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CLAYSBURG -- The old adage that coaches teach kids at a young age, and echo it at every level throughout is -- play to the whistle.
Claysburg-Kimmel senior Paydden Knisely was about the only player late in the first half that did just that as he stripped the ball from Everett quarterback Jonathan Cooper, who stopped when he saw penalty flags fly assuming, like nearly everyone else on both sides of the ball, that the play would be dead.
Only there was no whistle, and a very alert Knisely ripped the ball from Cooper's hands and returned it 12 yards to the Everett 38 before being tackled.
The momentum completely shifted in the Bulldogs' favor as they went on to score to tie the game before the half en route to an eventual 41-27 victory over the Warriors on Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.
"We always tell our kids to play through the whistle -- there was no whistle," Claysburg-Kimmel coach Chuck Kassick said. "The kid (Cooper) is just kinda holding the ball (at his side), and he (Knisely) took it. I told him, 'what a brilliant play.' I mean really, that's brilliant. If that wasn't the momentum shift, I don't know what was. It was huge."
It was the first of many big plays Knisely made on the night, as he also came up with a big sack on Cooper on Everett's first possession of the second half that led to a punt.
Following the punt, C-K put together an 8-play drive that covered 63 yards and ended with Tyler Mowry crossing into the end zone from 1-yard out to put Claysburg up 21-7.
"I didn't hear any whistles, and I was free," Knisely said. "The kid just stopped, and I just took the ball -- that's all I wanted. … I was definitely surprised (he held the ball loose at his side), because he had it up in his arm like he was going to run it, and then he dropped it down by his side, so I just took it."
Sequence of the game: Nearly midway through the fourth quarter, Everett got a 79-yard touchdown run from Jakobe Harman and a two-point conversion run by Nolan Whisel that brought the Warriors to within one score at 35-27. However, the Bulldogs were in good field position after Everett's failed onside kick attempt. Remy Diehl, who earned his second straight 100-yard rushing game by finishing with 106, gained 6 yards on first down before Mason Campagna found Gavin Treon in stride for a 44-yard TD that sealed the game for the Bulldogs with 5:31 left to play.
Players of the game: Campagna and Treon. The duo connected seven times for 137 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Campagna found Treon on a 4-yard strike to capitalize on the Knisely takeaway and make the score 7-7 with 1:57 remaining in the opening half. Treon hauled in a 43-yard pass from Campagna just 20 seconds after halftime to make it 14-7 Claysburg, and then the 44-yarder that ended the scoring in the fourth.
Campagna, who finished with 160 rushing yards on 13 carries, entered the game needing just 23 yards to break the Claysburg-Kimmel all-time career rushing yards mark. The senior earned 12 yards on the first offensive play for C-K, and then gained 4 on his next attempt before breaking off a 14-yard run late in the first half to eclipse the previous mark of 2,801 yards by the late Chad Zembower. Campagna, who also scored on a 13-yard run in the third and a 51-yard sprint to paydirt less than two minutes into the final frame that put his team up 35-19, threw for 178 yards on the night.
Treon: "He (Campagna) signaled me, I just ran a slant, the defender tipped the ball and it just so happened to get in my hands and I took off. I was trying to go as fast as I could to the end zone."
Unsung heroes: The Claysburg special teams unit. In addition to the five touchdowns scored, the special teams unit successfully recovered two onside kick attempts to give the ball right back over to the offense.
Defensive effort: After Harman ran for 406 yards on 31 carries against Claysburg-Kimmel last year, the Bulldog defense was ready for the Warrior senior this time around. Other than the 79-yard TD burst in which Harman made a few great individual efforts in the open field, C-K held the running back to just 102 yards on 26 attempts.
Kassick: "He (Harman) is tough -- you look at him and he's put together. … We know his career and we know what he did to us last year. Our kids played really hard."
Most vital statistics: After being held to just 17 offensive plays in the first half to 39 by the Warriors, the Bulldogs kept the ball in the hands of their offense for most of the second half. Claysburg ran 41 plays on offense to Everett's 16 after halftime. C-K totaled 62 yards of offense in the opening two quarters, but churned out 230 yards on the ground and 155 through the air for a total of 384 in the second half.
Kassick: "Give Everett credit, they played ball control in the first half because I think they knew we had some explosive capabilities. So, they wanted to keep the ball out of our hand. I knew if we got the ball enough times, we were going to put the ball in the end zone."
Notable: Everett got on the board first with a 24-yard pass play from Cooper to Tyson Grove with 2:03 on the first quarter clock to give the Warriors their only lead of the night at 7-0. … Immediately following the Mowry 1-yard TD run in the third, Gavin Goodrich returned the kickoff 68-yards to the house to make the score 21-13 C-K. … In a span of five plays in the third stanza following Campagna's 13-yard TD run that put Claysburg up 28-13, there were two interceptions thrown and a fumble recovery for a TD. C-K picked up the onside kick after the Campagna TD, but Campagna was intercepted on first down by Cooper who returned it 21 yards. After a 4-yard run by Harman, Brayden Haney came up with a pick off Cooper for Claysburg. Diehl ran 2 yards on first and then fumbled the ball off his leg after a 3-yard gain, which Harman returned 15 yards for a TD to pull Everett within 28-19 with just 59 ticks left in the third.
Everett coach Brian Koontz: "We did OK at times, and we made a lot of mistakes and gave them (Claysburg-Kimmel) some opportunities. They are pretty good at taking advantage of those. … We had opportunities in the first half, and didn't take advantage of some of them. That's the story of the last three games for us."
Records: Everett (6-4); Claysburg-Kimmel (8-2).
Next week: Everett will be playing in the District 5 Class 2A semifinals; Claysburg-Kimmel will tentatively host Glendale in the District 6 playoffs.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Everett 7 0 12 8 -- 27
Claysburg-Kimmel 0 7 21 13 -- 41
First Quarter
E--Grove 24 pass from Cooper (Snyder kick), 2:03.
Second Quarter
CK--Treon 4 pass from Campagna (Fee kick), 1:57.
Third Quarter
CK--Treon 43 pass from Campagna (Fee kick), 11:40
CK--Mowry 1 run (Fee kick), 7:02.
E--Goodrich 68 kickoff return (kick blocked), 6:48.
CK--Campagna 13 run (Fee kick), 2:49.
E--Harman 15 fumble recovery (run failed), 0:59.
Fourth Quarter
CK--Campagna 51 run (Fee kick), 10:09.
E--Harman 79 run (Whisel run), 6:18.
CK--Treon 44 pass from Campagna (run failed), 5:31
TEAM STATISTICS E CK
First downs 12 20
Total yards 234 447
Rushes-yards 40-190 36-269
Yards passing 44 178
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 4-15-1 12-21-1
Punts-avg. 3-36.0 2-35.0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 8-90 7-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Everett, Harman 27-181, Whisel 2-1, Cooper 6-(-14), Goodrich 1-14, Cornell 3-5, Grove 1-3. Claysburg-Kimmel, Campagna 13-160, Diehl 18-106, Mowry 2-2, Brown 1-3, TEAM 2-(-2).
PASSING--Everett, Cooper 3-12-0-39, Grove 0-2-1-0, Whisel 1-1-0-5. Claysburg-Kimmel, Campagna 12-20-1-178, Treon 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING--Everett, Grove 1-24, Cornell 1-10, Whisel 1-5, Cooper 1-5. Claysburg-Kimmel, Treon 7-137, Mowry 3-36, Diehl 2-5.