Preview

CALL IT RIVALRY WEEK IN DISTRICT 9

WEEK 2 PREVIEW - Sept. 10-11, 2004

By Rich Rhoades

Call it rivalry week in District 9 as three longstanding match-ups take the field this week.

The oldest series involves Bradford and Olean, N.Y. They’ll be playing for the 107^th time Friday night in Bradford. The Owls will try to bounce back from a 28-7 loss to Clearfield.

The oldest District 9 rivalry features Johnsonburg and Ridgway, who will play each other for the 100^th time Saturday night in Ridgway. Clearfield and DuBois were set to play for the 100^th time later this season, but Clearfield scratched DuBois from its schedule. Instead, that series will resume next year.

DuBois and Punxsutawney meet for the 89^th time Friday in Punxsutawney. That game should go a long way in determining the District 9 League championship.

In other games Friday, Coudersport (1-0) visits Cameron County (0-1), Brookville (0-1) hosts Clearfield (1-0), Clarion (1-0) visits St. Marys in the Dutch’s season opener, Moniteau (1-0) hosts A-C Valley (0-1), Redbank Valley (1-0) travels to District 10 Sharpsville (1-0) and Union (0-1) visits Keystone (0-1). Saturday, Sheffield (0-1) hosts Otto-Eldred (1-0), Smethport travels to Port Allegany (1-0) and Elk County Catholic (1-0) hosts Kane (0-1).

Here’s a closer look at some of this week’s top matchups:

FRIDAY

DuBois (1-0) at Punxsutawney (1-0), 7 p.m.

The Beavers notched their first shutout since the 1996 playoffs in their season-opening 35-0 win over Central Mountain. Punxsutawney won its Mountain Athletic Conference-Seven Mountain Division debut with a 28-20 victory at Bellefonte.

With Clearfield out of the league this year, it appears that the District 9 League title could be between DuBois, Punxsutawney and perhaps Bradford, so this matchup will set the early tone on the chase for the league crown.

Mike Stewart led the way for the Beavers, rushing for 144 yards and one touchdown as DuBois gained 333 yards rushing as a team. Quarterback Joe Wanson passed for one touchdown and ran for two scores.

The Chucks got a big game from sophomore Devin Mesoraco, who rushed for 171 yards and a touchdown while throwing a TD pass and intercepting a pass on defense.

DuBois leads the all-time series, 54-31-3, and has won seven of the last nine meetings with the Chucks. Last year, the Beavers won 14-6.

Brockway (1-0) at Curwensville (1-0), 7 p.m.

The Rovers and Golden Tide both won their openers, but at least one team came away somewhat unsatisfied with the style of victory.

Brockway beat Sheffield, 23-6, but head coach Ray Reckner thought his team made too many mistakes. While acknowledging the fact he has a lot of new faces on a team coming off an 11-1 season, Reckner knows his team must play better against the Golden Tide.

Brockway did rush for 351 yards, led by Bobby Liddle’s 176 yards. Quarterback Matt Foradora was solid in his debut, passing for 94 yards and a touchdown while kicking a 33-yard field goal. The Rovers were penalized 11 times for 80 yards.

Curwensville, on the other hand, did little wrong in its 68-6 win over Smethport last week. The 68 points were the most the Tide had scored in a game since a 68-09 win over Glendale in 1996.

Curwensville racked up nearly 400 yards of offense in a game it led 36-7 by intermission. Nate Sipes had a monster game, rushing for 151 yards on only 13 carries. He scored four times, three rushing and one on a 95-yard kickoff return.

Curwensville has won four of the five meetings between the teams since both joined the Allegheny Mountain League. Last year, the Rovers beat the Tide, 35-18.

Clarion-Limestone (1-0) at Karns City (1-0), 7 p.m.

The Lions put their 27-game regular season winning streak on the line against the Gremlins in an early Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference showdown.

Neither team had much trouble in their openers, the Lions blasting A-C Valley 42-8 and the Gremlins roughing up Cambridge Springs of District 10, 37-0.

C-L senior Hayden Johnston earned Player of the Week honors last week. Johnston was 10-for-18 passing for 250 yards and four touchdowns while adding 85 yards rushing on seven carries. He also returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, recovered a fumble on defense and kicked a 52-yard punt with the kick going all 52 yards in the air.

Scott Davis caught two of Johnston’s TD passes while Erik White and Kaleb Klosky grabbed the others.

The Gremlins were led by running back Josh Fiscus and quarterback Stephen Black. Fiscus rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns, while Black was 11-for-16 passing for 139 yards and two scores. David Black had seven catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the Gremlins outgained Cambridge Springs 452-44.

