11/17/11
After an off week, the Johnstown
Trojans will travel to Altoona's Mansion Park Saturday for a 1:00 contest with the Clearfield Bison. Clearfield won
the District 9-AAA championship for the second year in a row with a 28-7 victory over St. Marys.
I normally start off with the quarterback when it comes to the scouting report of the opponent to come, but it's hard
for me not to start things off this week with running back Beau Swales. Swales is the clear leader of this shotgun-spread
run-first style offense with 229 carries for 1,679 yards and 22 touchdowns. He's also been vital in the passing game,
catching 11 passes for 128 yards and one score.
The conductor of this offense is senior quarterback Curtis Frye. He is 32-of-103 passing for 703 yards and eight
touchdowns while being intercepted five times. Frye is also key to the Bison running game, carrying 98 times off 394
yards and six touchdowns, a lot of that no doubt out of the read option type of play.
Also involved in the run game are Christian Lezzer (64 carries, 630 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Ryan Hertlein (47 carries,
296 yards, five touchdowns).
When Clearfield goes to the air, Frye's main targets aside from Swales are Lezzer (15 receptions, 302 yards, three touchdowns),
Trey Jordan (8-201-3), Robert Myers (9-118-3).
On the defense, the Bison are paced by Swales (99 tackles), Myers (92 tackles) and Garrett Timko (60 tackles).
Lezzer has 7.5 sacks while Tyler Stratton has 6.5. Dylan Graham has intercepted opponent's passers four times while
Frye himself has three.
To the special teams phase, and although there is no information on the Bison return game, Coleman Kubah has been credited
with eight punts for 141 yards. Spencer Harrington has connected on 46 PATs on the season.
An aspect to the game each week that I don't often touch on is the opposing coach. However, I can't ignore that
this week. Tim Janocko is in his 27th season at the helm of the Bison. Earlier this year he won his 200th game
and is currently 204-95-3. Janocko's teams have won eight D9 titles during his tenure. Quite an impressive resume.
Another thing to point out is what I perceive to be a better "strength of schedule" for the Bison over the Trojans.
The teams share no common opponents and although there are only two teams that the Bison have played that are above .500,
keep in mind they've already played three AAA teams (St.Marys, Bellefonte and Hamburg [D3]) and two AAAA teams (Central Mountain
and Mifflin County). Their lone loss is a week six setback to Philipsburg-Osceola. They've limited opponents to
single digits four times, including one shutout. They have outscored opponents an impressive 402-169, averaging over
36.5 points a game. They haven't scored less than 20 on the season and have a high of 55.
Needless to say, this will be the toughest foe the Trojans will have faced to date and will need to play close-to-flawless
football to come out on top. I truly believe the revenge factor from a year ago is weighing on not only the players
but coaches at JHS. They do not forget how the season ended by this team a year ago.
I give a slight advantage in venue to the Trojans. While I hate to hear excuses, there is something to say about
traveling like the Trojans did a year ago on a Friday from Johnstown to DuBois. While playing on Saturday for normal
Friday teams can be a disadvantage, those bets are off when the playoffs get going. Also, the weather forecast is cool
and clear and playing on a fast track such as Mansion Park will be advantageous for the Trojans (but can also be an advantage
for the Bison).
No matter the outcome, I believe the fans of both sides will be entertained in this contest.
Now for a quick peek at the rest of the LHAC squads still in action this weekend:
Bishop McCort at Bellwood-Antis
McCort is good but I still contend that they aren't as good as they have been in
year's past. I'll take Coach Hayes' Blue Devils in a home win.
Penn Cambria at Tyrone
The emotional nature of beating Forest Hills in a regular season revenge game could set them
up for a letdown. You can't let down against Tyrone.
Richland at Philipsburg-Osceola
The Mounties have a win over a very good AAA team in Clearfield and because of that
I give them the slightest of edges.
