HYDE — It\’s a critical week for the Clearfield Area High School football team.
Coming off a tough 41-31 loss at Bellefonte last Friday, the Bisons will look to rebound against a Central Mountain team hat snapped a three-game losing skid with a 39-10 pasting of Williamsport last week.
Clearfield turned the ball over five times in the 10-point loss to the Red Raiders, something that didn\’t please head coach im Janocko. The turnovers, he said, have to stop. \”The turnovers were big and we made too many mistakes,\” Janocko aid.
\”I know that it\’s hard to believe, but we are getting better every week. We\’re playing good competition.\”
Make no mistake about it, Central Mountain is a good football team. The Wildcats have sustained their share of bad luck. fter pasting DuBois in Week One (34-14), the Wildcats fell at Hollidaysburg (31-10), but just didn\’t get the bounces in osses at Bellefonte (25-13) and at home against Indian Valley (12-6).
But things came together in a big way last week. The Wildcats like to run the football. Their big back is junior Matt Overdorf (5-10, 165). Through five games, he\’s racked up 309 yards on 71 carries — an average of 4.35 per crack. He\’s aalso scored a pair of touchdowns. \”(Overdorf) is tough. He\’s the kid, offensively and defensively, who gets a lot of stuff done,\” Janocko said.
When it comes to the air attack, the Wildcats have a couple of quarterbacks capable of winging the ball downfield. Junior Caleb Blazina has completed 22-of-42 passes for 356 yards. He\’s tossed four touchdowns and has six interceptions. ophomore Cody Dolan is also capable. He\’s completed 19-of-40 for 293 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.
When it comes to receiving, wideout Zack Boone (5-9, 150) has 17 receptions for 301 yards and a pair of scores. They also have some size along the offensive and defensive lines, something that Janocko is wary of.
\”They\’re a quad-A team. They have size and they are physical,\” he said. \”They\’re comparable to a lot of teams we\’ve played this year.\” Defensively, senior linebacker Eric Fetter (5-9, 190) leads the Wildcats with 51 tackles. Another linebacker, junior Logan Houtz (5-10, 170), has 45 tackles.
The Bisons went back to the drawing board following last week\’s loss. They stressed fundamentals this week in practice — hanging on to the football, better tackling. \”That\’s just a sign of inexperience, the sign of a young team,\” Janocko said.
To beat the Wildcats, Clearfield will need a solid performance from QB Jarrin Campman. And they are still waiting for that breakout game from running back Isiah Morgan.
Defensively, Janocko would like to see his squad tackle better. Better yet, he\’d like to see them make a big play. \”In all three of our losses, we were one stop away from winning,\” he said. \”We need a big stop in the fourth quarter and we have a chance to win all three of those games. We just need someone to step up and make a play.\”
Friday\’s game can be heard live on WCPA 900-AM and WQYX 93.1 FM with Chris Morelli (play-by-play) and John Rosselli (analyst) making the call.
Kickoff from the Bison Sports Complex is set for 7 p.m.