HYDE — As far as season openers go, this one was pretty forgettable.
The Clearfield Bisons came out flat on Friday night against District 9 Class AAA rival Bradford and by the end of the first half, the Bisons were totally deflated.
Bradford whipped Clearfield, 56-35, in a steady rain at the Bison Sports Complex.
For the Bisons, it all came down to the defense. Clearfield (0-1) couldn\’t tackle any of the Owl running backs as the Owls rolled up 365 rushing yards in the first half alone.
Bradford (1-0) came out of the gate strong. After forcing the Bisons into a three-and-out on their first series, the ground assault began. Taylor O\’Brien scored the Owls\’ first touchdown of the night on a 27-yard run with less than two minutes gone in the first quarter. There would be more to come.
Less than four minutes later, O\’Brien scored again, this time from a yard out to make it 14-0.Nick Johnson gave the Owls a 21-0 lead when he punched one in from two yards out with 2:52 to play in the first stanza.
The Owls weren\’t done yet, though. O\’Brien scored his third TD of the game when he broke loose for an 80-yard score with seven minutes to play in the half. That made it 28-0, and the rout was on.
Clearfield got its first score of the night on a 67-yard pass from Andrew Janocko to Adam Jury. With 5:35 to play in the half, the Bisons had cut the deficit to 28-7 — but that didn\’t last long.
Just 20 seconds later, Bradford quarterback Ben Walter took off with the football and when he finally stopped running, it was in the end zone, making it 35-7 in the Owls\’ favor.
With less than a minute to play in the half, Isiah Morgan scored on a 6-yard run for the Bisons to make it 35-14 and the Bisons had some momentum, at least temporarily.
However, the Owls had a nice return on the kickoff, and Nick Johnson scored from 36 yards out with just 25 seconds left in the half to make it 42-14.
Bradford did not complete a pass in the first half. Then again, it didn\’t have to as the ground game was clicking on all cylinders.
Bradford added two more scores in the third quarter to kick the mercy rule into effect. E.J. Moore scored from 25 yards out and Johnson scored his second TD of the night, breaking loose for a 70-yard scamper.
The Bisons trailed, 56-14, but were able to put three scores on the board in the final stanza.
Jury caught a 5-yard pass from Janocko, and Doug Kephart caught TDs of 43 and 10 yards, respectively.
If there was a highlight for the Bisons, it was the play of Janocko. The senior was 14-of-26 for 248 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
Clearfield also got some production from its running backs. Morgan was the workhorse, carrying 16 times for 95 yards.
Although the weather conditions weren\’t ideal, the game was not all that sloppy. There were just a couple of fumbles and few penalties.
The Owls rushing stats were somewhat surreal. Johnson finished the night as the squad\’s leading rusher, carrying seven times for 135 yards. O\’Brien carried six times for 123 yards. Moore had six carries for 82 yards and Walter had four for 73.
Walter threw just the one pass all night, an incompletion.
Clearfield will look to rebound from one of its worst-ever season-opening losses when it visits Brookville at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Check out the GantDaily links page for more info on Clearfield Bison football.
http://www.clearfieldfootball.org/