PHILIPSBURG — In an era of football where playing in space, high-powered passing schemes, and being able to make plays down field, the one constant that remains through it all has been that the battle in the trenches is what wins games. The front line, offense and defense, makes the difference, and the Clearfield Bison have known that for a long time. That front line got another challenge on Friday night, as the wind picked up in warm-ups and did not let up for 48 minutes as they made the short trip up Route 322 to Mountaineer Stadium to take on Philipsburg-Osceola.
That front line, although not immune to miscues and missed assignments, made the difference as the blocking scheme allowed Clearfield to rush for five touchdowns, triumphing over the Mounties, 33-7.
“That’s where it starts, and we had that ‘Bend, Don’t Break” mentality,” Bison head coach Myles Caragein said afterwards. “We do have to clean some things up, but those guys really do play hard. We just have to work on a few things to really take that next step.”
What Clearfield did not anticipate right away was the quick ability of P-O to find some of those spots where the line had issues, namely on defense. The Mounties started the game with the ball and were chipping away at the Bison defense, pushing from their own 25 to mid field, then a deep pass from Archer Baughman to Sam McDonald set them up in the red zone. Three plays later, the Mounties were inside the 10, looking for their first score. Instead, the defense bent, but broke things up as a quick rush inside the five by Parker Lamb saw the ball get stripped from his arm, and the Bison defense swarmed to force a turnover deep in their own territory.
One play after the fumble, Carter Freeland took the wildcat snap, and his offensive line showed that despite their opening-drive struggles on defense, they still could help make lanes for their running back. Freeland ripped off a 79-yard run, the longest of either team in the game, to put Clearfield in Mounty territory. Four plays later, Brady Collins capped the drive with a four-yard scamper to add to his season stats. A missed extra point left it 6-0, but it would not stay that way long.
P-O would have another turnover on their second drive as Baughman saw his pass towards the sideline get picked away by Xavier Curry.
Immediately after, Collins ripped off a 33-yard rumble for his second touchdown in just over a minute. The extra point made it 13-0, where it remained after one quarter of play.
Freeland added in his own score late in the second quarter, a seven-yard run, to put Clearfield up 20-0 heading into halftime.
“It helps to have a couple stud backs like that to make up for some of our offensive line miscues. They are tough guys and it showed,” Caragein said.
Clearfield’s offense put up nearly 400 yards rushing, as Curry only threw the ball seven times all night, completing five passes, as the wind would not let up and even picked up as the third quarter began.
Clearfield would stick to the ground game on their opening drive in the third quarter, and kept taking it bit by bit at the Mountie defense. It worked as Collins capped it off with his third score of the game, making it 26-0 as the extra point sailed wide left.
Still, the Mounties would not quit, and they wanted a chance to show what they could do on the ground. Despite their main running back, Colton Chapman, leaving the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury, P-O was methodically eating away at Clearfield’s defense. They took over at their own 40 with 8:43 remaining in the third quarter, and used a 17-play drive to get down just outside the goal line. Clearfield stopped the surge twice, but in the end it was Jayden Jones that breached the goal line for the Mountie touchdown. The 26-7 lead held through the remainder of the third.
“P-O has some athletes, and they made us work for things tonight,” Caragein said. “The opening drive they got deep into our end of the field, our team made a play, and then they did wear us down. But they are well-coached, and have a lot still to work towards.”
Clearfield answered right back as Collins took the bulk of the final scoring drive, finishing it off with a 53-yard rip up the left sideline into the end zone for his fourth score. The extra point set the final, as Clearfield stopped P-O on fourth down on the ensuing possession. The Bison offense then ran out the clock, allowing some of the underclassmen to get some playing time.
Sitting at 3-0, Clearfield returns home next week for a big early-season showdown with Bellefonte (2-0), who will face Bishop Guilfoyle on Saturday. Caragein was already looking ahead knowing how hard the game was a year ago between the two.
“They are going to come in ready to grind, especially on a short week. So we have to be ready,” he said. “We will enjoy this win for a day, but we are back to work at the beginning of the week. We have things we need to clean up, offensively and defensively, but we keep getting better.”
Kickoff at the Bison Sports Complex between the Red Raiders and Bison is at 7 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Clearfield 13 7 6 7 – 33
Philipsburg-Osceola 0 0 7 0 – 7
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
- BISON: 4-yard run by Collins (Kick Failed), 4:44
- BISON: 33-yard run by Collins (Frushour kick), 3:34
2nd Quarter
- BISON: 7-yard run by Freeland (Frushour kick), 5:45
3rd Quarter
- BISON: 7-yard run by Collins (Kick Failed), 8:43
- MOUNTIES: 1-yard run by Jones (Long kick), 1:16
4th Quarter
- BISON: 53-yard run by Collins (Frushour kick), 9:53
GAME STATISTICS
Clearfield/P-O
- First Downs: 17/14
- Rush Yards: 376/101
- Pass Yards: 60/99
- Total Yards: 436/200
- Penalties-Yards: 5-22/2-20
- Turnovers: 0/2
- Time of Possession: 21:20/26:40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
- Clearfield: Collins-14 carries, 215 yards, 4 TD; Freeland-9 carries, 112 yards, TD; Chamberlain-6 carries, 25 yards; Ryan-6 carries, 22 yards; Owens-1 carry, 4 yards; Curry-1 carry, 1 yard.
- P-O: Jones-11 carries, 25 yards, TD; Lamb-7 carries, 14 yards; Chapman-6 carries, 21 yards (left game in 1st quarter-ankle); Baughman-6 carries, 7 yards; McDonald-4 carries, 32 yards; Koptchak-3 carries, 2 yards.
Passing
- Clearfield: Curry-5 for 7, 60 yards; Team-0 for 1.
- P-O: Baughman-10-for-18, 101 yards, INT.
Receiving
- Clearfield: Glunt-3 catches, 43 yards; Broad-1 catch, 9 yards; Ryan-1 catch, 8 yards.
- P-O: McDonald-3 catches, 57 yards; Chapman-3 catches, 13 yards; Peterson-2 catches, 17 yards; Lamb-1 catch, 8 yards; Jones-1 catch, 4 yards.