HYDE-At the 4:27 mark in the third quarter, what seemed like a go-ahead score also appeared to be a dagger. The Clearfield Bison gave up their third long score of the night. Facing a two-possession gap, it felt like another night where the fight on every down was not paying off. Senior night was looking a lot like other losses on the year.
There was no quit, nor desire to quit, and the Bison showed why their relentless attitude all season was paying dividends. Clearfield would rally back not once, but twice, in the second half. When all hope seemed bleak, a truly gutsy play call, and the legs of a reliable running back, let the Bison pull off an improbable upset against the visiting Penn Cambria Panthers, 34-28.
“These seniors definitely should never forget this one, nor should this team,” said head coach Myles Caragein after the victory. “Being down two scores, to then being down eight, driving down; I’m just so proud of them.”
The Panthers struck first, in big fashion, after making their way just past midfield. A third down completion from quarterback Brady Jones to Corbin Vinglish went the remaining 48 yards when coverage collapsed, and gave the visiting squad the opening score. But, the Bison were not going to bend easily, and answered right back in methodical fashion, chipping away at the yards and clock. Senior Cooper Broad capped the drive off with a sweeping run from six yards out to tie the game up, as fellow senior Cash Diehl booted the point after.
Clearfield’s run of giving up long plays bit them in the second quarter, as Vinglish again found a crease in the defense, rushing up the gut for a 32-yard scamper to the end zone. The 14-7 gap would hold heading into halftime.
Vinglish would lead the Panthers in rushing with 100 yards on the ground, plus his 48-yard receiving score.
Clearfield’s misfortune did not stop when teams came back on the field for the third quarter, as Xavier Curry hurled his first pass of the second half into the awaiting arms of Grant Gides, his second interception of the game. At that point, the Bison defense stood up and made plays, including a pair of sacks, on the ensuing drive, resulting in no points.
It wasn’t until the 4:27 mark when the Bison let another score slip through, as Vinglish again found a crease for a 36-yard run to increase the lead to 21-7.
Still, the Bison would not quit, and the fans began to feel it, as the chants of “Bend, don’t break” began roaring in the stands of the Bison Sports Complex. That encouragement was felt, as Curry took the first snap on the next possession at his own 41, and charged his way up the Bison sideline and into the red zone. Two plays later, Colton Ryan got his energy going on a four-yard dive to pull the Bison within seven points.
A defensive stand on the next drive gave Clearfield another shot, and this time, it was simply a matter of giving Ryan the ball, and letting him use his legs. Ripping off four consecutive runs of over 10 yards, what started at the Clearfield 29 was suddenly at the Penn Cambria 15. Ryan concluded the drive with another big run of 11 yards to pull the Bison within one. The extra point by Diehl then went off course, sailing left, and leaving the gap a 21-20 with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Offensively, both teams were evenly matched, as Clearfield out-gained the Panthers by less than eight yards on the night. But, the defense was giving up the burst plays on many occasions, and none appeared to be more hurting than when Evan Latterner took his own snap to the left, and rumbled all the way down the Bison sideline. With only one timeout for Clearfield, and the lead in hand for the Panthers, Latterner rumbled to the end zone. The extra point made it 28-20, but with 1:03 remaining, it still gave Clearfield time on the clock to work with.
Starting at their own 30, two passes to Broad fell right off his hands. Third and 10 saw a connection to Diehl for 15 yards, and an immediate spike to stop the clock with just over 30 seconds remaining.
Curry, despite giving up two interceptions, was finding his receivers when it mattered. Diehl then caught the next pass for seven yards, and Broad connected on the next for four yards, stopping the clock long enough to move the chains. Elijah Glunt then pulled in back-to-back receptions for 30 yards in total, giving Clearfield a first down inside the Penn Cambria 15. Time was running short, and Curry ran out of time on the next snap.
He didn’t hesitate, as he broke through the center of the field and got the ball just outside the goal line. A final Clearfield timeout halted the game with just under 20 seconds left, making the next down even more critical.
One yard from the end zone, it was nearly certain who was getting the ball. Ryan took the handoff, and hurried into the end zone without any issue, and with 11 seconds left, the Bison were only down by two, needing to make a conversion to have any shot at overtime. As they lined up for the try, Penn Cambria called timeout to get their defense settled down. It also gave Clearfield a chance to decide the right call, in the right moment, to make the right decision.
Teams came back out, and with the ball sitting on the three-yard line, and the snap went to Curry, who then handed to Broad on the sweep. He ran left, then tossed the ball on the reverse back to Landyn Rankin. Every Panther on the line keyed in on him, but they had no idea what was coming.
Rankin then looked up and found an open Curry in the flat, and the reception and ensuing reach to the goal line brought back memories of when the Philadelphia Eagles fooled everyone, including the New England Patriots, in Minnesota as they won their first Super Bowl. The “Philly Special” found it’s way to Clearfield, and all of a sudden, it was a tie ball game, and more downs were coming as the end of regulation saw things knotted up at 28-all.
“We’ve practiced that all the time, and the kids were feeling it,” Caragein said of the gutsy two-point call. “The kids were fired up, and it was just a gut instinct and the kids wanted to do it.”
As the teams prepared for overtime, the cheerleaders began moving their way down to the sidelines. The students, and some of the parents made their way to the fence to join in, trying to make a difference in the outcome.
