September 9th, 2006
Jay Siegel, sports editor
Clearfield Comes From Behind to Beat BrookvilleBROOKVILLE — Football, is indeed, a funny game. Any contest can turnon a play or two.
On Friday night in Brookville, that's exactly what happened.Two plays turned the game around and the Clearfield Bisons snatched avictory from the jaws of defeat as they stunned the Blue Raiders,39-35, in a wild affair that the 2006 Bisons will remember for a verylong time.
Here's what went down:
With 6:49 to play in the game, Brookville quarterback Shane Heschke,who had thrown exactly five passes all night long, hooked up withwideout Tyler Ross on a 54-yard scoring strike that appeared to saltthe game away for the Blue Raiders as they took a 35-24 lead.Not so fast.
The pass from Heschke to Ross, while a thing of beauty, was not one ofthe two big plays we're speaking of here. Those were still to come.
Just 15 seconds after that pass, Clearfield quarterback Andrew Janockotossed the ball backwards to tight end Adam Jury, who then found DrewHipps alone down the Clearfield sideline. Hipps outraced a pair of
Brookville defenders to the end zone, and when he crossed the goalline with 6:31 to play in the game, the Bisons were back in business. That was the first of two huge plays for the Bisons.
Trailing 35-30, the Bisons went for the two-point conversion and got it when Janocko hooked up with Jury once again.
That made it 35-32, but the Bisons still needed to get the ball back. Brookville had the ball, looking to chew up the clock and maybe,just maybe, tack on an insurance score.
What happened will haunt Heschke the remainder of his scholasticcareer. The Brookville signal caller went from hero to goat in a matter of seconds, when he coughed up the football and Clearfield recovered at the Raider 34-yard line.
Clearfield was hoping to get the ball back, but this was Christmas in September.
Tyler Kirkwood carried for 29 yards, Janocko carried once for a yard and Isiah Morgan — who finished the night with four touchdowns —punched in what would be the game-winner from 4 yards out with 4:23 left in the game.
Kyle Kline added the PAT and just like that, the Bisons went from 11-point deficit to four-point lead.
It was a wild game from start to finish for the Bisons, who were coming off a 56-35 drubbing at the hands of District 9 rival Bradford.
Although it was just Week 2, the Bisons played like a desperate team — especially when they got behind.
Clearfield struck first in this one.
The Bisons (1-1) came out in a no-huddle offense and Janocko led the Bisons down the field easily. Morgan capped Clearfield's first drive with a 24-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.
But Brookville (1-1) knotted the game at 7-7 when Heschke hit Ross for a 10-yard scoring strike. The Raiders took the lead on a trick play of their own, as wideout Ross hit Brett Mohney for a 35-yard touchdown to
make it 14-7.
Clearfield tied it up on a 4-yard TD scamper by Morgan with 10:10 to play in the half.
Heschke gave Brookville a 20-14 lead on a 2-yard run. The extra point was blocked.
Morgan scored his third TD of the game on a 6-yard run and Kline's PAT put Clearfield ahead, 21-20. Brookville fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Kline connected on his first field goal of the season, a 38-yarder
with just seven seconds remaining in the half.
That gave the Bisons a 24-20 lead heading to the intermission.
However, the Bison lead wouldn't last long into the third quarter. As Bradford did the week before, Brookville broke off a big run of its own, as Joe Galbraith scored on a 69-yard touchdown run. Heschke ran
in the two-point conversion to make it 28-24.
Then came the aforementioned TD pass from Heschke to Ross to make it 35-24.
But the Bisons scored the pair of unanswered touchdowns to put one in the win column for the first time in 2006.
Clearfield kept the Raider's defense guessing with a balanced attack. Morgan was the workhorse, carrying the ball 18 times for 77 yards and four TDs. Janocko had another solid outing, completing 14-of-22 for 155 yards.
Jury is quickly becoming Janocko's favorite target, as he caught nine balls for 129 yards.
Defensively, the Bisons still allowed some big plays, but not nearly as many as they did against Bradford. Galbraith had the biggest night, carrying the ball 11 times for 116 yards.
In the end, the team that made fewer mistakes won the game. And that team was the Bisons.
Clearfield will try to make it two in a row next week, when it hosts Indian Valley.
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