ALTOONA- The Clearfield Bison football team overcame a 20-7 first-half deficit, scoring a touchdown with twenty seconds left in the game to defeat Johnstown 29-23.
“I can’t say enough about our kids, they have hearts of champions…we beat a real good football team today”, said Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko.
The afternoon started very well for the Bisons, as they forced a punt on Johnstown’s first possession, got a solid return to start on Johnstown’s 44 yard line, then marched those 44 yards in five plays, capped by a 26-yard touchdown run by Christian Lezzer. Johnstown quickly recovered, however, as they put together an 11-play, 80 yard drive to paydirt that tied the score at 7-7.
On the first play of Clearfield’s ensuing possession, Beau Swales fumbled and Johnstown recovered at the Bison 38. The Trojans needed only one play to capitalize on the turnover as QB Gervon Simon hit WR Dwight Evans on a deep post. The PAT was missed, leaving Johnstown in front 13-7.
Clearfield went three-and-out on their next possession, and a short punt set the Trojans up on the Bison 40. Again Johnstown wasted no time converting the favorable field position, as the fifth play of the drive was a touchdown pass from Simon to WR Mark Watson. The PAT set the first-quarter score at 20-7 in favor of Johnstown.
The second quarter started no better for the Bison offense, as they once again went three-and-out. Johnstown embarked on another long drive and seemed poised to put the game out of reach, but Johnstown had two plays during the drive that would turn out to be game-changers. On the eighth play of the drive their top running back, Tim Odum (who had rushed for 41 yards in just over a quarter of action), was injured and never returned to the game.
“Odum’s a great player, that was a big loss for them”, said Janocko. Then on the next play Johnstown fumbled at the Clearfield 20 and Garrett Timko recovered for the Bisons.
Clearfield took over at their own 20 and netted nine yards on two rushes, but were stopped inches short on third-and-1. Feeling his team needed a spark, Coach Janocko ordered a QB sneak on fourth down at the Bison 29 yard line – and Curtis Frye picked up two yards. The Bisons drove to the Johnstown 34 before Frye threw an interception, but the field position had been changed – and that would prove crucial for the Bisons.
“We figured we had to try [the 4th down sneak] right there because we weren’t sure we’d get another chance so we went after it, and our offensive line did a great job”, said Janocko.
The Trojans took over after the interception at their own 11, but RB Javon Vukovich immediately fumbled, and Trey Jordan recovered at the Trojan 18. Clearfield took advantage of the turnover two plays later, scoring on a 19 yard pass from Frye to Robbie Myers to cut Johnstown’s lead to 20-14. The teams traded punts and went to the half with no further scoring.
Clearfield received the second-half kickoff and struck quickly, driving 76 yards in only six plays – the majority of the yardage gained on a 49-yard Beau Swales run. Frye’s 3-yard plunge capped off the drive and gave Clearfield a 21-20 lead.
Johnstown once again answered, however, driving 53 yards to the Clearfield 6 yard line. The Bison defense stiffened, however, allowing no yards on three plays from there and forced the Trojans to settle for a 24-yard field goal, but re-took the lead at 23-21.
Clearfield ran a 13-play, 55 yard drive on their next possession, but the drive stalled out on the Trojan 25 and the Bisons turned the ball over on downs. The long drive seemed to take some wind out of the Trojans’ sails, however, as their offense did not generate a first down on their next two possessions – both of which ended in punts. Johnstown’s last punt rolled dead at Clearfield’s 42 and set the stage for the dramatic finish.
Clearfield’s final possession was all about senior running back Beau Swales – he carried the ball ten times for 37 yards on the drive. The key play of the drive occurred at the Johnstown 22 yard line – facing 4th and 2, Swales gained just enough yardage to move the chains. From there, a 12-yard pass from Frye to Lezzer sandwiched between five more Swales runs finished the drive for Clearfield, capped by Swales’ 1-yard dive on third and goal with Clearfield out of timeouts.
When asked about the possibility of a field goal, Janocko said “No, we didn’t [consider that]…we had two plays called there, we were out of timeouts so we were going to run the same play twice if we didn’t get in”.
Johnstown got the ball back with 15 seconds left and completed a pass to the Bison 38, but their final pass fell incomplete and the Bisons erupted in celebration.
Swales ended the day with 29 carries for 156 yards, including an incredible 21 carries in the second half for 115 yards.
“He’s a special player”, said Janocko. “He was a little tentative in the first quarter, he fumbled and got down a little bit, but he’s the kind of back that the more you give him the ball, the better he gets…we talked about [getting Swales the ball] at halftime, we said we’ve gotta do what we’ve been doing all year and we were able to do that”.
Coach Janocko set the D-9 record for career wins with Saturday’s victory, giving him 205 and passing Coudersport’s Paul Simcoe. “I’ve had a lot of great people who have coached with me, it’s a credit to all of those people…I coach in a great town, and a great school district, I’m just proud to be a part of it”.
With the win, Clearfield advances to the first round of the PIAA playoffs against District 4 champ Shamokin. Kickoff is set for 7PM Friday at E.J. Mansell Stadium in Dubois.
See photos of the big win here: http://www.clearfieldfootball.org/111911game.html
SCORING
Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Johnstown 20 0 3 0 23
Clearfield 7 7 7 8 29
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
C – Lezzer 26 td run (kick good), 7:29
J – Simon 1 yd run (kick good), 3:23
J – Evans 38 yd pass from Simon (kick no good), 3:04
J – Watson 20 yd pass from Simon (kick good), 0:03
Second Quarter
C – Myers 19 yd pass from Frye (kick good), 2:41
Third Quarter
C – Frye 3 yd run (kick good), 9:16
J – 24 yd field goal, 5:22
Fourth Quarter
C – Swales 1 yd run (Swales 2-pt conversion)
STATISTICS
Passing
Clearfield: Frye 3-for-7, 30 yards, 1TD, 1 INT; Lezzer 1-for-1, 4 yards
Johnstown: Simon 11-for-17, 192 yards, 2TD, 1INT
Rushing
Clearfield: Swales 29-156 (TD); Frye 17-41 (TD); Lezzer 9-40 (TD);
Johnstown: Simon 11-40 (TD); Odum 9-41; Vukovich 9-27; Minter 3-29; Watson 2-11; Williams 2-3
Receiving
Clearfield: Lezzer 1-12; Myers 1-18 (TD); Frye 1-4; Swales 1-0
Johnstown: Watson 4-75 (TD); Andrews 3-62 (TD); Minter 3-40; Williams 1-16
TOTALS
Clearfield: Rushing 55-237; Passing 4-8-1 34; Total Yards 271
Johnstown: Rushing 34-151; Passing 11-17-1 192; Total Yards 343
Turnovers: Clearfield 2, Johnstown 3
Penalties: Clearfield 3-25; Johnstown 9-79