CLARION – There’s not much left you can tell the coaching staffs from Clearfield or Bradford about their District 9 Class AAA Championship game opponent. They probably know it already.

For the Clearfield Bisons (7-2) and Bradford Owls (7-2), a championship game matchup is nothing new. It’s the third time in four years that these District 9 League rivals meet for the second time in a season.

And each time, the loser of the second game goes home for the season while the winner plays the District 6 champion -- either Huntingdon or Johnstown -- next Friday at a District 6 site to be determined.

In the season opener, Bradford beat Clearfield at home, 22-15.

This time, it’ll be played on the artificial turf at Clarion University’s Memorial Field Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

"We beat Clearfield by a touchdown," Bradford head coach Steve Ackerman said. "It seems like our games are always close. It’s the makeup of the teams. We know each other so well. Both teams’ kids get fired up to play each other. It’s one of those games."

From there, the Bisons lost to Brookville the following week and then reeled off eight straight wins. The Owls started the year with a 7-0 record, including a league-clinching 25-20 win at Brookville, but limped to the end of the regular season with two straight losses.

The Owls ran into an avalanche of injury problems, which played a part in a 20-7 loss at Bellefonte and 42-7 defeat at Erie Strong Vincent.

"We’re not going to make excuses," Ackerman said. "We didn’t adjust to what we were facing."

Since Bradford’s seventh game at DuBois, the Owls have had five starters miss time with injuries, three of them linemen and another one of the top rushers in fullback Dave Snyder.

Ackerman acknowledged that his team has been helped "tremendously" with the off week prior to Friday’s game.

Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko, whose team hammered Bellefonte, 56-13, three weeks before Bradford lost to the Red Raiders, discounts any theory that has Bradford being anything less than a difficult opponent.

"Those two (Bradford) losses don’t have any effect at all," Janocko said. "I have a lot of respect for Bradford’s coaching staff. They’re going to come to play and it’s going to be a dogfight."

It’ll be Bradford’s power running game against Clearfield’s balanced attack.

The Owls’ stable of running backs include 1,000-yard rusher senior Sean Hvizdzak (1,013 yards, 7.1 yards per carry, 6 TDs), junior Snyder (684 yards, 5.6 ypc., 10 TDs) and senior Aaron O’Toole (641 yards, 8.0 ypc., 6 TDs). It’s not surprising that the Owls boast District 9’s top running game, averaging 6.3 yards per carry and 281.2 yards per game.

Hvizdzak, however, is the only one of the three listed in the probable starting lineup. Junior halfback Morgan O’Brien and senior fullback Scott Abrams, who have combined for 24 carries this year, are listed as starters.

Ackerman points to his line as the starting point to the success.

"The offensive linemen are the key to the season this year," Ackerman said. "With the three backs we have, they can break a long one and it’s because of the guys up front executing blocks. We don’t kid anybody. We’re a running team. If we get into a situation where we have to pass, we’re in trouble. But we tell the kids that if we execute, we won’t get in those situations."

"They do a good job with the backfield," Janocko said. "You just have to try to play sound defense. We have to do a better job defensively, obviously."

The Owls, who racked up nearly 400 yards on the ground the first time around against the Bisons, rank dead last in passing and have attempted only 42 passes for 200 yards.

Meanwhile, the Bisons have watched junior quarterback Tanner Kelly grow into one of the best quarterbacks and players in District 9. Kelly leads District 9 in passing yardage (1,493) and ranks second to Clarion-Limestone’s Hayden Johnston in QB Rating (152.98). He’s also completed nearly 61 percent of his passes.

Against Bradford, while the Owls were shutting down the Bisons’ running game, Kelly passed for 270 yards and he’s been solid since. He’s also rushed for 254 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"(Tanner) has turned into a real good quarterback," Janocko said. "He’s turning into a field general and he’s a real playmaker. We’ve asked him to run, too, and he’s responded. He’s a big kid, has decent speed and a knack for running the ball."

Kelly’s top receiving threats are junior Mike Scoggins (37 receptions, 622 yards, 5 TDs) and senior Nathan Shadeck (24 receptions, 394 yards).

Junior Josh Harbold carries most of the load in the Bisons’ running game. He’s over 1,000 yards at 1,081 and has rushed for 15 touchdowns. Harbold has also caught 16 passes for 207 yards.

"He’s had a real good year," Janocko said. "A lot of that has to do with how the offensive line developed. We struggled the first few games, struggling with the cohesiveness. Harbold’s an all-purpose player."

Janocko pointed to moving senior Kurt Meckey from guard to center and Ryan Graham moving from the defensive line to guard playing a big key. Meckey’s recovering from a shoulder injury and Janocko said that the off week helped the process.

Bradford beat Clearfield in back-to-back title games in 2000 and 2001 before getting eliminated in the semifinals last year by Punxsutawney. The Bisons won last year’s title and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs before being eliminated by Perry. Bradford also advanced to the second round of states the two previous years.