THE PROGRESS, Clearfield, Curwensville, Philipsburg, Moshannon Valley, Pa., Saturday, October 5, 2002 PAGE NINE

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The Progress SPORTS Angels push Yanksto the brink — Page 10Coming Monday:Baseball playoffs

Richards runs wild in Clearfield's 48-21 win at P-O

File Pholo by Logan CramerClearfield's Dave Richards,shown here running the foot-ball against Bradford earlierthis season, rushed for 325yards on 34 carries as theBisons defeated Philipsburg-Osceola, 48-21, on Fridaynight at P-O's Memorial Field.Richards scored six touch-clowns in the game.

PSU playcallersdroppedthe ball

ToddIrwin

Gameday notes and observa-tions.

I don't know who was callingthe offensive plays in PennState's 42-35 loss to Iowa lastSaturday.

We're not privy to what per-centage of the plays offensivecoordinator Fran Ganter andJoe Paterno call during a game.

I wonder about this becausewhoever was calling the playsblew it.

I've given credit where creditis due this season as far asinserting some imagination intothe offense, but 1 was scratchingmy head last week.

As hard as the Hawkeyes wererushing Zack Mills and as muchsuccess as they were having get-ting to him, I'm wonderingwhere the screen pass and theshotgun formation were for mostof the game.

The screen worked well in thefourth quarter. Yeah I know, thefinal play in overtime was ascreen pass. Mills was throwingto tailback Larry Johnson, butwound up hitting center Joelorio in the back.

But during the fourth-quartercomeback, Mills was able todump the ball off to Johnson andtight end Casey Williams as theHawks pinned their ears backand rushed him.

Given that rush andJohnson's ability in the openfield, the Nittany Lions shouldhave been using the screen passthe whole game. Once the Hawksstarted defending the screen,then other things would start toopen for the Lions.

With Mills getting battereddropping back five to sevenyards on pass plays, you wouldthink the coaching staff wouldhave had him in the shotgun formost of the game. That way, hecould have nad more time topass and a clearer view of thedefense.

Wisconsin has four less sacksthan -Iowa in one less game goinginto today's game with the Nits,so the Badgers' pass rush mightnot be as good.

But you can bet Wisconsinwill use much of the same defen-sive game plan that Iowa used.So, the Lions will need to adapt.

Take a knee, LarryWhat the heck was Johnson

thinking?All of Nate Kaeding's kicks

were booted into the end zone —not far into the end zone, butusually a few yards into it.Johnson took all ot them out ofthe end 7,one but one. His bestreturn was 17 yards.

I can see taking the first twoout, but not two of the next three.If you down the ball in the endzone, you get the ball at the 20.There comes a time in a gamewhen a returner has to acceptthat there are no holes a,nd theprotection isn't there.

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By Chris MorelliSports Editor

PHILIPSBURG - Clearfield seniortailback Dave Richards has a penchantfor making the big play. On Friday nightat Memorial Field in Philipsburg,Richards made all the big plays.

Richards shredded the Philips-burg-Osceola defense for 325 yards on 34carries in Clearfield's 48-21 thrashing ofthe Mounties on Homecoming. Richardsscored six times in the contest, five com-ing on the ground and one on a puntreturn. Richards scored on runs of 1, 9,13, 43 and 67 yards. The punt return wentfor 55. It was, quite simply, one of thebest-ever performances by a runningback wearing the red-and-black.

It nearly left Clearfield head coachTim Janocko speechless.

"Dave ran the ball well," Janocko saidmatter-of-factly. "I thought he did a realnice job tonight."

The performance left P-O head coachJeff Vroman frustrated.

"He definitely was the difference,"Vroman said. "We knew what was comingand we couldn't stop it. I thought weplayed well at times, we just gave up too

Senior tailback racks up 325 yards, six TDsmany big plays."

And most of those times, the Mounties(1-5 overall) were left chasing No. 10 intothe end zone.

Although he was outdone by Richards,P-O junior tailback Adam White had amemorable night. He rushed for acareer-high 197 yards on 21 carries and apair of touchdowns. White scored on runsof 80 and 57 yards.

"Adam White did a heck of a jobtonight," Vroman said.

Clearfield (4-2 overall) normally likesto have a balanced offensive attack, butwith rain and wind swirling aroundMemorial Field, Janocko was forced toground the passing game — at least thelong passing game — and put the footballin the hands of Richards.

Needless to say, it worked out prettywell.

