The 2007 edition of Clearfield football is one that must replace some of the area\’s best talent from a season ago. Gone are University of Pittsburgh recruit and former Bisons quarterback Andrew Janocko, pass-catching threats Adam Jury and Doug Kephart, solid offensive linemen John Bowman and Scott Heichel, placekicker Kyle Kline and defensive star Tyler Kirkwood.
That squad battled through a 7-4 season that ended with a heartbreaking double overtime defeat in the District 9 Class AAA Championship game at the hands of rival Bradford. It was, perhaps, a fitting end to a season chock full of close contests.
But for Clearfield coach Tim Janocko the past is the past and the future is now. The Bisons return 17 letterwinners to lead this year\’s talented team into Friday night\’s season-opener with Bald Eagle Area at the Bison Sports Complex.
Seniors Curtis Conrad, Nathan Greenland, Drew Hipps, Casey Hoffman, Gary Hoover, Todd Hryn, Justin Karp, Ryan Lippert, Vince Panebianco, Richie Queen, David Ryan, Toby Young and Lee Zalno and juniors Jarrin Campman, Cruise Kerr, Isiah Morgan and Nick Redden return to lead Clearfield this season. Of that group seven saw significant playing time last season, giving Janocko a solid nucleus around which to build.
\”We\’ve had two solid scrimmages, which is always encouraging,\” said Janocko. \”We scrimmaged Central in our first scrimmage and then last Friday night we scrimmaged Bellwood, and they are always tough. I thought we had a good solid scrimmage against them.\”
Offensively Clearfield will look to linemen Karp and Redden to clear the way for Morgan, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season as a sophomore. Campman takes over as the Bisons\’ signal caller, while junior Brandon Sass may also see some snaps this season.
\”We\’re going to be a different type of team this season,\” said Janocko. \”We\’re probably not going to be as wide open. We had to score a lot of points last year, and we did.
\”But this year we\’re going to try get better defensively and maybe be a little bit more conservative offensively. We\’re inexperienced at some of the positions, but we have talent and we want to utilize the talent that we have.\”
Campman, who started every game at cornerback last season, will also help solidify the Bisons\’ D. Defensive end Zalno and tackle Redden, who each had a significant number of tackles last season, return to the defensive unit as well.
Parker Herrington is slated to replace Kline at kicker.
\”We just have to care of the things that we can do well,\” said Janocko. \”We\’re worried about Bald Eagle and how good they are, but we have to take care of Clearfield first. If we do that then we can be in the game with them.\”
\”Bald Eagle is pretty run-oriented,\” Janocko added. \”They have a lot of different backs that they like to use. They have some decent size and they like to pound at you.
\”Defensively they like to put a lot of people around the football and do a lot of blitzing.\”
The Eagles (3-7 overall, 1-4 MAC) are one of four new teams on the Bisons\’ schedule that now includes Mountain Athletic Conference newcomers Hollidaysburg and Central Mountain, as well as, Penns Valley. District 9 opponents Bradford and DuBois are off the schedule this year, as is Lewistown, who moved to the Nittany Division of the MAC.
\”The District 9 League is now defunct,\” said Janocko. \”So we\’re transitioning into the MAC where we can have a full schedule. It\’s going to be tough. We\’re going to be playing Hollidaysburg and Central Mountain, which are two schools that are a lot bigger than us. If we\’re not the smallest school on our schedule then we\’re one of the two smallest schools on our schedule, so we have our work cut out for us.\”
Kickoff for Friday\’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m.