Week 1: Keyser 43, Clearfield 30

CLEARFIELD		KEYSER
27	RUSH ATTEMPTS	50
37	RUSH YARDS	311
0	RUSH TDs	4
11-28	PASS COMP.-ATT.	2-4
300	PASS YARDS	57
4	PASS TDs	1
1	INTs THROWN	1
337	TOTAL YARDS	368
11-82	PENALTIES-YARDS	4-43

Clearfield’s first-ever game outside of Pennsylvania resulted in a loss that snapped its 22-game regular-season winning streak.  The defeat was the first for the Bison since Week 6 of the 2011 season (a 40-33 loss to Philipsburg-Osceola).  Friday night marked the first time Clearfield dropped a season opener since falling 35-21 to DuBois in 2009, which was the last time that the Bison had a sub-.500 record following a game.  More facts and figures:

• Ryan Lezzer’s 187 yards receiving is the 5th-highest single-game total in school history.  The school record is Brian Kaspick’s 217 during the 1999 season.  Lezzer’s 3 touchdown receptions match the total he had last year during his freshman season.
• Cody Spaid’s 260 yards passing marked the 29th time a Bison has thrown for at least 250 yards in a game.  Spaid’s yardage is tied for 23rd on the list with Tanner Kelly’s 260 yards versus Bradford in the 2003 season opener.  Kelly threw for 591 yards in two games versus the Owls that year.
• Spencer Herrington extended his own school record with his 8th career made field goal.  His extra point on Clearfield’s first touchdown made him the first kicker in school history to score 200 points.  He now has 205 career points scored.
• Clearfield’s 37 yards rushing is its lowest output since being held to 18 yards against St. Marys in the 2007 district playoffs.  Prior to Friday’s game against Keyser, the Bison had been held to under 100 yards rushing only once since the start of the 2010 season (53 games).
• The Bison’s 28 passing attempts are the team’s most since throwing 30 passes against P-O in 2011.
• Friday was the first time Clearfield had ever lost to an out-of-state opponent (3-1).  The Bison had previously gone 2-0 against St. Joan of Arc (2012, 2013) and 1-0 against Riverdale Baptist (1996).

The Bison will look for their first win of the 2014 season next week at Penns Valley (0-1).  The Rams fell to Juniata on Friday, 29-16.

Week 1: Clearfield at Keyser (WV)

Because this is the first regular-season game for both teams, there are no season statistics available for a preview of this week’s game between Clearfield and Keyser.  Additionally, the two teams have never met, so there aren’t any historical statistics for the matchup, either.  Instead, I’ve listed the MaxPreps season previews of both teams below:

Clearfield

Keyser

Take these previews for what they are: statistics-based calculations to predict each team’s season.  For a more detailed preview, be sure to check out The Progress this week.

Other previews and preseason items:

The D6 Sports Network Mountain League Preview

The D6 Sports Network District 5/6 Rankings (including Clearfield)

The WJAC Sports Clearfield Preview

Clearfield Named WesternPAFootball.net’s #9 Big School Team

Herrington (1st) and Wingate (HM) Named to PFN All-State AAA Team

Herrington Also Named to PFN’s “#TeamPA”

Keyser Ranked #7 in West Virginia by Charleston Daily Mail

Clearfield and Keyser are 144 miles apart according to Google Maps.  Despite the fact that it is the first time in 1,026 all-time games (since 1913) that Clearfield has traveled outside of Pennsylvania, Keyser is not the most distant opponent the Bison have ever played.  In fact, the Golden Tornado are not the most distant team Clearfield has ever traveled to play, either.  Here is a list of the longest distances (as measured between CHS and the opponent’s high school) between the Bison and an opponent in school history:

OPPONENT	MILES	LAST MEETING	# OF MEETINGS
St. Joan of Arc (CAN)	245	2013	2
Riverdale Bapt. (MD)	239	1996	1
Allentown CC	209	2010	1
Erie East	177	1992	4
Erie Strong Vincent	174	2008	2
Erie Central	173	1994	1
Hamburg	170	2011	1
Blythe Township	160	1939	1
Keyser (WV)	144	2014	1
Berwick	134	2013	1
Harrisburg Tech	132	1920	1
Shamokin	132	2011	1
Sharpsville	129	1949	2
Brashear	116	2008	1
Perry	115	2005	3
Shikellamy	114	2010	1
University Prep	113	2012	1
Titusville	99	1978	1
Williamsport	99	1922	6
Somerset	94	2013	1
Greensburg	90	1922	1

Allentown Central Catholic is the most distant opponent Clearfield has ever played in a game not held in Clearfield.  Erie East is the furthest away team the Bison have ever played in a true road game.  The location for Blythe Township is approximate because the high school there closed in the late 1950s and is now a part of Pottsville Area School District.

As always, remember to check http://www.clearfieldfootball.org for more team information.  Also follow this site on Twitter at @BisonFBStats and the new Facebook page.

2014 Season Update

Hi Everyone,

This site has been pretty quiet for the past few months, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing going on behind the scenes. I’ve been continuing to research and collect as much information as I can find and I think that most people will like the long-term projects that I have in mind. However, most of these will take several months and won’t be ready until sometime during the next offseason. With the 2014 opener at Keyser (WV) just 11 days away, I want to reach out and ask you to give me recommendations, requests, etc. for what you’d like to see here on a weekly basis. I plan on running features on former players – similar to March’s post on Vic Jones – as part of the weekly preview for each game this year, at least for the first 6-8 weeks. I’d still appreciate any and all feedback in the comments section below this post. I have a lot of things I want to do with this site, but I also want to get as much input as possible from the people who visit it as well.

One final thing – be sure to follow this site on Twitter (@BisonFBStats) and the new Clearfield Football Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/clearfieldbisonfootball).

As always, thanks for stopping by. This site should hit 5,000 views sometime this season – I never thought it would get half that amount of attention.