"The wind was a big factor," Janockosaid of Richards' 34 rushing attempts. "Itwas treacherous out there."

Clearfield quarterback Michael Sayersthrew the ball just 12 times. He complet-

ed six of those passes for 50 yards. Healso threw one interception.

The Mounties — who were faced with ashort week of practice after losing 47-3 atIndian Valley on Monday night — looked likea team with a hangover. On their first playfrom scrimmage, the Mounties fumbled andthe Bisons recovered at the P-O 18-yard line.

The Bisons needed just three plays tofind the end zone. Sayers gave the Bisonsa 7-0 lead when he plunged in from a yardout just 1:11 into the game.

On Clearfield's next drive, Richardsscored his first of the night, also a 1-yardrun. Just like that, it was 13-0.

But the Mounties didn't pack it in. Just14 seconds after Richards scored, Whitebroke loose for an 80-yard TD run. That cutthe lead to 13-7. White would give P-O itsfirst lead of the game when he scored on a57-yard run with 11:10 to go in the first half.

That made it 14-13.However, the Bisons would get two

more scores in the half. Richards scoredon a 13-yard scamper with 7:56 to play inthe half to give Clearfield a 21-14 edge.

Then, he scored on an impressive 55-yardreturn of a Tyler Chintella punt. > Thatcame with 1:02 to play in the half andswung momentum in the Bisons' favorheading to the locker room.

"That punt," Vroman said, "wasn't sup-posed to go to him."

In the second half, the Bisons looked toput the game away. So they put the ball inRichards' hands once again. Almostthree minutes into the third quarter,Richards broke loose into the P-O second-ary and scored from 67 yards out. Thatmade it 35-14.

After P-O trimmed the deficit to 35-21on a 2-yard TD run by Chintella, Richardsall but iced the game with a 43-yard score.He closed the scoring with a 9-yard runmidway through the fourth quarter.

His 325-yard effort gives him 1,151 forthe season. The single-season rushingrecord for the Bisons is owned by KenWisor, who rushed for 1,491 yards in 1998.

"We had one kid to stop," Vroman said,"and we couldn't do it."

After starting the season at 1-2, theBisons have now won three straight by acombined score of 135-34.

"We're getting better," Janocko said. "Ithink we're in a good situation."

Still perfectBlack Knights go to 6-0 with win over rival Warriors

By Todd IrwinAssistant Sports Editor

HOUTZDALE - As thedefensive slugfest betweenMoshannon Valley and WestBranch swiftly moved into thefourth quarter, it appeared theWarriors, leading 2-0, weregoing to pull off the upset forthe second straight year.

And then Mo Valley quarter-back Jack Kephart and wideoutTodd Passmore dashed theWarriors' hopes.

With the Warriors in a jubi-lant frenzy on the sideline, theBlack Knights faced athird-and-14 from their own 19.Kephart then threw a verywell-placed bomb to Passmore,who hauled it in, sprinted downhis own sideline and outraneverybody to the end zone foran 81-yard touchdown pass with8:22 left in the game.

Stephen Deao would add afield goal later to give theKnights a 10-2 victory on a verywindy Homecoming at HilltopStadium on Friday night. Thewin kept the Knights' recordperfect at 6-0 and dropped theWarriors to 2-4.

"I knew that West Branch'sdefense, especially their defen-sive front, was pretty strong,"Mo Valley coach HowieCamberg said. "We knew wehad to mix our pass attack in,and we kept trying. We finallycaught them with an enormous-ly big pass to Todd Passmore.That was just an unbelievableplay. Jack threw it in a placewhere it couldn't be caught. Itwas just a tremendous highschool football game."

"It's real tough. It's probablyas tough as one as I've had inthis program since I've beenhere," said dejected 13-yearWest Branch head coach GaryHubler. "We didn't do quiteenough things offensively.Defensively, what are yougonna say? We give up onescore on one play."

The Warriors ran 23 moreplays and outgained theKnights, 212-164, getting 81yards rushing from fullbackJared Ricotta. The West Branchdefense limited the Knights tojust 29 yards rushing.

West Branch used up muchof the first-quarter clock with a16-play drive that started at itsown 6 and ended at the MoValley 15. Nathan Owens, whogot the start at quarterback,dashed 8 yards to the 15, whichwas a couple yards short of afirst down.

