HYDE — Nothing comes easy for the Clearfield Bison this year. Achieving the 300th win for their beloved coach took an extra week, and the season-opener took two days to complete. And yet, making it to the final home game of the year, the Bison had a Mountain League title, and wanted to send their senior class out with one final victory in front of the home crowd.
The Central Mountain Wildcats came in ready for an upset, and for the first half, it certainly appeared they were capable of doing so. But, capitalizing on a pair of Wildcat turnovers, the Bison imposed their will when it mattered. At night’s end, Clearfield locked down a 21-6 victory against a tough team whose winless record didn’t show the talent the opposition had.
“They have athletes, and are a 5-A team. I knew it, but our kids really played a gutsy performance,” Bison head coach Tim Janocko said afterwards. “Our offense did what we had to do, and our defense had their backs against the wall more than once with field position. But we made plays when it mattered, and I’m really happy with how they performed. This was a good game for both teams.”
Janocko wasn’t mincing words because both squads would battle tough in the opening quarter, each with one long drive that ended with no points, and resulted in a turnover on downs. Neither offense was making headway even into the second quarter. Defense, it appeared, would have to make the play to get things going.
And did they ever.
Central Mountain faced a 3rd and 6 at their own 26, quarterback Brady Myers rolled to his right, searching downfield for his receiver. What he ultimately found was Will Domico making a big leap right in front of the ball, and snagging the interception. However, he didn’t stop running, because there was an open lane right in front of him, and he would push his way to the end zone for a 36-yard pick-six to give Clearfield the lead. Senior Evan Davis booted the extra point to give Clearfield the 7-0 advantage.
“Oh that was absolutely enormous,” Janocko said of the defensive touchdown. “We weren’t moving the ball, neither of us really, and that got us fired up.”
It did not, however, pay dividends for long because on the ensuing kickoff, the Wildcats had Connor Foltz blast his way to a 73-yard return that put the ball at the Bison 12, silencing the home crowd.
One play later, Rocco Serafini found a gap on the left side of the Bison defense to get into the end zone for the Wildcat touchdown. Unfortunately for the visitors, the point-after try was botched due to a high snap. This left the score 7-6, where it remained for the entire remaining six minutes of the second quarter.
With Clearfield set to receive the second-half kickoff, Central Mountain pulled a fast one and went with the onside kick. It rolled well past the required 10 yards, and the Wildcats landed on the ball to put the Bison in a bind right away.
Yet, despite the surprise, Clearfield’s defense stood tall and forced a three-and-out, but that three-and-out and ensuing punt was downed at the one, and Clearfield could not do anything on the ensuing drive.
After yet another three-and-out by the opposition, Clearfield finally got to make some headway with their ground game. Utilizing Carter Chamberlain and Brady Collins, a drive that started at the Bison 19 worked its way into Wildcat territory. On the tenth play of the drive, Collins found his line, and worked past the secondary to finally make his way into the end zone for the first offensive touchdown by Clearfield on the night. The extra point made it 14-6 with less than a minute left in the quarter, and Clearfield feeling they were in a better spot with a little more breathing room.
That score then gave the defense some life. Central Mountain was getting weary, and on the previous offensive drive saw their starting quarterback Brady Myers go out of the game with an injury that saw the stretcher come out, but ultimately see him walk to the sidelines.
Backup quarterback Thomas Sprague watched a 3rd-and-36 deep pass, after back-to-back penalties took the offense from near mid-field to the shadow of their own end zone, sail long but land in the waiting hands of Collins, the second interception on the night for the Clearfield defense.
Collins wasn’t done as he would get the handoff three plays later, work again to his left for a 29-yard score, capping off a 144-yard rushing performance, and two scores. The 21-6 score still left a lot of time for Central Mountain to make something happen with 9:03 remaining in the game.
Starting near mid-field, the Wildcats would not relent, converting three different third downs, and a pair of fourth down efforts to push the Bison backwards. Central Mountain worked their way into the red zone, six yards away from the end zone. However, a sack by Eric Myers and then an incomplete pass in the corner of the end zone saw Central Mountain turn the ball over on downs, which then allowed Clearfield to run out the final four minutes to secure the win.
Clearfield (7-2) finished its home slate on a winning note, as their eight seniors got one final victory. It was a special one as one of their offensive linemen, Connor McCracken, had to celebrate via cell phone as he was in Pittsburgh in the hospital with a bad infection that required surgery. Janocko noted he was getting better, and the team sent all their well wishes to him after the win.
Janocko noted that this senior class was very special because they truly had seen it all in their time on the field.
“This is why I’m so happy for those kids. They’ve played an undefeated season, won championships, and also endured the 2020 Covid season. They’ve seen it all, and I’m so glad they got this win,” he said.
Clearfield will close out its regular season next Friday on the road against Karns City (5-4).
SCORE BY QUARTER
Central Mountain 0 6 0 0 – 6
Clearfield 0 7 7 7 – 21
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
- No Scoring
2nd Quarter
- BISON: 36-yard interception return by Domico (Davis kick), 7:44
- WILDCATS: 12-yard run by Serafini (conversion failed), 7:19
3rd Quarter
- BISON: 26-yard run by Collins (Davis kick), 0:52
4th Quarter
- BISON: 29-yard run by Collins (Davis kick), 9:03
GAME STATISTICS
Central Mountain/Clearfield
- First Downs: 8/11
- Rush Yards: 82/214
- Pass Yards: 116/28
- Total Yards: 198/242
- Penalties-Yards: 8-64/6-60
- Turnovers: 2/0
- Time of Possession: 26:34/21:26
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
- Central Mountain: Myers-13 carries, 40 yards; Serafini-12 carries, 40 yards, TD; Foltz-3 carries, 0 yards; Sprague-2 carries, 2 yards.
- Clearfield: Collins-18 carries, 144 yards, 2 TD; Chamberlain-9 carries, 42 yards; Freeland-3 carries, 22 yards; Domico-3 carries, 3 yards (36-yard INT return TD); Team-2 carries, (-2) yards; Samsel-1 carry, 5 yards.
Passing
- Central Mountain: Myers-7 for 9, 84 yards, INT; Sprague-3 for 8, 32 yards, INT.
- Clearfield: Domico-2 for 3, 28 yards.
Receiving
- Central Mountain: Persun-3 catches, 66 yards; Grenninger-3 catches, 37 yards; Longworth-2 catches, 15 yards; Foltz-1 catch, 1 yard; Serafini-1 catch, (-2) yards.
- Clearfield: Freeland-1 catch, 25 yards; Collins-1 catch, 3 yards.
