STRATTANVILLE — Otto-Eldred waited a little too long and came up a little short Friday night in its first round District 9 Class A football playoff game.
Clarion-Limestone’s Mike Macefe ran for two touchdowns and the Lions built a 26-0 lead on the way to a 26-16 victory over the Terrors.
The Terrors scored all of their points in the fourth quarter after struggling on offense for three periods.
“Our kids were fighting, but we just could not come up with a big play in the first half,” said Nick LaBella, Otto-Eldred coach. “We had passes go off our fingers and then had the two interceptions.”
O-E made it a game in the final stanza.
Just 41 seconds into the fourth quarter, quarterback Sawyer Drummond found Grant West open for a touchdown and Seth Drummond ran for the PAT to make it a 26-8 margin.
After forcing C-L to punt, the Seth Drummond to West combo found paydirt again and then Sawyer Drummond went to Dylan Close for the two-point conversion to trim the Lions’ lead to 10 points, 26-16, with 8:52 remaining in the game.
It seemed O-E had swung the momentum in its favor, but Clarion-Limestone’s Sam Leadbetter slammed the door shut on the Terrors comeback hopes with the Lions third INT of the game with 2:54 left to play.
“It took us a while to get our legs under us and then we started making some big plays in the fourth quarter, but this was not our best game and they (C-L) were very physical up front and their running backs were really physical,” LaBella offered.
C-L quarterback Brendon Makra took the Lions down the field on the game’s opening possession and found Leadbetter open for a seven-yard TD strike and 6-0 C-L lead.
Six minutes later Chris Peace went 21 yards for the touchdown to put the Lions up 12-0. Both PAT tries were no good and the lead held up through halftime.
Macefe, meanwhile, scored on a 10-yard running play at the 6:48 mark of the third quarter and the Lions added the two-point PAT on a Makra to Leadbetter pass to make it a 20-0 score.
Macefe added his second touchdown on a one-yard run with 1:50 left in the stanza and the hosts went up 26-0 headed into the final 12 minutes of play.
Otto-Eldred, meanwhile, finally got its offense on track, but it was just a little too late.
The Terrors finish the season 5-6, and although disappointed with the loss, LaBella praised his team’s overall improvement this season.
“Our goal is to be at least .500 and we were above that in the regular season,” the Terrors coach explained. “In the last six or seven weeks we’ve been taking it to our opponents. These guys have improved from day one. They’re a different team from the start of the season and have come a long way.
“I couldn’t be more proud of that and I think we’re headed in the right direction. We’re excited,” he added.
Clarion-Limestone (8-2) advances to the semifinals next weekend against the winner of today’s game between Elk Catholic and Redbank Valley.
BY QUARTERS
Otto-Eldred0 0 0 16—16
Clarion-Limestone12 0 14 0—26
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: O-E 10, C-L 18; Rushing Plays: O-E 13, C-L 50; Rushing Yards: O-E 81, C-L 263; Passing (com/att): O-E 15-35, C-L 8-16; Passing Yards: O-E 149, C-L 116; Offensive Plays: O-E 48, C-L 66; Total Offense: O-E 230, C-L 379; Interceptions by: O-E 0, C-L 3; Fumbles/Lost: O-E 1-1, C-L 1-1; Penalties/Yards: O-E 3-25, C-L 7-68; Punting/Avg: O-E 3-28.0, C-L 6-30.0
