WEEK FOUR DISTRICT 9 FOOTBALL WRAP-UP

SEPT. 24-25

Last updated: 09/26/04 01:47:07 PM

CLEARFIELD – Josh Harbold scored four touchdowns to lead Clearfield (4-0) to a 49-14 win over visiting Bellefonte (1-3) Saturday night.

Harbold ran 17 times for 211 yards and two touchdowns, caught two passes for 52 yards and a score and returned the second-half kickoff 81 yards for a score.

Quarterback Tanner Kelly added a touchdown pass and two scoring runs for the Bisons while going 5-for-8 passing for 66 yards and rushing eight times for 53.

Clearfield led 28-8 at halftime thanks to a 49-yard pass from Kelly to Harbold, runs of 6 and 68 yards by Harbold and a 2-yard run by Kelly. Josh Mundy had Bellefonte’s lone first-half score on a 1-yard run and then threw the 2-point conversion pass.

Harbold’s kickoff return made it 35-8 before Mundy hit Stefan Plan with a 26-yard toss.

Kelly’s 15-yard run and a 70-yard jaunt by William Bacharach closed out the scoring for the Bisons.

SHEFFIELD – Nate and Nick Sipes continue to give opponents headaches.

A week after both brothers went over 200 yards rushing in a win over Johnsonburg they shredded the Sheffield defense for a combined 302 yards and five touchdowns in a 36-7 win Saturday afternoon at Sheffield.

Nate, a senior, ran 21 times for 145 yards and three scores, while Nick, a sophomore, added 20 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns.

Curwensville outgained Sheffield 383 to 170 with all the Golden Tide yards coming on the ground.

Curwensville led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter on a 23-yard run by Nick Sipes and a 6-yard run by Nate Sipes. Cody Elms’s 12-yard reception from Jeremy Borst accounted for the Sheffield score.

A 16-yard run by Nick Sipes gave the Golden Tide a 20-7 halftime lead, and runs of 3 and 8 yards by Nate Sipes in the third quarter closed out the scoring.

Nate Sipes also caught a 2-point conversion pass from Dean Swatsworth to give him 20 points on the day.

Sheffield managed just 43 rushing yards on 24 carries, while Borst was 10-for-35 passing for 127 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked four times.

Walt Elmquist had four catches for 66 yards for the Wolverines, while Elms had three for 22.

PORT ALLEGANY – Ben Donlin ran 11 times for 57 yards and three touchdowns to lead visiting Brockway (3-1) to a 39-18 win over Port Allegany (2-2) Saturday afternoon.

Donlin scored on second-quarter runs of 5 and 1 yards and added a 23-yard third quarter jaunt, as Brockway built a 39-12 lead at the end of three.

The Rovers used two touchdowns in the final 1:02 of the first half to take what was a one-touchdown game and turn it into a 26-6 halftime lead.

Donlin scored on a 1-yard run with 1:02 left in the half to make it 20-6.

After forcing a Port Allegany punt, Matt Foradora dropped back to pass, couldn’t find anyone open and instead took off on a 76-yard touchdown run as time expired to push the Rover lead to 26-6.

A 5-yard pass from Foradora to Bobby Liddle, and a 5-yard run by Donlin gave Brockway a 13-0 lead three minutes into the second quarter before a 6-yard run by Cody Anderson with 3:50 left got the Gators back into the game.

The third quarter belonged to Brockway with Donlin scoring on a 23-yard run and Joe Antonuccio catching a 20-yard pass from Anthony Varischetti.

Jake Rohrer’s 35-yard run early in the fourth quarter for Port Allegany capped the scoring.

Brockway ran for 260 yards and threw for 130 more on the day.

Foradora ran five times for 75 yards and was 6-for-8 passing for 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Antonuccio had two catches for 52 yards.

Anderson led Port with 13 carries for 64 yards, was 1-for-1 passing for 28 yards and caught four passes for 44 yards.

BROOKVILLE – Nick Hescke’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Allen Bowen with 1:41 left in the game, and Ryan Galbraith’s 2-point conversion pass from Bowen lifted Brookville (1-3) to its first win of the season 14-12 over visiting St. Marys Friday night.

St. Marys (0-3) had taken a 12-6 lead on a 1-yard run by Mark Lang with 5:08 remaining, but the 2-point conversion run failed.

The Dutchmen led 6-0 at halftime thanks to a 4-yard run by Adam Geer late in the first half.

Brookville tied the game midway through the third quarter on a 15-yard run by Matt Berfield.

Geer led all runners with 22 carries for 107 yards, while Bryan Dempsey taking the place of injured starter Lucas Wendel was 2-for-9 passing for 33 yards. Wendel suffered a spiral fracture on his left fibula during the first quarter of last week’s loss to Clarion-Limestone, although he played most of the game with the injury.

Berfield led Brookville with 15 carries for 60 yards, while Max Kutz added eight for 46. Heschke was 5-for-12 passing for 83 yards and added 12 totes for 24 yards. Bowen had four catches for 75 yards.

EMPORIUM – Josh Feronti’s 5-yard run in overtime lifted visiting Johnsonburg to a 20-14 win over Cameron County Friday night.

