in his 39th year at Central and Williamsburg stints and Janocko in his 35th with the Bison -- and 475 wins.
Records: Central (2-1), Clearfield (3-0)
Next week: Central visits Penns Valley. Clearfield hosts Huntingdon.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Clearfield 14 3 0 7 -- 24
Central 0 7 7 7 -- 21
First Quarter
Cl -- O. Billotte 50 run (Hess kick), 9:43
Cl -- O. Billotte 4 run (Hess kick), 4:28
Second Quarter
Cl -- Hess 35 FG, 10:16
C -- Klotz 8 pass from Hoenstine (Keith kick), 0:53
Third Quarter
C -- Kitt 4 run (Keith kick), 8:19
Fourth Quarter
C -- Biesinger 35 pass from Kitt (Keith kick), 11:01
Cl -- O. Billotte 2 run (Hess kick), 1:54
TEAM STATISTICS CL C
First downs 20 11
Total yards 343 220
Rushes-yards 40-229 26-127
Yards passing 114 93
Pass (comp.-att.-int.) 9-17-0 10-22-1
Punts-avg. 3-21.0 5-36.6
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0
Penalties-yards 3-35 4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Clearfield, O. Billotte 19-119, Plubell 10-69, McGonigal 8-25, Firanski 1-13, Zattoni 2-3. Central, Imler 8-58, Kitt 11-31, Gregg 4-17, Hoenstine 1-7, Smith 2-4.
PASSING -- Clearfield, Billotte 9-17-0-114. Central, Kitt 8-19-1-73, Hoenstine 2-3-0-20
RECEIVING -- Clearfield, Lezzer 7-83, Royer 2-31. Central, Biesinger 1-35, Hoenstine 3-11, Gregg 2-12, McConahy 1-11, Imler 1-13, Klotz 1-8, Harbaugh 1-3.