The Warriors got anothergolden opportunity in the quar-ter when the ball was snappedover Kephart's head out of theshotgun and recovered byRicotta at the Mo Valley 26. Buton the first play after theturnover, Ricotta fumbled and

Photo by Todd IrwinWest Branch fullback Jared Ricotta looks for some toughyards against Moshannon Valley in the first half of Fridaynight's Homecoming Game at Hilltop Stadium. Ricotta ran for81 yards, but the Black Knights would pull out a 10-2 win.Steve Holencik recovered forthe Knights.

The second half startedmuch like the first half did.After the Knights went threeplays and out on the first series,the Warriors went on a 15-playdrive that took them from their38 to the Mo Valley 10. Again theKnights' defense stiffened andOwens threw an incompletepass on fourth-and-five.

"We moved the football,"Hubler said. "Once we gotinside, we just couldn't seemedto punch it in the end zone.That's a credit to Mo Valley.They let us drive 60-70 yardsand said, 'No, you're not gonnascore.' I don't know why thesame plays don't work whenyou get to the 30. I guess if Icould answer that, I'd be agenius."

But the Knights only made itto their own 19 and elected topunt. Kephart, however, nevergot the ball as the snap sailedover his head again. This time,it rolled out of the end zone fora safety with 46 seconds left inthe third quarter.

The Warriors got the ballback at the Mo Valley 49, butrunning back Steve Sudik fum-bled and linebacker LarryHayward recovered the ball athis 36.

"Our defense came on verywell in the second half,"Camberg said. "We controlledtheir offense much better. In thefirst half, we played wellenough to keep them out of theend zone."

The Knights would move theball to their own 48, but on thirddown, Adam Andrasko steppedin front of a Kephart pass andreturned it to the Mo Valley 29.

West Branch reached the 23,but the Knights' defense buck-led down again and gave theoffense the ball back at the 23.

After a delay of game penaltyon third down moved the ballback to the 19, Kephart took thesnap out of the shotgun andthrew a strike to Passmore, whowouldn't be denied the endzone. Deao's extra point madethe score 7-2.

"I don't know what hap-pened," Hubler said. "It'sthird-and-14 and you shouldnever get beat deep if it'sthird-and-14. They're lookingfor a first down or they have togive the ball back to us. It's kidsplaying, and they make mis-takes."

Mo Valley forced WestBranch to go three plays andout on the next series and gotthe ball back at its own 44.Slade Glass, who ran for 58yards on 19 carries, gained 15yards to the 29. Ont'ourth-and-12 from the 31,Kephart found Passmore again— this time for 17 yards to the14 and a first down. Passmorecaught three passes for 108yards.

Three Glass runs advancedthe ball to the 9 and Deao camein and booted a 26-yard fieldgoal with 1:26 remaining in thegame.

"We knew once we got insidethe 30 that we were gonna tryit," Camberg said, "becausethat would put us up by a touch-down. Stephen is a great kicker.He's just so consistent. Therewas no doubt in my mind thatwe were gonna make that."

West Branch's final drive inthe rain ended with Dan Hanselpicking off Owens. The celebra-tion started on the Mo Valleyside. The Warriors could onlywatch.

"Obviously, Mo Valleystepped up their game a littlebit defensively when we gottheir backs in there," Hublersaid.

Marlin will switch to HANS in 2003TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) —

Sterling Marlin won't be racingin the EA Sports 500, but the sec-ond-generation NASCAR starwas the center of attentionFriday at TalladegaSuperspeedway.

Qualifying for the race wasrained out and the 43-car fieldfor Sunday was determined byseason points. That puts JimmieJohnson, Mark Martin, TonyStewart, Jeff Gordon and RustyWallace, all locked in a tight bat-tle for the Winston Cup champi-

onship, up front for the start ofthe 500-mile race.

Missing is the fifth-placeMarlin, who is wondering if hemight still be racing for thechampionship if he had worn adifferent head and neck restraintlast Sunday at Kansas City.

Marlin will miss the finalseven races of the season afterfracturing a vertebra in his neckin a race crash.

In the wake of the death ofseven-time champion DaleEarnhardt from head injuries

Tide handsKane its first

^

loss of the yearBy Rich Murawski

Sports WriterKANE — To be the best, you

must beat the best.The Curwensville Golden Tide

have arguably been the bestteam in the Allegheny MountainLeague South Division sincejoining in 1999. Curwensville was15-3 against AML South teamscoming into this season, andhave won the South Division thelast two years,

But an early season two gamelosing streak had some question-ing the Tide's ability to competefor the AML Title this year. AsESPN's Lee Corso says, "not sofast my friend."