Cameron County (0-4) had the first overtime possession, but a 24-yard field goal by Brian Harford was off the mark.

Johnsonburg (2-2) rallied from a 14-0 second-quarter deficit to get the win.

Cameron County led 14-0 in the early stages of the second quarter thanks to a 29-yard pass form John Malize to Cash Grimone and 1-yard Scott Bauer run.

The Rams tied the game before halftime on a 3-yard run by Bill Boylan and a 12-yard pass from Anthony Imbrogno, playing for the first time since getting hurt in Week One, to Corey Wonderly with 34 seconds left in the half.

Feronti led an injury depleted Johnsonburg backfield with 25 carries for 114 yards, while Boylan added 15 totes for 55 yards. Imbrogno was 5-for-9 passing for 87 yards throwing to four different receivers.

Grimone led Cameron County with 27 carries for 93 yards and three catches for 73. Malize was 6-for-21 passing for 109 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Judd Zilcosky had both picks for Johnsonburg.

RIDGWAY – Virgil Graham ran 27 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and Chad Bova scored a touchdown running and a touchdown receiving to lead visiting Otto-Eldred (3-1) to a 33-16 win over Ridgway (1-3) Friday night.

Graham scored on runs of 64 and five yards and Bova caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Dan Terrette and scored on a 27-yard run for the Terrors.

Bova finished the night with four carries for 22 yards and three catches for 53 and added an interception on defense. Terrette was 9-for-14 passing for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

Otto led just 15-10 at halftime and 21-16 at the end of three quarters but outscored Ridgway 12-0 in the fourth.

Bova and Graham’s runs gave the Terrors their first-half points, while Ridgway scored on a 22-yard Nick Thompson field goal and an 11-yard pass from Kyle Huber to Josh Shirey.

Graham scored Otto’s third-quarter touchdown, while Huber hit Sarginger with a 6-yard pass for the Elkers.

An 11-yard pass from Terrette to Bova midway through the fourth gave Otto-Eldred some breathing room, and then Terrette hit Nathan Booth with a 41-yard controversial scoring strike with four seconds remaining to cap off the scoring.

The last-second pass, which came one play after Otto-Eldred had taken a knee, caused Ridgway coach Mark Morelli to march across the field to confront Otto-Eldred head coach Kerry Snow, who assured him the play wasn’t called from the sideline. Snow then made all 11 Otto-Eldred players who were on the field for the score apologize to the Ridgway staff and players, which Morelli accepted. The officials, after reportedly telling the Otto sideline that they "ruined what was a good game" ran the final four seconds off the clock without another play.

The win was pay back of sorts for Otto-Eldred who had lost to Ridgway the last two seasons by a combined score of 74-25.

Ryan Little added nine carries for 75 yards and three catches for 45 yards for the Terrors.

Beau Iorfido led Ridgway with 12 carries for 60 yards, while Huber was 8-for-13 passing for 104 yards with Sarginger catching four passes for 52 yards.

SMETHPORT – Smethport (2-2) took advantage of five Elk County Catholic turnovers to defeat the Crusaders (2-2) 41-7 Friday night at Smethport. ECC was playing its second road game in five days after losing 14-7 at Brockway Monday.

Matt Clark scored three touchdowns to lead the Hubbers.

Smethport built a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to two costly ECC fumbles.

Tyler Covert got the first score on a 2-yard fumble recovery after ECC’s Travis Herzing fumbled a punt return.

On ECC’s ensuing possession Anthony Mastrogiacomo fumbled away the ball on the first play setting Smethport up in good field position, and eight plays and two fourth-down conversions later Mike Mitchell scored on a 1-yard run.

The Hubbers built the lead to 21-0 seven seconds into the second quarter when Matt Switzer hit Clark with a 26-yard scoring pass.

Another ECC turnover, this time an interception by Mitchell, led to a 15-yard pass from Switzer to Clark to make it 27-0 at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter the Hubbers increased the lead to 34-0 on a 4-yard run by Zach Parkes before Anthony Tettis got ECC’s lone touchdown on a 1-yard run.

Clark made it 41-7 on a 1-yard run with 54 seconds left in the third quarter

Smethport outgained ECC 31y to 146 in the game including 224 to 43 on the ground and had 21 first downs to eight for the Crusaders.

Tettis led ECC with 11 carries for 27 yards, while Mitchell had 19 for 70 for Smethport.

Switzer was 3-for-5 passing for 47 yards and ran 12 times for 35 yards.

Kyle Mahoney was 7-for-11 passing for 93 yards for ECC.

KANE – Visiting Coudersport (4-0) jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter and defeated Kane (0-4) 27-14 Friday night.

David Babcock, who finished with 73 yards on 14 carries, opened the scoring with a 30-yard run at the 9:15 mark of the first quarter.

After Kane turned the ball over on downs, Sam Decker caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from John Gerhart just three minutes later to give the Falcons the early lead.

After Babcock’s second touchdown run early in the third quarter, Kane answered with an 18-play drive capped by Mike Giordano’s 2-yard run.

