HYDE — It was billed as the game that would pit the best in the Mountain League against one another. A cool night, perfect for football, saw the Tyrone Golden Eagles make the trip up I-99 and Rt. 322 to come into the Bison Sports Complex, looking to take their one-loss record against the one-loss Clearfield Bison. With it being military night, the student section donned their best camouflage attire, and the team followed suit as they put on the camouflage jerseys for what ultimately was a true battle.
This battle, though, was even throughout the entire game as both teams were showing strengths, not backing down. However, missed opportunities and miscues on the offense kept Clearfield from capitalizing. In the end, the Golden Eagles handed Clearfield its second loss of the season, 21-14.
“This was a great high school football game between two great teams tonight,” Bison head coach Tim Janocko said afterwards. “I’m happy with how we played, obviously I’m not happy that we lost, but we had kids playing out of position on occasion, yet other kids stepped up and played hard. We’re definitely going to be okay.”
Clearfield was forced into a three-and-out on the opening series of the game, and immediately after the Golden Eagles went to work. Despite earning a sideline warning due to the coaches arguing about what they felt was a missed late-hit call, Tyrone still kept working hard. They were taking advantage of a young Bison secondary, as quarterback Ashton Walk was managing to get a lot of opportunities passing the ball to work down into the red zone. But, the Bison front line managed to get pressure on occasion, however Walk made his first big play on a broken call as he was flushed to his right.
What Clearfield could not do was cover all the receivers as Kolten Miller managed to find an opening in the scramble, and Walk threw across his body to his wide open receiver, putting the first points on the board. The extra point made it 7-0, where it remained through the latter part of the first quarter.
The Bison managed to find their footing, despite an early fumble in the opening quarter. Quarterback Jacob Samsel, who was making the start for Will Domico as he was sidelined with an injury suffered last week, relied on what brought Clearfield so much success this season…the ground game.
Samsel would not pass the ball much on the night, completing only three passes for 43 yards, but that didn’t mean he didn’t manage the game. He put the ball in the hands of Carter Chamberlain and Brady Collins, and in the second quarter rode them all the way to inside the Tyrone 10. That is when the ground game set up the pass, as Samsel connected with Collins through the air for a six-yard touchdown pass-and-catch. Evan Davis booted the extra point, and the game was all knotted up at 7-7 with just over eight minutes till halftime.
Janocko was impressed with his quarterback stepping in for a big game, but at the same time admitted his team was not 100% both entering and after the game.
“Jake, he absolutely did a phenomenal job tonight,” he said. “Admittedly, we are a little banged up in a couple different places. We lost Aiden Graffius there in the second quarter, and now we’re down even more in the secondary. But, these young kids stepped up and made big plays when they needed to.
Clearfield did manage to force a punt on the next Tyrone possession, and it only took one play to fuel the fire in the camo-clad sideline.
Carter Freeland took a handoff from Samsel at the Bison 36, looked to his left, and suddenly he found a gap. With his legs at full speed, he ran 64 yards to the house to give Clearfield its first lead of the night. The extra point gave Clearfield the 14-7 lead heading into halftime. but the Golden Eagles were the one receiving the second-half kickoff. Knowing this, especially with a depleted secondary, Tyrone was eager to get back to the field.
They managed to take that eagerness and translate it to points as they took the opening possession of the second half the entire way down the field, with Walk calling his own number from just just outside the goal line to put the second touchdown on the board for the visitors. The extra point tied things up, and had Clearfield now trying to get back into the game with momentum clearly on the side of the opposition.
For a majority of the third quarter, both squads went toe-to-toe, with only a fumble from Clearfield being the biggest miscue. But, Tyrone finally managed to break through as Walk would use his arm, legs, and eyes to push into Clearfield territory.
That worked out as he would find Andrew Weaver on the left side of the field, as he snatched a 22-yard pass in the end zone despite having tight coverage. The extra point gave the visitors a seven-point lead entering the fourth quarter, however Clearfield was up to the task.
The offense would drive deep into the opposing territory, not just once, but twice. After a 10-play drive that made it to the Tyrone 17, on 4th-and-3, the call for a sweep to Collins was scouted very well, and pulled him down in the backfield, stopping the drive and turning the ball over.