One week after defeatingBrockway 14-8 to stay in the AMLrace, the Golden Tide made thelong trip to Kane Friday nightand took the previously undefeat-ed Wolves behind the woodshedin a 20-6 victory that spoiledHomecoming for Kane.

The Curwensville victorytightens up the AML South raceand should make for some inter-esting football the last few weeksof the season.

"We're right where we want tobe," Curwensville head coachAndy Evanko said when askedabout the AML race."Everything is earned on thefield, and you take them onegame at a time."

The Golden Tide used the

suffered in the 2001 Daytona 500,NASCAR has required the use ofsuch restraints since lastOctober's race at Talladega.

The only choices have beenthe Head and Neck Support(HANS) or the Hutchens Device.

Marlin, who led the points for25 weeks before falling into aslump, was wearing theHutchens, a series of straps thathook onto the helmet and theexisting seat belt system.

same formulaagainst Kane thatwas so successfullast week againstBrockway, ballcontrol offenseand a swarmingdefense.

Collins C u r w e n s v i l l erolled up 325 yards

of offense, with 258 coming onthe ground, while holding thepotent Kane offense to just 156yards. The Tide also held a dis-tinct advantage in offensiveplays, running 59 to Kane's 42.

"We did things tonight that wehaven't done all year," Kanehead coach Rick Bouch said,"and that's allow people to con-trol the line of scrimmage andrun the football at us. 1 don'tcare who you are, if you can'tstop the running game you're ina world of trouble."

The main cog in the Tide'srushing attack was seniorBrooks Collins, who carried theball a workmanlike 33 limes for166 yards.

"He's a great running back,"Bouch said of Collins. "He ranthe ball tough inside the tackles,and he was able to squirt outsidea few times. He's a very physicalrunner and he helped them con-trol the football, and it kept theball away from us."

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Thomas boots Glendalepast Juniata Valley in OT

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By Jaclyn YinglingSports Writer

FLINTON - Sophomore kick-er Colt Thomas was 7-for-7 onPAT attempts coming intoGlendale's game with JuniataValley in Week Six.

After Thomas' PAT attemptafter an Allan Collins' 26-yardtouchdown run was no good, thesophomore hung his head as hetrotted off the field on Fridaynight. Little did he know thatbefore the game was over he wasgoing to be a hero.

Thomas kicked a 26-yard fieldgoal on the Vikings' first posses-sion of overtime, and theGlendale defense did their part,stonewalling the Green Hornetsat the 1-yard line to take home a9-6 victory.

"A win is a win is a win, andwe take them however we canget them," said an excitedGlendale head coach John Kutz."For our kids to make a goal-linestand like that is just unbeliev-able. Juniata Valley kind of dom-inated the game. But our kidsjust found a way to win."

The Vikings held a 6-0 leadfrom early in the second quarteruntil Robert Fox tied the gameseven seconds into the fourthquarter with a 5-yard run. TheMark Hall PAT attempt sailedwide right, keeping the game ata 6-6 stalemate.

Both teams had numerouschances to score in the game,but Juniata Valley was ham-pered by penalties. The Hornetsracked up nine penalties for 99yards. Included in those weretwo unsportsmanlike misconductpenalties.

"The only thing that stoppedus all night was penalties," said

Collins

Juniata Valleyhead coach MikeZinobile. "I bet wehad as manyyards in penaltiesas we did on theground."

Juniata Valley!'.)() yards on theground.

The Hornets also got as deepas Glendale's 6-yard line, butwere faced wi th afourth-and-goal situation afteran incomplete- pass. Junia taValley set up for a 24-yard fieldgoal attempt, but tried a littletrickery when Hall attempted athrow into the end zone. Theball was caught, but out ofbounds.

After the Juniata Valleyscore, neither team could findthe end zone in the rest of regu-lation and the game went intoovertime.

It was a new experience forKutz and the rest of the Vikes,who were heading into the extraframe for the first time.

"This was something totallydifferent," said Kutz. "Wethought we could do a couple ofthings. They kind of stuck it to usa little bit (on our first posses-sion)."

With a sharp wind blowingand the rain falling at a steadyplace, the two teams headed outto the field for the coin toss.

Juniata Valley won the flipand opted to let the Vikes taketheir shot into the end zone first.

Glendale got nowhere on itsfirst three plays, notching justtwo yards.

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