STRATTANVILLE — With just 22 players on their roster, it’s hard to blame the Clarion-Limestone Lions for wearing out near the end of Friday’s game.

But with the first half they had, it really didn’t matter.

The Lions (3-1) took a 22-point advantage into the locker room, and hung on for a hard-fought 34-22 victory over Coudersport at C-L High School in a District 9 Small School crossover contest.

The game couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for Clarion-Limestone, as the tremendously shifty Austin Newcomb took the game’s opening kickoff 85 yards to set the tone for the remaining 35 minutes.

It was an opening blow that Coudersport (3-1) coach Tom Storey admits his team struggled to come back from.

“That opening kickoff caught them off-guard,” he said. “We weren’t ready and they took advantage. After that, we do have a little trouble taking a punch and coming back from it.”

The first half snowballed from a 7-0 deficit to a disaster for the Falcons. Penalties, turnovers, and a lack of time of possession limited what Coudersport wanted to do in the game.

Penalties were an issue for both teams in the game (Coudy seven for 65; C-L eight for 60), but the yellow flags were certainly more costly for the guys in purple. Coudersport had plays of 45 and 30 yards wiped out by holding penalties in the first quarter.

The Falcons cut into C-L’s lead with a 85-yard pass from Hayden Keck to John Minor in the second quarter, but there defense just couldn’t get off the field.

Coudy ran just 15 plays in the first half.

After Coudersport was able to get a goal-line stand with less than 10 seconds to go, Keck fumbled the ball in his own end zone. It was recovered by the Lions, sending them to the locker room with a 28-6 lead.

“It’s all on us as coaches,” Storey said in explaining his team’s first-half performance. “We should have prepared the guys a lot harder for it. We didn’t, and that’s my fault.”

Against a gassed Coudersport defense, Newcomb ran 31 times for 168 yards in the game, while backup running back Ayden Wiles had 18 carries and 72 yards of his own.

At game’s end, the Lions had 53 rushing attempts and two touchdowns on the ground.

Coudersport, which boasts one of District 9’s best running backs in Steve Kelly, just couldn’t get the ball into the senior’s hands enough.

Kelly entered the game averaging over 110 yards per contest, but was limited to 18 yards on eight carriers.

Coudersport was able to make it a game late. Keck scrambled for an 80-yard score to put the Falcons on the board with 6:40 remaining, and Kelly returned a punt 65 yards to the house less than two minutes later to put his team within 12.

In the end, however, the game finished how it began. The Lions took the ball over with just under five minutes remaining and picked up several first downs on the ground to hold the ball for the rest of the game.

On his 30th and 31st carries of the game, Newcomb gained 14 and nine yards, respectively.

Still, Storey was pleased with the way his team put up a fight over the game’s waning minutes.

“That’s the way we coach these guys,” he said. “I told one of our coaches that we are always the better-shaped team. We can outlast other teams, but we can’t take the punches at the beginning of the game like we did tonight.”

Storey’s job now is to sit down with his staff and players and make sure that Friday’s tough loss doesn’t drag the team down in their preparations for next week’s game.

“The last thing I told the guys is that they have to hop on the train. They have to hop on and want it,” Storey said. “It’s still early in the season; it’s 3-1 and we are not over. We have some things to fix and we will drive forward to next week. It’s a week-to-week sport.”

Coudersport hosts Port Allegany (0-4) next Friday night.

AT STRATTANVILLE

BY QUARTERS
Coudersport            0 6 0 16—22
Clarion-Limestone  14 14 6 0—34
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: Coudy 2, C-L 16; Rushes/Yards Rushing: Coudy: 20-109, C-L: 52-254; Yards Passing: Coudy: 96, C-L 84; Comp-Att-Int: Coudy: 2-5-0, C-L: 3-10-0; Penalties: Coudy: 7-65, C-L: 8-60; Fumbles-Lost: Coudy: 4-2, C-L: 2-0; Total Yards: Coudy: 205, C-L: 350; Offensive Plays: Coudy: 24, C-L: 66

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing: Coudy: Hayden Keck 2-4-96-1 ; C-L: Colby Himes 3-10-84-1

Rushing: Coudy: Keck 5-92-1, Stephen Kelly 8-18, Kolby Vanwhy 6-4, Brandon Kightlinger 1 (-5) ; C-L: Austin Newcomb 31-168-1, Ayden Wiles 18-72-1, Kyle Bottaro 3-14

Receiving: Coudy: John Minor 1-85-1, VanWhy 1-11 ; C-L: Ian Callen 2-80-1, Wiles 1-4

Scoring summary

First quarter

C-L: Newcomb, 85-yard kickoff return (2-pt conversion failed), 11:47

C-L: Callen, 55-yard pass from Himes (Newcomb 2-pt run), 4:48

Second quarter

Coudy: Minor, 85-yard pass from Keck (2-pt conversion failed), 10:59

C-L: Wiles, 9-yard run (Newcomb, 2-pt pass from Himes), 7:14

C-L: Himes, 0-yard fumble recovery (2-pt conversion failed), 0:02

Third quarter

C-L: Newcomb, 8-yard run (2-pt conversion failed), 2:38

Fourth quarter

Coudy: Keck, 80-yard run (Keck 2-pt run), 6:40

Coudy: Kelly, 65-yard kickoff return (Keck 2-pt run), 4:51