“When you know you’re limited a bit throwing the ball down the field, that allowed them to pack the box in a bit more, and they did,” Janocko said. “We had chances.”
The final chance the Bison had came in the final four minutes, starting near mid-field, the offense rode Collins to just outside the Tyrone 10.
What happened at that point…a breakdown. First it was Collins being corralled after a gain of four, forcing second down. He then got stuffed on the next play, making it 3rd-and-6. Collins then got pulled down in the backfield, a loss of six, moving from the 11 to the 17, and giving Clearfield one last gasp to keep their hopes going. The two teams would trade timeouts, but then a false start by Clearfield put them back at the 22.
The only option the Bison had at that point was to pass, and Samsel’s attempt to air it out was broken up, sealing the game as the Golden Eagles knelt on the ball the final two plays to secure the win.
Even in the loss, Janocko was more optimistic than expected. His team competed with the other top team in the Mountain Athletic Conference, and kept things upbeat. His team performed in a difficult situation, and gave his team some confidence heading into the latter part of the season.
“I’m happy with how hard our kids fought, and we can still build on this. The season is not lost,” he said. “We can still win the MAC. We could end up in a three-way tie. They (Tyrone) still have to play Penns Valley yet, and we have to beat Bellefonte. That will give us a tie, at least, to win part of the MAC title. Because we beat Bald Eagle, then Bald Eagle beat Tyrone last week, and now Tyrone beat us, we could get a piece of that title. But, we have to beat Bellefonte for that to happen.
“And also, we could still get it outright if they (Tyrone) lose to Penns Valley. So, there’s still a lot to play for.”
Clearfield (5-2) will get that opportunity to face the Red Raiders next week, as it will be both the final MAC matchup for the Bison not only this season, but the final one overall as the Mountain League will become part of the Laurel Highlands next season. Kickoff is once again at the Bison Sports Complex starting at 7 p.m.
NOTE: During halftime, the Clearfield Area School District honored the 2022 PIAA State Softball champion Lady Bison, the first state championship of any kind for the district.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Tyrone 7 0 14 0 – 21
Clearfield 0 14 0 0 – 14
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
- GOLDEN EAGLES: 9-yard pass from A. Walk to Miller (Romani kick), 5:31
2nd Quarter
- BISON: 6-yard pass from Samsel to Collins (Davis kick), 8:10
- BISON: 64-yard run by Freeland (Davis kick), 6:14
3rd Quarter
- GOLDEN EAGLES: 3-yard run by A. Walk (Romani kick), 10:27
- GOLDEN EAGLES: 22-yard pass from A. Walk to Weaver (Romani kick), 1:54
4th Quarter
- No scoring
GAME STATISTICS
Tyrone/Clearfield
- First Downs: 9/7
- Rush Yards: 57/203
- Pass Yards: 207/43
- Total Yards: 264/246
- Penalties-Yards: 4-30/3-30
- Turnovers: 0/2
- Time of Possession: 23:50/24:10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
- Tyrone: A. Walk-11 carries, 43 yards, TD; Miller-8 carries, 18 yards; Hoover-3 carries, (-2) yards; Team-2 carries, (-4) yards; Ronan-1 carry, 2 yards.
- Clearfield: Collins-19 carries, 65 yards; Chamberlain-13 carries, 70 yards; Samsel-4 carries, 7 yards; Freeland-1 carry, 64 yards, TD; Team-2 carries, (-3) yards.
Passing
- Tyrone: A. Walk-18 for 30, 207 yards, 2 TD.
- Clearfield: Samsel-3 for 7, 43 yards, TD; Collins-0 for 1.
Receiving
- Tyrone: Miller-5 catches, 48 yards, TD; Gampe-4 catches, 45 yards; Baldauf-2 catches, 37 yards; Weaver-2 catches, 26 yards, TD; L. Walk-2 catches, 14 yards; Veres-1 catch, 25 yards; Coleman-1 catch, 7 yards; Ronan-1 catch, (-5) yards.
- Clearfield: Freeland-2 catches, 40 yards; Collins-1 catch, 3 yards.