BROCKWAY – For the second time in three seasons, the Clearfield and Punxsutawney football teams will clash for a postseason championship.
The Bison beat the Chucks 20-14 in 2023 for the District 9 class 3A title and will face them Friday at Brockway’s Frank Varischetti Field for the District 8-9 class 4A Subregional crown.
Several of the offensive playmakers from that 2023 Chuck squad were just sophomores, who have grown into stars as seniors for once-beaten and top-seeded Punxsutawney.
The Chuck offense is led by quarterback Maddox Hetrick, who has completed 93 of his 145 pass attempts for 1,537 yards and 14 TDs, while tossing four picks. Hetrick actually had very similar stats (104-of-165, 14 TDs, 6 Int.) heading into the 2023 meeting with the Bison. Hetrick was 12-of-18 for 111 yards, two TDs and a pick in that game.
Hetrick’s main weapons in the passing attack are Logan Moore (50 receptions, 701 yards, 7 TD) and Beau Thomas (33-528-5). Moore had a catch for 13 yards in the 2023 meeting, but only caught 10 passes throughout the season. Thomas had over 1,000 all-purpose yards as a sophomore, rushing for 427 and six TDs, while grabbing a team-high 46 receptions for 611 yards and 7 touchdowns. Thomas scored a touchdown in the 2023 game.
“Defensively, we need to focus on doing our job,” Clearfield head coach Myles Caragein said. “We need to swarm the quarterback and not let him extend plays.”
One player who has seen his role expand greatly since 2023 is senior running back Jordan Rutan, who carried 154 times for 1,035 yards and 15 scores this season to pace the Punxsutawney ground game.
Punxsutawney (9-1) is averaging 39.5 points per game behind the balanced offensive attack. The Chucks have two wins (49-35 and 17-14) over District 6-9 class 5A finalist DuBois as well as victories over Class 3A champ Brockway (31-0) and Class 2A finalists Central Clarion (24-21) and Karns City (22-19). The Gremlins gave Punxsutawney its only loss (35-23) of the season in Week 9.
While the Chucks surrendered 35 points to Karns City in the loss and allowed 35 to DuBois all the way back in Week 2, they only gave up 88 (11 per game) in their other eight contests, while earning the shutout of Brockway as well as a blanking of St. Marys.
Clearfield (8-3) is coming off its own shutout win, taking down high-powered USO in last week’s semifinal by a 14-0 count.
Bison running back Colton Ryan, who has piled up over 1400 yards on the ground to go with 20 TDs, was the workhorse for Clearfield against USO, carrying the ball 30 times for 151 yards and both scores. Quarterback Xavier Curry added 101 yards on the ground on just seven carries as the Bison racked up nearly 300 yards on the ground, helping keep the USO offense on the sidelines. Curry only attempted eight passes, completing two for 29 yards. Curry has thrown for over 1,200 yards and 10 scores this season with much of the production flowing through receiver Cooper Broad (29-581-6).
Caragein says the Bison need to once again feature a strong rushing attack, while not completely relying on it to be successful against the Chucks.
“Offensively we need to control the line of scrimmage and establish a good run game and be unpredictable,” he said.
This will be the 92nd meeting between the programs. The Bison own a 46-42-3 advantage in the series.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