Clearfield won the toss, and decided to go on defense. In a surprise, Penn Cambria chose to go towards the end zone where the field house was located, as if it was encouraging the noise.
First down for the Panthers went to Jones, who only managed three yards. Latterner got stuffed on second down for a single yard, and an incomplete pass forced a 4th-and-Goal at the six. Jones then brought the landing pad out, ready to make an attempt at the 23-yard field goal from the left hash. The snap was strong, but the Bison defense rumbled like a herd to try and block the kick. Ultimately, Jones saw the ball sail low, and with no points, Clearfield was in the seat to pull off the ultimate finale.
To do so, they decided to look at what got them back in the game: the player wearing number zero.
First down, Ryan found a gap to the right for a gain of six. On 2nd-and-Goal, he pushed ahead to the middle for five yards. Third down…time out from Penn Cambria.
The home crowd was fired up as the coaches made their needed calls. As the teams came back onto the field, the fans on the Bison side went quiet, while the Panthers were still being loud.
One handoff to number zero, with a mass of offensive linemen trying to give him the gap and blocks in front, and Ryan went for it. The push up the middle was tight, but his reach was immediate. After being held to only 22 yards in the opening half, the senior running back muscled his way for another 126 yards in the final 24 minutes, scoring three touchdowns in regulation. He added a two-point pass to tie the game, but no score mattered more to the senior running back than when he stretched across the goal line for the game-winning touchdown to stun the Panthers in upset fashion.
“We wanted to go with our playmakers and open it up a bit,” Caragein said of the second-half adjustments. “We were trying to force some things early, but I just fell back to what has been working for us, and that’s the offensive line doing their job up front.”
Clearfield’s regular season record came in at 7-3, with only two games being at least a two-possession difference. Seven games came in at a touchdown or less, with Clearfield winning four of those games, including two in overtime. Caragein noted how this year’s schedule was a true no-easy week for his team, stating afterwards, “These guys are battle-tested, and we’re going to enjoy this win. But, we are going to need this heading into playoffs.”
The Bison will hear their opponent for the District 8/9 semi-final next week. The game will be played either Halloween night on Friday, or will be on Saturday. Details will be announced as early as Saturday evening.
*UPDATE*
The Bison will be the No. 3 seed in the District 8/9 Subregional bracket.
They will face No. 2 seed University Prep on Halloween night, October 31, at 7 p.m. The game will be played at the Brookville Area High School.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Penn Cambria 7 7 7 7 0 – 28
Clearfield 7 0 7 14 6 – 34
BOX SCORE
1st Quarter
- PANTHERS: Jones 48-yard pass to Vinglish (Jones kick), 9:30
- BISON: Broad 6-yard run (Diehl kick)
2nd Quarter
- PANTHERS: Vinglish 32-yard run (Jones kick), 6:04
3rd Quarter
- PANTHERS: Vinglish 36-yard run (Jones kick), 4:27
- BISON: Ryan 4-yard run (Diehl kick)
4th Quarter
- BISON: Ryan 11-yard run (kick failed), 6:22
- PANTHERS: Latterner 50-yard run (Jones kick), 1:03
- BISON: Ryan 1-yard run (Rankin pass to Curry), 0:11
Overtime
- BISON: Ryan 1-yard run
GAME STATISTICS
Penn Cambria/Clearfield
- First Downs: 10/20
- Rush Yards: 217/250
- Pass Yards: 131/106
- Penalties-Yards: 7-53/5-55
- Total Yards: 348/356
- Turnovers: 1/2
- Time of Possession: 21:50/26:10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
- Penn Cambria: Vinglish-16 carries, 100 yards, 2 TD; Jones-15 carries, 46 yards; Latterner-3 carries, 65 yards, TD; Lilly-3 carries, 10 yards; Team-1 carry, (-4) yards.
- Clearfield: Ryan-26 carries, 148 yards, 4 TD; Curry-14 carries, 115 yards; Broad-2 carries, 9 yards, TD; Team-1 carry, (-2) yards.
Passing
- Penn Cambria: Jones-9 for 15, 127 yards, TD; Latterner-1 for 3, 4 yards, INT.
- Clearfield: Curry-13 for 23, 106 yards, 2 INT.
Receiving
- Penn Cambria: Lilly-4 catches, 5 yards; Nadolsky-3 catches, 51 yards; Gides-2 catches, 27 yards; Vinglish-1 catch, 48 yards, TD.
- Clearfield: Broad-4 catches, 24 yards; Ryan-4 catches, 20 yards; Glunt-3 catches, 40 yards; Diehl-2 catches, 22 yards.
Clearfield Bison Scoreboard:
- 8/22 BELLWOOD-ANTIS 21 – 28, 0 – 1
- 8/29 at Bedford 21 – 14, 1 – 1
- 9/5 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 27 – 15, 2 – 1
- 9/12 at Bellefonte 21 – 18 OT, 3 – 1
- 9/19 HUNTINGDON 27 – 28, 3 – 2
- 9/26 PENNS VALLEY 46 – 14, 4 – 2
- 10/3 at Bald Eagle Area 12 – 6, 5 – 2
- 10/10 at Somerset 43 – 14, 6 – 2
- 10/17 at Bishop Guilfoyle 13 – 20, 6 – 3
- 10/24 PENN CAMBRIA 34 – 28 OT, 7 – 3
- 10/31 vs. University Prep, in Brookville
District 8/9 4A Sub-Regional