SATURDAY

Johnsonburg (0-1) at Ridgway (0-1), 7 p.m.

Both teams come into the fray looking for a victory. Ridgway dropped a 28-15 decision to Port Allegany while Johnsonburg lost to Coudersport, 29-13.

Johnsonburg led 7-0 at halftime only to be outscored 29-6 in the second half. The Rams also lost quarterback Anthony Imbrogno to an injury. T.S. Launer rushed for 99 yards to lead the Rams.

Ridgway was victimized by Port Allegany’s Cody Anderson, who rushed for 149 yards and scored four touchdowns. For the Elkers, Kevin Sarginger had a solid game, scoring on a 75-yard kickoff return and 78-yard run. He finished with 125 yards rushing.

Ridgway leads the series, 48-43-8, and has won 10 of the last 12 meetings against Johnsonburg. The Rams’ last win came in 2000, a 17-12 victory at Ridgway.

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES …

RETURNING THE FAVOR — Eleven, count them, eleven touchdowns were scored on returns across District 9 in the opening week of the season. Was it the opening-week jitters and craziness that hits games or is it a trend? We’ll see.

Here’s a breakdown of the touchdown returns:

Kickoff Returns

95 yds - Nate Sipes - Curwensville

87 yds - Eric Hilliard - Moniteau

84 yds - Hayden Johnston - Clarion-Limestone

78 yds - Kevin Sarginger – Ridgway

Punt Returns

83 yds - Nate Westlake – Bradford

Fumble Returns

32 yds - Doug Swatsworth – Curwensville

0 yds - David Dunkin – Punxsutawney (This was an offensive recovery in the end zone)

Interception Returns

47 yds - Brandon Hess - Curwensville

36 yds - Eric Freer - Otto-Eldred

26 yds - Zach Wanninger - Redbank Valley

25 yds - Manny Carpin - Clarion Area

SEASON-OPENER FOR DUTCH — St. Marys was the lone team not to start its season last week. The Flying Dutchmen host Clarion in a non-league contest. Despite the open date, the Dutch will probably finish with at least nine games played this year.

Traditionally, St. Marys plays Elk County Catholic on the 10^th week if neither team makes the playoffs. If ECC makes the playoffs, St. Marys would play Ridgway or Johnsonburg if one of those teams fail to make the postseason. Of course, if the Dutch make the playoffs, they’ll get their ninth game in the postseason.

DuBois, because of an off-week during Week 5, would have to make the District 9-10 Class AAAA playoffs to give it at least a nine-game season. The Beavers didn’t find an opponent to replace Clearfield on the schedule.

SPEAKING OF BISONS — Clearfield appears to be the preseason favorite in the MAC-Seven Mountains Division, according to at least one publication The Altoona Mirror. With QB Tanner Kelly, RB Josh Harbold and WR Mike Scoggins leading the way, that’s not a stretch considering D-9’s moderate success against District 6’s Class AAA teams in recent years.

Clearfield’s biggest challenger is likely Huntingdon, which traditionally has a strong program. The Bisons visit the Bearcats Week 6.

This year also marks the 10^th anniversary of the Bisons’ dream season of 1994 that saw the Chad Kroell-led team reach the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals and finish 12-1.

Kroell passed for 3,224 yards and 49 touchdowns and finished with 79 career TD passes. All three were state records. Receivers Wes Dahlem and Adam Gibson each hauled in over 1,000 yards, Dahlem 1,349 yards on 58 catches and 19 TDs and Gibson 1,108 yards on 56 catches and 18 TDs. Dahlem’s D-9 record 19 TD catches was tied last year by C-L’s Brad Beggs.

Kroell and Dahlem both attended Penn State University and played under Joe Paterno.

One of the Bisons’ starting linemen from that 1994 squad, Brent Addleman, was recently named sports editor of The Progress newspaper in Clearfield.

MORE NUMBERS — An average of 46.5 points were scored in last week’s 14 games involving District 9 teams. The average margin of victory was 32 points. Last year, 32.2 points per game were scored in the 15 season-opening games involving District 9 teams. Last year’s numbers were hampered by rainy weather and poor field conditions. … Curwensville’s 68 points were the most in District 9 for only a few weeks going back to last year. Karns City dumped Union, 74-13, in Week 9. … Ex-KSAC member West Shamokin is off to a 1-1 start in the WPIAL. After starting the year with a 47-14 rout at Leechburg, it was blanked 49-0 last week by East Allegheny. Former Allegheny Mountain League teams Eisenhower and Youngsville split their openers. Eisenhower lost to Sharpsville 41-7 while Youngsville defeated Cochranton 20-0.