UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Champions today, tomorrow, and forever.
In the first-ever all-District 9 PIAA title game, Clarion followed a familiar formula to beat defending state champion DuBois Central Catholic, 4-1 for the Class 1A crown.
“I’m so proud of the boys,” said Clarion coach Rob Jewett. “This was all them. I remember the first practice of the season saying this was the first step to a state championship. I don’t know how much they believed it, but we believed it. I’m glad it worked out.”
See Jewett’s full interview:
In the rubber match between the two teams (DCC won 5-2 in the regular season on May 11; Clarion won in the D9 title game, 6-3) the Bobcats (21-4) went with Devon Lauer for four innings on the mound and turned to Derek Smail for the final three, the same exact scenario that played out in their 3-0 semifinal win over Southern Fulton.
Brayden Fox’s RBI single in the fifth inning got DCC (20-6) within one at 2-1, and it also marked the only run Clarion gave up in its 4-game jaunt to the state title. It also broke a run of 22 ⅔ consecutive scoreless innings.
“We all know what happened in 2017 (when Clarion lost 2-0 to Meyersdale in their only other state championship game appearance),” Jewett said. “That was a coin flip on who I was going to pitch. This time was a little bit easier, although I knew he (Lauer) wasn’t going to go too much because he pitched quite a bit (on Monday in the semifinal win). I was hoping to get three innings and we got four.”
Clarion plated single runs in both the first and second inning, with Derek Smail’s RBI groundout driving in Dawson Smail, who led off the bottom of the first with a single.
In the second, Daunte Girvan’s sacrifice fly brought in Tanner Miller, who led off the inning with a single.
That proved to be all Lauer and Smail needed, with both wiggling their way out of major jams in the fourth and fifth innings.
Clarion celebrates with the championship trophy. Photo by Paul Burdick.
(after the fourth inning). Next guy up. I was hoping Derek could finish the game so that part of the game went according to script.”
DCC had runners on first and third in the fifth after Brayden Fox’s RBI triple plated Aiden Snowberger, who reached on a bunt single. Smail was able to limit the damage, getting a pop-out off the bat of Brezenski, and then struck out Blake Pisarcik to end the inning.
Clarion’s Devon Lauer delivers a pitch during the PIAA 1A championship game. Photo by Paul Burdick.
In Clarion’s four PIAA wins, Lauer went a total of 16 shutout innings, striking out 13, allowing 11 hits, and walking nine.
“It’s crazy,” Lauer said about his pitching performance during the PIAA tournament.
See complete interviews with Lauer and other Clarion players:
Smail, meanwhile, allowed just the one run in six innings in his two games, striking out six, allowing six hits, and walking four.
“When he gets done pitching there our zeroes on the board, new inning, no one on base, so I get to go from the wind-up,” Derek Smail said about the ease of following Lauer on the mound.
Fox, who started on the mound for DCC, got into a groove after giving up the two early runs, retiring eight in a row before Clarion got to him for a pair of runs in the fifth.
Girvan walked to start the inning, went to second on a wild pitch, and came home on Hayden Weber’s RBI single. Dawson Smail followed with an RBI single, his second hit of the game, to extend the league to 4-1.
Derek Smail induced a line-drive double play after a leadoff single by DCC’s Carter Himes in the sixth, and worked around a 2-out single by Fox in the seventh, getting Carter Hickman to ground out to end the game.
“We preach to our guys to throw strikes and trust the defense,” Jewett said. “The defense came to play. I thought our outfield played tremendously. We handled some situations and didn’t panic.”
Clarion’s Dawson Smail connects for a hit. Photo by Paul Burdick.
Brayden Fox went five innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits, walking two, and striking out one. Carter Himes came in and pitched a scoreless sixth with a pair of strikeouts.
“They’re awesome to be able to pull this off,” said DuBois Central Catholic coach Adam Fox of his team reaching the state championship game for the second year in a row. “They’re going to be awesome human beings. This one is especially hard for them, but at the end of the day, you know this journey this year was amazing. It’s a cliche, but it’s not about the result, it’s about the journey. I think we’re the only team in Pennsylvania that made it back this year. And we’re going to be back. These guys want to be back next year. All roads go through Clarion now. Congratulations to them and their fans.”
Clarion’s Derek Smail delivers a pitch during Thursday’s PIAA championship game. Photo by Paul Burdick.
Matt Alston also had multiple hits for Clarion, going 2-for-3.
See interview with Clarion’s Gary Matus:
DCC actually outhit Clarion, 9-6, with Fox, Hickman, and Himes collecting two each.
The fact that the last two teams standing in Class 1A were both from District 9 wasn’t lost on anyone.
“District 9 is a hotbed for success,” Adam Fox said. “Everybody pushes everybody. I think Rob (Jewett) touched on it in his interview and I’ll say it again – these coaches care, these kids care. Mike Dickey (Punxsutawney coach) will say the same thing. It’s not about what class you’re in, it’s how you go about your business. He set a precedent this year with such a great team. Hats off to everyone (in District 9). Coaches will say iron sharpens iron and that’s exactly what District 9 is.”
And among a slew of great teams in District 9 this season, Clarion gets to carry that torch as 2023 state champion.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Dawson Smail said. “We’ve had first-round exits the last two years and now we come here this year and win the whole thing. It’s unreal.”
