Central Clarion Wins Third Straight District AA Title
Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Phil Myers | November 2, 2024
For a half at Brookville’s new turfed field, it looked like Karns City might pull off one of the biggest upsets in PA playoff football history as they were tied with the #2 ranked AA team in the state going into the intermission at halftime. Central Clarion had mercy ruled everyone they had played this year including District 7 Butler who is a 6A school, and also including Karns City who they defeated 65-0 earlier in the year. But the CC Wildcats kicked it up a couple notches in the third quarter and eventually coasted to a 37-20 triumph to notch their third straight D9 crown at the 2A classification.
Led by Jase Ferguson and Mason Burford, the Central Clarion offense scored 35 of their 37 points in just a span of 14:35. The defense added a safety to the total in the 3rd quarter, so actually all their points came in that fourteen and a half minute span. Clarion scored their first touchdown and points of the game with only 21.8 seconds left before halftime. The last touchdown the Wildcats scored was at the 9:47 mark of the 4th quarter. Ferguson accounted for all five of the touchdowns, while Burford hauled in three touchdown passes. Both had interceptions on defense to complete a busy night.
Jase Ferguson (left) and Mason Burford (right)
The game was scoreless until well into the second quarter as both teams’ defenses were pretty much shutting the opposition’s offenses down. Karns City’s first drive stalled out at the Central Clarion 42. A good kickoff return, and a first down got them there but Clarion’s defense forced a punt. The next two Gremlin drives went nowhere.
Meanwhile, Central Clarion’s first three possessions ended in Karns City territory, fizzling out at the Gremlin 23, 39, and 37 in succession. The opening drive ended on an incomplete fourth down pass. The next two times Wildcat Coach Dave Eggleton decided to punt and pin Karns City deep. The second Central Clarion punt put the ball at the Gremlin 16 with 9:10 on the clock until halftime.
From there, Karns City went on a determined march downfield helped along by a 27-yard double reverse run by Riley Hamilton and then some up the middle pounding by Hunter Scherer. The big guy carried the ball 7 times out of the last 10 plays, and got the honors of scoring the game’s first touchdown on a 3-yard dive. Braden Slater’s point after made it 7-0 Karns City with 2:27 remaining in the half. The drive lasted 15 plays and took 6 minutes and 43 seconds off the clock.
“We knew we needed to open it up and Jase made a couple big completions downfield,” stated Eggleton. Ferguson took control completing four passes for 69 yards including a 13-yard TD toss to Burford. The Wildcat quarterback also ran for 10 yards during that possession to account for all the yardage on the 79-yard, 9-play drive that ended with in a score 21.8 seconds left. “We knew we weren’t playing our best football. We knew they were going to come out and give 110%. They played great,” said Ferguson.
The second half, and the third quarter in particular, was a different story. Central Clarion’s offense really opened up. “We just had to play like it was a new game,” said Ferguson, “We came out in the second half, we set the tone, and we played amazing that second half. I’m very proud of our guys.” On the first play after the kickoff, Ferguson hit Burford in stride for a 63-yard touchdown. Then the CC defense stepped up.
Starting from their 22, the Gremlin offense steadily moved backwards due to penalties and the Wildcat defense. Clarion stuffed a run on first down for a 4-yard loss. Then a holding penalty pushed the ball back to the 9-yard line. A 3-yard loss and another penalty moved the football back to the 3-yard line. On third and very long, Cole Johnston rolled to his left in the end zone, but Brant Parker tackled him in there to tally a safety for the Wildcats. Now the score was 16-7 in favor of the Central Clarion eleven.
CC then embarked on a short touchdown drive that began at the Karns City 44. However, it didn’t start out too good as Ferguson was sacked and then the Wildcats received a 15-yard penalty. But a short run, an 18-yard pass, and a pair of penalties on the defense gave Central Clarion a first down. Three consecutive runs by Ferguson put the ball in the end zone and just like that Central Clarion upped their lead to 23-7.
Karns City needed a spark to get them going again and Cole Johnston gave the Gremlins that spark. He galloped 87 yards down the middle of the field to pull Karns City back within striking distance. The two-point conversion attempt failed when a pass went incomplete, and KC trailed 23-13 with just under six minutes still remaining in the third stanza.
But Central Clarion was now running in full gear and were not to be slowed down. The Wildcats scored on their next two possessions one in the third quarter and the other in the fourth to go out to an insurmountable lead of 37-13. Ferguson scored on another run to cap a short 80-yard drive, and then he hooked up with Burford for their third TD of the night when he connected with his favorite wide receiver of the night for a 37-yard score. Ferguson ended the night with 272 passing yards. Burford caught 5 passes for 164 yards.
Karns City tallied a touchdown later in the fourth quarter when Johnston hit Scherer with a pass that was fumbled into the end zone and recovered by Gremlin Shane Peters. That made the score 37-20. The Central Clarion Wildcats fumbled on their next possession, but got the ball right back on a Ferguson interception. This time they ran one play and took a knee to run out the clock.
“Give them a lot of credit. They came out and played physical. They got in our face and played man to man. The first half we weren’t winning the one on ones. The second half we were and that was the difference,” said Coach Eggleton.
Central Clarion is now 11-0 and will have to wait until the 15th or 16th to play their next game which will be against the D10 champ probably at a D10 site. Karns City finishes their season 7-3 with two of those losses coming at the hands of Central Clarion.
Score by Quarters:
Karns City – 0 7 6 7 – 20
Central Clarion – 0 7 23 7 – 37
Scoring Summary:
First Quarter:
No Scoring
Second Quarter:
KC – Hunter Scherer 2-yard run, (Braden Slater PAT), 2:27
CC – Mason Burford 13-yard pass from Jase Ferguson (Thomas Uckert PAT), 0:22
Third Quarter:
CC – Burford 63-yard pass from Ferguson, (Uckert PAT), 11:47
CC – Safety Cole Johnston (KC) tackled in end zone by Brant Parker (CC), 9:48
CC – Ferguson 12-yard run, (Uckert PAT), 6:36
KC – Johnston 87-yard run, (2-pt pass attempt failed), 5:39
CC – Ferguson 6-yard run, (Uckert PAT), 2:03
Fourth Quarter:
CC – Burford 37-yard pass from Ferguson, (Uckert PAT), 9:47
KC – Shane Peters recovered fumble in end zone, (Slater PAT), 3:35
Individual Stats:
Rushing: KC – Cole Johnston 13-106, Hunter Scherer 16-53, Riley Hamilton 1-27, Owen Heginbotham 6-18, Braden Slater 5-0. Totals: 41-204. CC – Jase Ferguson 18-55, Noah Harrison 7-31, Ethan Rex 2-20, Mason Burford 1-5. Totals: 28-111.
Receiving: KC – Hunter Scherer 2-23, Braden Slater 1-13, Owen Heginbotham 1-9, Shane Peters 1-9. Totals: 5-54. CC – Mason Burford 5-164, Jesse Siwiecki 3-83, Ethan Rex 2-19, Braylon Beckwith 2-6. Totals: 12-272.
Passing: CC – Cole Johnston 4-16-2, 54 yards. CC – Jase Ferguson 12-21-0, 272 yards, 3 TDs.
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