The Bradford Owls are eagerly waiting for the 2006 football
season to start and for a least two good reasons.
First, they performed well in their two pre-season
scrimmages.
Second, they haven’t won at Clearfield in more trips down there
than most people can remember.
“Overall, I was pretty happy with our two scrimmages,” head
coach Steve Ackerman confirmed Wednesday night during the first of
his weekly interviews that will continue through the end of the
season.
“We did some good things, and we did some wrong things, too. But
the mistakes we made were correctable.
“We’ve had three really decent weeks of practice and the kids
are in good shape. We have no injury problems.
“I feel we’re ready for the season to start,” he added.
A more experienced Owls team will take the field this year,
unlike the 2005 squad which came in young and green and lost to the
Bisons in overtime at Parkway Field.
With all that playing time under their belt, Ackerman is hopeful
that his team can get the season off to a positive start and end
the string of losses at Clearfield which extend back over 30
years.
“We have not beaten them in Clearfield since 1975,” the Owls
coach explained. “Now there were several years when we didn’t play
them because we were in the Northwest Conference, but it’s still
been that many years.”
Ackerman said in his pre-season interview that Clearfield and
DuBois are the teams to beat, and he reiterated it Wednesday
night.
“Clearfield is picked to repeat as the District 9 League winner
and the district Triple-A champion, so obviously this is a big game
for us,” he emphasized.
Looking at the Bisons, Ackerman pointed out that, “they are a
well balanced team. It’s 50-50; they’ll run the ball half the time
and they’ll throw the ball half the time.
“Janocko’s (Tim, head coach) son (Andrew, 6-2, 180-pound senior)
is the quarterback and he throws the ball well. He has a nice corps
of receivers, especially the Jury (Adam) kid who has good hands.
They also have a couple of big strong running backs.
“Defensively they still run the six man front, where they bring
their outside linebackers up on the line to give you that look.
“I believe Jury is in their secondary, too. He’s very aggressive
and plays pretty good defense back there.”
Bisons’ head coach Tim Janocko took the cautious road while
discussing Friday night’s game.
“It will be a typical Clearfield-Bradford game,” he commented.
More times than not the contests have been close, with last year’s
game being decided in overtime.
“Bradford is well coached. Their coaches do a good job and we
have a lot of respect for them and their program.
“We’re looking forward to the competition,” he added.
Kickoff for the contest is 7 p.m.
