Punxsutawney Dethrones Clearfield and Earns First District Title Since 2009

Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

Phil Myers | November 8, 2025

The Punxsutawney Chucks will move on in the PIAA Class 4A playoffs as they soundly defeated the Clearfield Bison 28-8 at Frank Varischetti Field in Brockway, taking the District 9 crown in the process.  The Chucks, now 10-1 on the year, appeared to be a team on a mission from the opening kickoff.  The Punxsy defense came up big time after time and put the clampers on the deadly Bison running game.  They held Clearfield’s star RB Colton Ryan to 33 yards on 19 carries.  Meanwhile, Maddox Hetrick and Beau Thomas did most of the damage on offense for the red and white clad Chucks.

Punxsy’s Maddox Hetrick is on the left and Beau Thomas on the right.

“They’ve worked their tails off the last few weeks,” said Punxsy’s head coach Brandon Snyder, “The senior class has put their nose to the grindstone and done everything possible to get them here.”

Punxsutawney made a statement right off the bat.  Logan Moore returned the kickoff to the Bison 48.  Then six plays later Hetrick found Thomas in the end zone for the 8-yard touchdown toss.  They would not be done.  Owen Roken’s first of four PATs made the score 7-0 Punxsy at the 9:38 mark of the first quarter.

After exchanging punts, Moore had a nice punt return late in the first quarter to set up his team at the Clearfield 38.  Five plays after that it was Hetrick to Thomas for touchdown number two at 11:15 of the second quarter.  They were not done yet.

The key part of the game was about to commence and it lasted for the rest of the half.  Clearfield embarked on a long five minute drive that took them deep into Chuck territory.  Getting a pass interference penalty, two plays later a 21-yard gain by quarterback Xavier Curry, and two plays after that a 40-yard pass from Curry to Cooper Broad, Clearfield found themselves at the Punxsy four-yard line.  

Clearfield’s Xavier Curry #1 in white sees a bit of running room around the end.

Three straight runs netted two yards setting up a fourth down play from the Chuck two.  But on the third down play, Curry hurt his arm and never returned.  The fourth down play failed miserably as the Punxsy Chuck ‘D’ swarmed into the backfield and dumped the ball carrier for a three-yard loss.

Colton Ryan gave the Bison new life when he intercepted Zaden Gould’s pass on Punxsy’s first play, giving the white and black clad Bison the ball at the Chuck thirteen.  Again, the Punxsy defense rose to the occasion and held their ground.  The substitute quarterback, OBrian Owens, lost four yards on the first play.  He was tackled for no gain on the second play.  Then he threw two incomplete passes on the last two downs.  

Coach Snyder found it hard to put into words in describing how his defense played, especially in those two consecutive Clearfield possessions in the Chuck red zone.  “We want to take away their best player.  We preached all week, take away zero (Colton Ryan) and make him earn everything.  We definitely did.  Our two inside linebackers, Beau Thomas and Landan Temchulla played a fantastic game.  Actually, we played 14 to 15 guys on defense, and all of them, all 15 guys played fantastic.”

Punxsy’s defense (in red) makes a huge stand in the second quarter to keep Clearfield off the board.

After another exchange of punts, Punxsy had the ball at its own 36 with four ticks over two minutes left until halftime.  First of all, Hetrick ran 11 yards on a third down.  Secondly, he hurled a pass to Thomas on third down, gaining enough for another first down.  After spiking the ball, Hetrick saw an opening and raced 23 yards to the Clearfield 16-yard line.  As Punxsy was out of timeouts, Hetrick spiked the ball again.  That gave them time to kick a field goal, but Snyder and his staff decided to try at least one play to score.  That is when Hetrick spied Thomas alone in the end zone for their third touchdown of the night with 10 seconds left before intermission. 

“Beau Thomas is always a focal point on offense,” stated Coach Snyder, “When you have a 6 foot, 3 inch 220 pound tight end, you want to get him the ball.  We haven’t used him as much as we normally would like to this season.  We were able to key on him a little bit and find some ways to get him the ball in space.”

Clearfield had no quit and they came out swinging in the second half.  On the first play of their second possession in the third quarter, a half back option saw Cooper Broad throw a strike to a streaking Landyn Rankin for 59 yards, setting Clearfield up at the Punxsy Chuck 12.  Two running plays only netted a yard.  Then a five-yard penalty moved the ball back to the 16.  Owens rolled to his right on the third down play and found an unguarded Elijah Glunt in the back of the end zone for the Clearfield score.  Owens then connected with Ryan for the 2-point conversion, and now Clearfield was not only on the board, but was also back in the game trailing 21-8.

Punxsy’s defense stopped Clearfield on 4th down in both the Bison next two drives, but the Chucks could not take advantage.  Finally, after a Clearfield punt, Hetrick took charge and engineered an 86-yard scoring drive.  He began the possession with a huge third down pass to Logan Moore for a first down, and then ran the ball three times for 57 yards, scoring on a 28-yard jaunt at the 2:14 mark to seal the game.

Maddox Hetrick stands alone waiting for his teammates after his 28-yard touchdown run to ice the game for Punxsy.

Hetrick was all smiles after the contest and said, “We worked hard for this.  I’m excited to be part of this.  It feels good.”  On that last drive, Moore tied the Punxsy single season receptions record of 56.  Tyler Richardson set the record back in 2017.

Clearfield finishes the 2025 campaign with an 8-4 record.  Punxsy will move on to play Oil City in the next round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

Score by Quarters:

Clearfield – 0 0 8 0 – 8

Punxsutawney – 7 14 0 7 – 28

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

P – Beau Thomas 8-yard pass from Maddox Hetrick, (Owen Roken PAT), 9:38

Second Quarter:

P – Thomas 9-yard pass from Hetrick, (Roken PAT), 11:15

P – Thomas 11-yard pass from Hetrick, (Roken PAT), 0:10

Third Quarter:

C – Elijah Glunt 16-yard pass from OBrian Owens, (Colton Ryan pass from Owens – 2-point conversion), 5:39

Fourth Quarter:

P – Hetrick 28-yard run, (Roken PAT), 2:14

Individual Stats:

Rushing: Clearfield – Colton Ryan 19-33, Xavier Curry 9-32, Jayce Brothers 3-12, OBrian Owens 8-3, Cooper Broad 3-1. Totals: 42-81.  Punxsutawney – Jordan Rutan 18-37, Maddox Hetrick 12-139, Beau Thomas 2-1. Totals: 32-177.  

Passing: Clearfield – Xavier Curry 1-6, 40 yards; OBrian Owens 4-9, 30 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception; Cooper Broad 1-2, 59 yards, 1 interception. Totals: 6-17, 129 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions.  Punxsutawney – Maddox Hetrick 12-21, 111 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception; Zaden Gould 0-1, 1 interception. Totals: 12-22, 111 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.

Receiving: Clearfield – Cooper Broad 3-49; Elijah Glunt 1-16, 1 touchdown; Landyn Rankin 1-59; Ryan Ludwig 1-5. Totals: 6-129, 1 touchdown. 

Punxsy’s Jordan Rutan #21 with ball. Maddox Hetrick #2 in background. Clearfield’s Brayden Wills #62 takes chase after Rutan.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews