CLARION – Bradford went to Clarion on Tuesday for the District 9
Class AA championship soccer game and came home tarred and
“Feathered.”
Clearfield’s Lucas Feathers scored four goals as the Bisons
cruised to a 7-1 triumph for the district title.
Clearfield controlled the ball from the get-go and Feathers got
things rolling early.
At the 32:36 point, with Bradford’s goalie Micah Ridley tripped
up, Feathers controlled the ball and fired at the open net, but his
shot was wide. A collective sigh of disbelief went up from the
Bison partisan as Feathers held his head in his hands.
Feathers left no doubt less than one minute later when he took
aim from the right side of the field and jammed it in for a 1-0
lead.
Bradford was able to quickly respond by the 30:24 mark using
some of its trademark passing. Junior Steve Butler hurried the ball
down the left side of the field and crossed it in front to senior
Alex Ita. Ita received the pass and hammered its past Bison keeper
Taylor Herrington for a 1-1 tie.
This was the only occasion on which the Owls were able to
capitalize on their passing skills. Clearfield, a much faster team
than St. Marys (Bradford’s semifinal victim), was able to
constantly disrupt the Owls’ passing game.
“We knew coming in they were a fast team,” admitted Wes Lohrman,
BHS coach. “We knew we had our work cut out for us.”
Clearfield then picked up its second goal at the 14:49 juncture
of the first half as junior Mark Auman found a slight gap in the
middle of the defense and powered it through for a 2-1 score.
Feathers then converted the first of his three straight
goals.
At the 14:00 mark, Feathers booted it in from right in front and
it was 3-1 Bisons.
Later, at the 10:42 juncture, Feathers used a free kick, averted
the Bradford wall and snuck it into the far left corner of the
net.
After the intermission, Feathers struck again only four minutes
in. The speedy Bison found himself ahead of the defense and in a
one-on-one situation with Ridley. Capitalizing on his offensive
advantage, Feathers drove it past the Owls’ goalie for a 5-1
score.
Roughly eight minutes later, Auman got on the board again.
Clearfield worked the ball from the corner, back into the middle of
the field to Auman for a 6-1 score.
“Lucas is a very good player, but I think a lot of the credit
should go to number 10 Mark Auman,” Lohrman emphasized. “He plays
the middle and he is a very good distributor. He is the real
controller of their offense. He is a junior so we’ll see him
again.”
Mike Fannin accounted for the game’s final score with 24:49
left. Clearfield hung on for the remainder of the game, relegating
Bradford to the ranks of the runners-up.
Ridley was credited with eight saves in goal for Bradford.
Clearfield’s keepers weren’t nearly as busy, turning away only
four Owls’ shots in the contest.
Bradford’s season is now over. The Owls finish with a solid
13-6-1 record.
“It was unfortunate how the game turned out today, but we’ll be
back,” Lohrman said. “We have a young team which was one of our
advantages. Nobody expected us to be here with what we were putting
on the field. I knew we would be here, and we’ll be back.
“Whether it’s Clearfield we see again or whoever we’ll be ready
for them. It was a good learning experience.”
Clearfield moves on to take on the WPIAL runner-up next week at
a site and time to be announced in the PIAA playoffs.
