STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) – In football, whenever you can capitalize on your opponent’s mistakes it gives your team a better chance to win.
(Photo by Dave Cyphert of ProPoint Media Photography.)
Article by Steve Smail
Central Clarion turned a pair of interception returns for scores in helping the Wildcats to a 42-7 victory over Brookville at the Clarion-Limestone High School Football Field.
Brookville scored the first touchdown of the game after the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs at their own 45-yard line on their second possession of the contest.
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Jackson Zimmerman rushed five straight times for the game’s first points, including 33 yards on the first carry and capped by a 1-yard plunge. Brayden Kunselman added the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead with 7:58 to play in the first.
Zimmerman would turn out to be the bright spot of the Raiders’ offense as he rushed 22 times for 121 yards.
On the next possession for Central Clarion, the Wildcats started at their own 15. A loss of six yards on the first play backed them up to the nine.
Jase Ferguson then tossed a pass over the middle to Ashton Rex, who raced for a 91-yard touchdown, his first of two on the evening, to tie the score at 7-7 following the first of six PAT kicks by Thomas Uckert.
On their first possession of the second quarter, the Wildcats drove from their own 7 in seven plays, which was capped off by a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to Tommy Smith for a 14-7 lead with 8:18 left in the second.
The key play was a 33-yard pass on fourth down to Dawson Smail.
“We had a lot of guys touch the ball tonight, which is always a good thing,” said Central Clarion head coach Dave Eggleton. “I’ve said it before that we have a lot of guys with good speed, and on a couple of our touchdowns, that speed really showed.”
The Wildcats extended the lead to 21-7 when Ryan Hummell intercepted a Charlie Krug pass and returned it 42 yards for a score.
“We didn’t really do anything special on defense,” said Eggleton. “Guys were just staying on their keys and our defensive backs were ball-hawking, and we made a couple plays on those interceptions.”
Both teams suffered from the turnover bug in the early stages of the third quarter as Ferguson threw a pair of interceptions.
Brookville also had a pair of fumbles and an interception by Brady Quinn, who returned the ball 43 yards for a score and a 28-7 Wildcat lead with 8:55 to play in the third.
“That’s just how easy a game can get away from you,” said Brookville head coach Scott Park. “We made mistakes and they capitalized. We just weren’t able to get momentum back on our side. I feel if maybe we could have run the ball more and got a few more first downs that maybe we could have made things a little more respectable. We have to try and get guys healthy and get ready for Tyrone next week.”
After a fumble recovery by Coleman Slater for the Wildcats, two plays later Ferguson connected on a 43-yard pass to Dawson Hotchkiss to increase the lead to 35-7 with 6:23 to play in the third.
The final score of the contest came on a 73-yard catch and run from Ferguson to Rex with 39 seconds remaining in the third making the score 42-7 and putting the mercy rule running clock into effect.
Ferguson finished the contest 8-of-16 for 316 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Each team turned the ball over a total of six times with three fumbles and three interceptions each.
“Unfortunately, those interceptions go to Jase although two of them weren’t really his fault,” said Eggleton. “One our receiver slipped on his route, and another went off our receiver’s hands into their hands.”
Rex finished with three catches for 216 yards with two touchdowns.
Brady McKinley, a freshman, led the Central Clarion ground game with 24 yards on four carries in the fourth quarter.
Braylon Beckwith finished the contest with 20 yards on five carries.
Krug finished 7-of-24 passing for 50 yards with three interceptions before leaving with an injury about midway through the third quarter.
Noah Peterson caught three passes for 25 yards to lead the Raiders.
“We’re happy with the win and all, but there are some things we need to fix,” said Eggleton. “We’ll look at film and try and figure out what and where to fix things and we’ll prepare for our next opponent.”
Central Clarion will travel to Port Allegany next Friday.
Central Clarion sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
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