BROCKWAY — A familiar pair of foes would make the trip to Brockway to decide who would be crowned champion in District IX for the Class 3A championship. On one sideline, adorned in their all-black attire, the Clearfield Bison, bringing in their unblemished record. The opposition, the Flying Dutchmen from St. Marys, clad in their white road attire with blue pants, ready to get payback from the title game a year ago in the same venue.
Although the Dutchmen looked strong early, keeping Clearfield on their heels and playing to their advantage, that all went away when the Bison put up scores on five consecutive possessions. The duo of Oliver Billotte and Karson Kline, a tight connection that has been hard to reel in all season, accounted for six of the team’s seven scores on the night. At the end of 48 minutes, the scoreboard saw a 49-27 final that went the way of the Bison, capturing yet another District IX championship.
“We made some adjustments defensively, and our kids responded. We also settled down offensively, and it showed,” Bison head coach Tim Janocko said afterwards. “The huge scores at the end of the half really got them on their heels, and then in the second half, we just took control.”
It wasn’t easy to start the night as the opening possession for the Dutchmen saw a lot of quick passes to keep the Bison defensive line from getting pressure on Christian Coudriet. It worked as St. Marys pushed all the way to just outside the goal line. But faced with a 3rd and goal, Coudriet opted to pass to his left, looking to the corner of the end zone. Despite his targeted receiver having a slight height advantage, Kline managed to disrupt the catch enough to where he instead snagged it in the end zone, and ran it out to give Clearfield an enormous boost on the sidelines.
The ensuing drive stalled for the Bison however, and St. Marys made them pay on the next possession, as Matthew Davis took a handoff from 12 yards out, cut into the end zone and put the Dutchmen on the board first. The extra point put St. Marys up 7-0, where it remained through the end of the quarter.
At the same time, the Bison were answering back with their own long drive, as the running of Mark McGonigal and Jose Alban put Clearfield within striking distance. The first play of the second quarter saw Billotte call his own number from seven yards out to put the Bison on the board, and Luke Sidorick’s right foot suddenly tied the game at 7-7.
It was just three minutes later that Coudriet’s arm would live up to the Flying Dutchmen name as he sailed a 15-yard pass over the Bison defenders into the waiting arms of Carter Chadsey, who pushed past the secondary to give St. Marys the lead back. Coudriet could not connect on the point after, and with 9:40 remaining in the half, St. Marys held a 13-7 advantage.
That would be the last time St. Marys had the lead, because suddenly the final nine minutes saw the Bison become a stampede.
McGonigal showed how strong of a runner he was as on the third play after the Dutchmen touchdown, he would juke, bulldoze and stiff-arm his way for a 35-yard gain that put the Bison in the red zone. Two plays later, he would find a gap on the left side, power into the end zone, flexing his satisfaction to tie the game. Sidorick booted the extra point, and Clearfield now held the 14-13 advantage.
The next drive ultimately deflated the Dutchmen, as following a three-and-out, the Billotte-to-Kline connection made the play of the year potentially for the Bison.
Faced with 1st and 10 at the St. Marys 43, Billotte took the shotgun snap and saw Kline down the right side get behind defenders. Deciding to gamble, he hurled the ball up, risking double coverage of the corner and safety. In what can only be thought of as just determination and grit, Kline leaped up and snagged the ball, with a defender’s hand in his face, and still came down with the ball in the black turf. The touchdown strike lit up the grandstands for Clearfield, and set the tone for how the remaining quarter would go.
“Kline had some absolutely amazing catches tonight, a couple that were contested,” Janocko said of his senior wideout. Kline finished the night with three scores and 116 yards receiving, leaving him at 979 on the season thus far.
All the seniors on the Bison squad had thrilling nights, with McGonigal rushing for 129 yards, putting him over the 1000 yard mark for the season, and a score, while Billotte had 193 yards passing, another 60 rushing, and accounted for six scores.
The Bison train kept moving on their next possession as Kline pulled down another touchdown toss, this one from 20 yards out, to push the lead to 28-13 with just over a minute remaining in the first half. However, it wasn’t the last score of the half. The Bison defense finally got pressure on Coudriet late in the second quarter, and on the ensuing drive forced an errant pass that landed in bounds, but the issue wasn’t whether Coudriet was out of the pocket. What the issue ended up being is his pass did not make it back to the line of scrimmage. The Bison defense pushed him so far backwards that the pass from the 17-yard line did not come close to the 34, the original line of scrimmage. The intentional grounding call resulted in a spot foul, plus five yards, and a loss of down. Coudriet and Davis then had to make up the ground, but the exchange in the run-pass option resulted in the ball on the turf, and Clearfield was right there to force the turnover.