On Kane’s next drive, Giordano was picked off deep in Wolves’ territory, and Coudersport took advantage scoring on a 1-yard pass from Gerhart to Rob Cavallari to seal the win.

The Wolves did answer, as Giordano found Paul Eastman with a 16-yard pass late in the game to set the final score.

Kyle Oakes led Kane with 26 carries for 100 yards.

CLARION-LIMESTONE 8, BRADFORD 3

BRADFORD – Clarion-Limestone (4-0) extended its state-leading regular-season win streak to 30 games barely by defeating homestanding Bradford 8-3 Friday night.

For the most part, Bradford shutdown the Lions high-potent offense. But C-L got one big play, a 75-yard pass from Hayden Johnston to Erik White with just over nine minutes to play in the game to erase a 3-0 deficit and get the win.

The loss broke an 17-game home win streak for Bradford dating back to the 1999 season. The last team before C-L to beat the Owls at home was A-C Valley 22-21 in the District 9 Class AAA playoffs Nov. 5, 1999. The last regular-season home loss for Bradford was a 21-3 defeat to Clearfield Sept. 3, 1999.

The eight points score are the fewest in the regular season for the Lions during the streak and the fewest in the regular season since Aug. 31, 2001, when Karns City handed C-L its last regular-season loss 25-7.

But while the offense struggled, the C-L defense was more than up to the task limiting Bradford (2-2) to 15 yards rushing on 38 carries. That continued a poor running trend for the Owls, who came into the game averaging just 2.8 yards per carry in their first three games.

Bradford’s lone score came on a 29-yard field goal by Kyle Macfarlane following an interception thrown by Johnston when he was hit on a blitz.

The Owls blitzed a lot of the night hitting Johnston nearly every time he threw the football.

C-L's 30-game regular-season win streak is just the fifth known regular-season win streak in District 9 history to extend to 30 games or more, and C-L is just the fourth known school to have a regular-season streak of 30 or more in District 9 joining Smethport, Ridgway (twice) and St. Marys as the only known schools to put together that many consecutive regular-season wins.

KARNS CITY – Karns City (2-2) suffered its worst loss in nearly three decades 51-7 at the hands of Redbank Valley (2-2) Friday night at Karns City.

The 44-point defeat is the largest defeat for the Gremlins since they lost 52-0 in 1976 to East Brady. Karns City has now been outscored 93-14 in two home games this season and has lost two home games for the first time since going 1-3 at home in 1995.

Redbank Valley broke a 2-game overall losing streak and a four-game losing streak to Karns City. The Bulldogs last beat the Gremlins 30-28 in 1999.

The Bulldogs used a strong running game to get the win getting 345 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

Bryce Miller paced the way with nine carries for 129 yards and one touchdown, Skyler Smith added 22 totes for 116 yards and two scores and Brandon Johnston six carries for 68 yards and two touchdowns.

Redbank Valley went up 10-0 midway through the first quarter on a 1-yard run by Skyler Smith and a 36-yard field goal by Brock Shaffer.

Early in the second quarter, Redbank made it 17-0 on an 8-yard run by Smith before Josh Fiscus cut the lead to 17- 7 with a touchdown run for the Gremlins.

A 9-yard run by Johnston made it 24-7, and then on the last play of the first half Redbank Valley stopped Fiscus short of the end zone on a first-and-goal from the 1 run.

Johnston’s second score of the game, an 18 yarder, made it 30-7 early in the third quarter.

A Karns City fumble at its own 2-yard line led to a 1-yard run by Jason Smith to make it 37-7, and a 62-yard run by Miller made it 44-7.

Nick Magagnotti closed out the scoring for Redbank Valley with a 2-yard fourth quarter run.

FOXBURG – Going into this season, A-C Valley had won just two games in three years. But after the Falcons 47-6 win over visiting Conneaut Lake Friday night, A-C Valley has won two games in two weeks.

The Falcons (2-2) are at .500 for the first time since midway through the 2000 season, which was also the last time they won more than one game finishing 4-5 that season.

For the second straight week, Rocco Crapis was the main weapon for A-C Valley running for 133 yards and three touchdowns while helping the Falcons gain 290 yards on the ground.

Colt Burk added seven carries for 44 yards and two touchdowns while Luiz Goncalves added 11 carries for 50 yards and a touchdown while going 2-for-4 passing for 22 yards.

The 47 points are the most scored by A-C Valley since it beats Union 57-28 Sept. 21, 2001. The 47 points also surpass the total from the entire 2002 season when the Falcons scored just 45 points on the year.

WEST SUNBURY – Moniteau (4-0) continued to roll with a 37-6 win over visiting Keystone (1-3) Friday night.

The Warriors have now outscored their opponents 161-26 on the year, while Keystone has been outscored 126-46.

Moniteau outscored Keystone 27-6 in the second half after leading 10-0 at halftime.

Matt Schandelmeier led the Warriors with 106 yards rushing and two scores, while Adam Cousins added 107 yards on the ground.

Sam Swartzfager paced Keystone with 23 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Mike Switzer was 2-for-7 passing for 78 yards. Kyle McMunn caught both passes for the Panthers.