By Rich Rhoades

Inevitably each year there’s talk on what conference is better in District 9 – the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference or the Allegheny Mountain League. Opinions are strongly influenced by how teams fare against each other in the postseason.

With a little research, here’s the all-time numbers broken down between the conferences when it comes to head-to-head matchups through this year’s games and dating back to 1987:

                                                            AML               KSAC

Class A title games                             9                      5

Other Class A playoff games              16                    13

Class AA title games                          3                      5

Other Class AA playoff games           3                      3

Total wins vs. other league               31                    26

So what does that conclude? Well, it depends what you’re looking for. This year, the leagues split their four postseason matchups. Cameron County routed Keystone in the first round and then beat Clarion in the Class A title game. Clarion beat Elk County Catholic in the Class A semifinals and Karns City beat AML champion Kane in the Class AA semifinals.

Remember to take into account that the AML is comprised of 10 Class A teams and 2 Class AA teams and while the KSAC now is made up of five Class A teams, four Class AA teams and one Class AAA team. The best teams in each conference don’t always play each other in the postseason.

This year, the KSAC was ruled by the best two Class AA teams in the district in Karns City and Moniteau. The two split their season meetings and in the playoffs, Karns City beat the AML champion Kane Wolves by 28 points. Cameron County, the AML runner-up, beat Clarion, the fourth-place team in the KSAC, by 10 points. Based on that, give this year’s edge to the AML.

But what about past years when the best of the AML played the best of the KSAC?

Here’s what research found:

                                                                        AML               KSAC

Wins against other league champ in finals:     5                      3

The last time two league champions met in the playoffs was in 2005 when Coudersport beat Clarion, a tri-champion in the KSAC, in the Class A finals. The others:

2004: Curwensville over co-champion Clarion-Limestone

2002: Clarion-Limestone over Kane

2000: Curwensville over Clarion

1999: Cameron County over Clarion

1993: Clarion-Limestone over Ridgway

1992: Smethport over Clarion-Limestone

1988: East Brady over Port Allegany

Here’s another take. When has one league’s champion lost to a team in the other league that didn’t win the league title in the playoffs? It’s only happened three times, one being this year when Kane fell to Karns City in the Class AA semifinals. The other two:

1997: Smethport losing to Clarion in the Class A final. The Bobcats were second in the KSAC that year behind Karns City.

1991: Clarion-Limestone losing to Smethport in the Class A semifinals. The Hubbers lost to Elk County Christian in the AML title game, then got revenge on the Crusaders in the district final.

CONCLUSION

This is a pretty tough call, considering one team is loaded with Class A teams and the other usually has a couple of very strong Class AA teams year to year – the KSAC with Karns City almost annually, Moniteau currently and Redbank Valley when it was Class AA in past years.

With 10 Class A teams in the AML, it’s the power of numbers each year. Chances are, the AML is going to come up with some good Class A teams with that mix. And in year’s past and present, we’ve seen Curwensville, Smethport, Coudersport, Port Allegany, Kane, Cameron County, Johnsonburg and Cameron County all put teams in the championship game. But with as many Class A teams in the mix, the bracket is going to work in the AML’s favor in many years.

In the KSAC, Class A success has been relegated mostly to Clarion and Clarion-Limestone.

So if you use the criteria of how many different teams have been successful in the postseason, go with the AML. But that conference has almost always been bigger.

Just some things to chew on during the offseason.