Just two yards from the end zone, Billotte added in another rushing score, and Sidorick’s leg made it 35-13 heading into halftime, as Clearfield put up 35 points in 12 minutes, 28 being unanswered.
That momentum continued in the second half as the Billotte-to-Kline connection saw yet another thrilling catch with the defender right in the face of the receiver. The 22-yard score put Clearfield up 42-13, and appeared to be just a score away from making it a running clock.
However, in the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend,” because the Flying Dutchmen were not done making a game of it. The next drive saw Coudriet make one of his better passes on the night, finding Logan Mosier over the middle for a 47-yard gain that put St. Marys deep in opposing territory. Two plays later, he found Tony Lewis for the touchdown. The successful two-point conversion made it 42-21, so the game was not quite out of reach heading into the fourth quarter.
Clearfield managed to play a bit more on the conservative side on the ensuing drive, keeping the ball on the ground, and running down the clock. Billotte would cap off his strong night with a 1-yard dive, and the extra point made it 49-21.
St. Marys would get the final score with just over five minutes left in the game, a 69-yard strike from Coudriet to Mosier that saw the Bison miss an early tackle that sprang Mosier free to the end zone. The missed two-point conversion set the final as the Bison would run the clock out in order to celebrate another championship.
“This is an all-around great win for our team, and I’m extremely happy of where we are sitting right now,” Janocko said before handing out the championship medals to his team. But, he also knew the season was not done, but it takes a different look beginning now, as the post-season continues next week, and Janocko could see that at any point the year could come to an end.
“We’re playing one day at a time now, and we’re onto bigger and better things,” he said with a smile. Janocko’s career win total now sits at 299.
Clearfield (11-0) continue their post-season run next week when they make the trip to Bedford to face a team that has a very similar name, the Bedford Bisons. These two met a season ago in the opening round of the inter-district playoffs, with Bedford getting the better of Clearfield, 40-21, in the Bison Sports Complex. The game is tentatively slated for Friday night, however could be moved to Saturday afternoon. Official date and time will be announced in the upcoming week.
SCORE BY QUARTER
St. Mary’s 7 6 8 6 – 27
Clearfield 0 35 7 7 – 49
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
DUTCHMEN: 12-yard run by Davis (Chr. Coudriet kick), 2:51
2nd Quarter
BISON: 7-yard run by Billotte (Sidorick kick), 11:53
DUTCHMEN: 15-yard pass from Chr. Coudriet to Chadsey (kick failed), 9:40
BISON: 6-yard run by McGonigal (Sidorick kick), 7:51
BISON: 43-yard pass from Billotte to Kline (Sidorick kick), 3:27
BISON: 20-yard pass from Billotte to Kline (Sidorick kick), 1:10
BISON: 2-yard run by Billotte (Sidorick kick), 0:59
3rd Quarter
BISON: 22-yard pass from Billotte to Kline (Sidorick kick), 7:48
DUTCHMEN: 13-yard pass from Chr. Coudriet to Lewis (Chr. Coudriet pass to Cha. Coudriet), 0:13
4th Quarter
BISON: 1-yard run by Billotte (Sidorick kick), 5:50
DUTCHMEN: 69-yard pass from Chr. Coudriet to Mosier (Pass failed), 5:18
GAME STATISTICS
St. Mary’s/Clearfield
- First Downs: 12/22
- Rush Yards: 19/283
- Pass Yards: 288/193
- Total Yards: 307/476
- Penalties-Yards: 3-25/4-70
- Turnovers: 3/1
- Time of Possession: 19:00/29:00
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
St. Mary’s: Davis-7 carries, 46 yards, TD; Chr. Coudriet-7 carries, (-23) yards; Dornisch-3 carries, (-4) yards.
Clearfield: McGonigal-16 carries, 129 yards, TD; Billotte-12 carries, 60 yards, 3 TD; Chamberlain-9 carries, 44 yards; Alban-8 carries, 52 yards; Natoli-1 carry, (-1) yards; Team-1 carry, (-1) yards.
Passing
St. Mary’s: Chr. Coudriet-18 for 31, 288 yards, 3 TD, INT.
Clearfield: Billotte-12 for 14, 193 yards, 3 TD.
Receiving
St. Mary’s: Mosier-8 catches, 163 yards, TD; Chadsey-4 catches, 22 yards, TD; Lewis-3 catches, 43 yards, TD; Cha. Coudriet-2 catches, 48 yards; Davis-1 catch, 4 yards.
Clearfield: Kline-6 catches, 116 yards, 3 TD; Natoli-5 catches, 61 yards; Chamberlain-1 catch, 16 yards.