Clearfield Wins Second Straight District 9 AAA Title @Bison_Football @coachjanocko @SmDutchNation @ChrisDworek
Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News
Phil Myers | November 6, 2021
On a cold, frosty night at Frank Varischetti Field in Brockway the Clearfield Bison successfully defended their District 9 AAA crown by defeating the St. Marys Flying Dutchmen by a score of 49-27. “It’s very satisfying to be where we’re at,” said Bison head coach Tim Janocko, reflecting his emotion immediately after the game. It was Janocko’s 299th career victory and his team upped their record to 11-0 for the year.
Oliver Billotte and Karson Kline had huge games for the Bison. Billotte threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more. Kline caught six passes for 117 yards and three scores, plus he had an interception.
The game did not start out well for the Bison, but it did start out well for St. Marys. The Flying Dutchmen seemed to move the ball with ease the first three times they had the ball. They covered 181 yards, scored twice, and had a ball picked off in the end zone by Kline on the other occasion.
Matthew Davis scored from 12 yards out to give St. Marys the early lead at 7-0. That would be the only scoring in the first quarter. After Clearfield responded on the first play of the second quarter with Billotte’s 6-yard touchdown to tie the game, Christian Coudriet wrestled the lead back at 13-7 by hitting Carter Chadsey on a 17-yard scoring strike.
Then Clearfield put the hammer down and scored 28 unanswered points to round out quarter number two. After the Bison took the lead 14-13 on a Mark McGonigal 6-yard run, the coaches made some adjustments defensively and forced back to back Flying Dutch three and outs. Offensively, Clearfield was just warming up. “Our kids responded to the adjustments we made defensively and offensively we kind of settled down,” stated Janocko.
With 3:27 left before intermission, Billotte found Kline in the endzone to complete a 43-yard touchdown pass. It was a beautifully thrown ball and Kline, who was being double-teamed, willed himself to out leap the defenders and come down with the ball. Just over two minutes later Billotte hit Kline again for a 20-yard score. Then St. Marys fumbled at their own two and Clearfield’s Hayden Kovalick recovered. Billotte powered in on the next play to give the Bison 35 second quarter points and three scores in two and a half minutes to take an improbable 35-13 lead into the intermission. “That fumble there at the end of the half put them on their heels a little bit,” said Janocko.
Clearfield put the game out of reach when they scored on the opening drive of the second half. It was another pretty pass by Billotte with Kline making a very nice grab. “Karson made some huge plays and O.B. threw some great balls. They’re a great tandem.
Clearfield’s Jose Alban recovered a fumble on St. Marys’ next possession and the Bison were in business again. As the Bison were driving to possibly go up by 35 and invoke the mercy rule, they fumbled and turned the ball back over to the Flying Dutch. That seemed to give the Flying Dutch a little spark.
Coudriet connected with Tony Lewis to score a 13-yard touchdown with 12 ticks left in the third quarter. St. Marys converted the two-point attempt and trailed 42-21. The Janocko-led squad answered with 12-play 62-yard drive that consumed over six minutes. Billotte’s quarterback sneak from a yard away gave Clearfoeld the 49-21 lead.
St. Marys rounded out the scoring for the game when Coudriet’s pass over the middle to Logan Mosier went for a 69-yard touchdown. Clearfield ran out the clock from there to win 49-27.
St. Marys head coach, Chris Dworek said, “We’ve had the stronger offensive and defensive lines all year, but their O-line and D-line just took over. That was the most Christian had to scramble this year.” Coudriet still had a nice game going 19 of 30 passing for 306 yards and 3 TDs. Mosier caught 8 passes for 163 yards. For the game St. Marys gained 326 yards as they could only muster 20 net rushing yards on 17 carries. The Flying Dutchmen finish the season with an 8-3 mark.
Clearfield, who moves on to play the Bedford Bisons next week in a rematch won by Bedford last year, gained 487 yards with 283 of that coming on the ground. Mark McGonigal had 129 yards on 17 carries. Billotte threw for 204 yards by completing 12 of 14 passes.
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