The first week of high school football is in the books and there was a mixed bag of results across Progressland.
Clearfield and Philipsburg-Osceola each started off their Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference schedules with wins, doing it in very different fashions. The Bison responded from a 14-2 halftime deficit and trailed 21-8 in the third, only to rally for a 29-21 victory over Tyrone. Meanwhile, P-O scored early in the second quarter to tie its game with Huntingdon at 7-7 and went on to put up 35 straight points in the 35-7 decision.
Curwensville was leading its ICC opener at Meyersdale 14-6 early in the third quarter, but had special teams breakdowns on a kickoff return for a touchdown and a blocked punt that went for six as the Red Raiders put up 33 straight points in a 39-20 victory.
Glendale, Moshannon Valley and West Branch also suffered double-digit setbacks in their games as the Vikings fell to Windber (51-6), the Black Knights lost to North Star (28-13) and the Warriors fell to Everett (21-7).
There were several standout performances in Week 1, highlighted by the following:
Top Quarterbacks
1. Clearfield’s Will Domico hit on 11 of his 21 pass attempts for 203 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing the ball 10 times for 20 yards, including a 2-yard sneak on fourth down that closed the Bison gap to 21-15 in the third quarter.
2. Curwensville’s Tyler Dunn threw for a Progressland Week 1 high 207 yards, completing nine of his 20 tosses with two going for scores. He had TD passes of 30 and 74 yards and added a 68-yard completion to his totals.
Top Rushing
Leaders
1. Philipsburg-Osceola’s Jakodi Jones carried the ball 18 times for 114 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring runs of 33 and 3 yards in the fourth quarter that helped turn a 14-point lead into a blowout.
2. Bison Brady Collins racked up 116 yards on 15 carries, starting the game with a 50-yard jaunt on Clearfield’s first offensive play from scrimmage.
3. Collins’ teammate Carter Chamberlain piled up 95 yards and two TDs on 12 carries, blasting in from a yard out in the first half and adding a 7-yard score late in the fourth that gave the Bison the 8-point difference on the scoreboard.
Top Aerial
Performances
1. Clearfield receiver Carter Freeland hauled in seven catches for 136 yards — both Progressland-bests for Week 1 — and caught a game-changing 38-yard scoring strike from Domico that gave the Bison a 1-point lead midway through the fourth quarter against Tyrone.
2. Curwensville’s Cael Butler only caught one ball Friday against Meyersdale, but he made it count, going for a 74-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
3. Glendale’s Connor Potustschnig was second only to Freeland in Week 1 receptions with four, adding 27 receiving yards.
Potutschnig also had the biggest play for the Vikings, returning a kickoff 97 yards for a score early in the third for his team’s only points against Windber.
Big Plays
1. With his team clinging to a 22-21 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Clearfield’s Collins recovered a Tyrone fumble and returned it 13 yards to the Eagle 28-yard line to set up a Carter Chamberlain 7-yard score five plays later.
2. P-O’s Lucas Peterson intercepted a Huntingdon pass, which set up the Mounties first score four plays later that tied the game at 7-7.
That was the start of 35 unanswered points for the Mounties.
Stat/Fact of
the Week
Everett snapped a 12-game losing streak, dating back to October 22, 2021 when it shut out Meyersdale 9-0. That was the only victory for Everett in the past three seasons as the Warriors were 1-25 in that span.