HYDE-When the high school football schedule came out for the Clearfield Bisons, the ratio between home games and away games was tilted in a slightly opposite direction. Clearfield’s schedule called for only four home games all season, with six games on the road including three long road trips.
The first two weeks of the year saw Clearfield make trips to Martinsburg and Wingate, both resulting in victories. In week three, the Bisons would make their long-awaited return to the Bison Sports Complex to compete for the first time in front of their home crowd in 2011. Standing across the field hoping to put an end to their welcome-back party were the one-loss Penns Valley Rams.
With a chill in the air more suited for late October or early November, the two squads took to the field for 48 minutes of football.
At the end of the night, the cool evening made for a warm welcome. In what some predicted would be a tight contest, Clearfield would put on a clinic in which big plays were plenty as they rolled past Penns Valley with a final score of 55-14.
Clearfield would score quickly and often, with all their points coming on drives lasting less than three minutes. At the same time, they were piling up yardage, as they had a season-high 530 total offensive yards at the end of the night. At the same time, they held Penns Valley to just 190 total yards, while holding the Rams to just six first downs, compared to Clearfield’s 22.
The big winner on this night was Beau Swales. Whether catching the ball or rumbling with it on the ground, he helped pile up the yardage for Clearfield. Swales had rushing touchdowns of 73 and 64 yards, as he ended the night with 158 yards on the ground. The senior running back tallied up that yardage on just nine carries. Swales also had one receiving touchdown to add to the total.
But it wasn’t just Swales having all the fun scoring on the night for the Bisons. Christian Lezzer also had a 56-yard touchdown run while Rob Myers had two receiving touchdowns, both more than 20-yards.
Curtis Frye had his best passing game thus far, ending with 101 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Penns Valley opted to take the opening kickoff, but found little success. Clearfield held strong and forced a punt. What ensued after that play would spell doom for the Rams. The first drive ended quickly, utilizing only three plays to go a short field for the first touchdown of the game, which was a 12-yard pass to Swales from Frye. The extra point made it 7-0 just past the halfway point of the first quarter.
As if that drive was quick enough, the next two were even faster.
On the first play from scrimmage on the Bisons’ second possession, Swales broke free and rumbled 73 yards for the touchdown. The extra point made it 14-0. The Rams responded with a long run of their own, highlighted by quarterback Sam Snyder gaining 50 yards on one play, and then finishing the drive himself with a 4-yard plunge. An extra point cut the deficit in half with less than a minute left in the opening quarter.
Clearfield didn’t waste any time once again on their ensuing drive, using just two plays to go the distance as Lezzer bolted for his big score of the night, putting the Rams back down by two scores.
The second quarter was all Clearfield. Frye had his other two touchdown passes come on successive drives, with both going to Myers. The final score of the first half came thanks to Ryan Hertlein, who scored from 13 yards out after taking the first play from scrimmage another 14 yards. Swales had a strong punt return to set up the short field. At halftime it was already 41-7, and it seemed at that point the game was out of reach as the Mercy Rule clock was set to be run in the second half.
Clearfield began the third quarter with 1st and 10 from their own 36. Swales’ number was called, and the drive ended as 64 yards later the senior saw the goal line. With the 48-7 cushion, the game was out of reach for the Rams.
Penns Valley responded on the next drive, going 65 yards down the field to get their second score of the game on a 4-yard pass to Auman. That would be the final score of the third quarter.
The underclassmen got a chance to shine in the fourth quarter for Clearfield as it was Tyler Woomer getting the call in the final part of the contest. He was the final touchdown of the game for Clearfield as he ran in from eight yards out. In the final quarter, both Woomer and Tyler Stratton each had at least 40 yards, while still holding the Ram offense scoreless.
Now sitting at 3-0, Clearfield comes back to the Bison Sports Complex next Friday night to host the Mifflin County Huskies.
See photos of the game here: http://www.clearfieldfootball.org/091611game.html
BOX SCORE
Penns Valley 7 0 7 0 – 14
Clearfield 21 20 7 7 – 55
SCORE BY QUARTERS
1st Quarter
BISONS: 12-yard pass from Frye to Swales (Herrington kick), 5:58
BISONS: 73-yard run by Swales (Herrington kick), 3:39
RAMS: 4-yard run by Snyder (Deardorff kick), 0:37
BISONS: 56-yard run by Lezzer (Herrington kick), 0:11
2nd Quarter
BISONS: 20-yard pass from Frye to Myers (kick failed), 9:57
BISONS: 22-yard pass from Frye to Myers (Herrington kick), 5:58
BISONS: 13-yard run by Hertlein (Herrington kick), 2:15
3rd Quarter
BISONS: 64-yard run by Swales (Herrington kick), 11:41
RAMS: 4-yard pass from Snyder to Auman (Deardorff kick), 4:24
4th Quarter
BISONS: 8-yard run by Woomer (Herrington kick), 8:09
GAME STATISTICS
First Downs: PV-6 CF-22
Rush Yards: PV-90 CF-429
Pass Yards: PV-100 CF-101
Total Yards: PV-190 CF-530
Penalties: PV-4 CF-5
Penalty Yards: PV-36 CF-35
Interceptions: PV-1 CF-0
Fumbles: PV-1 CF-2
Fumbles Lost: PV-0 CF-1
Time of Possession: PV-27:32 CF-20:28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Penns Valley: Snyder-9 carries, 79 yards, TD; Auman-11 carries, 4 yards; Collison-5 carries, 2 yards; TEAM-3 carries, 4 yards
Clearfield: Swales-9 carries, 158 yards, 2 TD; Lezzer-5 carries, 84 yards, TD; Hertlein-4 carries, 57 yards, TD; Woomer-3 carries, 41 yards, TD; Stratton-3 carries, 40 yards; Ford-2 carries, 20 yards; Trude-3 carries, 10 yards; Frye-2 carries, 1 yard; TEAM-3 carries, (-3) yards
PASSING
Penns Valley: Snyder-14 completions, 21 attempts, 98 yards, TD, INT; Tobias-1 completion, 3 attempts, 2 yards
Clearfield: Frye-6 completions, 11 attempts, 101 yards, 3 TD
RECEIVING
Penns Valley: Weaver-3 receptions, 58 yards; Collison-5 receptions, 18 yards; Dashem-1 reception, 10 yards; Auman-2 receptions, 6 yards, TD; Koser-1 reception, 4 yards; Brown-1 reception, 2 yards; Benfer-1 reception, 2 yards; Hook-1 reception, zero yards
Clearfield: Myers-2 receptions, 42 yards, 2 TD; Swales-2 receptions, 31 yards, TD; Lezzer-1 reception, 16 yards; Graham-1 reception, 12 yards