GAME PREVIEW

Logan Weaver Curtis Frye Photo by Gary Wiant Photo courtesy of Clearfieldfootball.org

By Rich Rhoades

DuBOIS — It’s pretty rare when two unbeaten teams meet for a District 9 championship, but that’s what’s happening in Friday night’s Class AAA Championship game when the 10-0 Punxsutawney Chucks and Clearfield Bisons meet at E.J. Mansell Stadium.

The last time two perfect teams clashed was 10 years ago when Curwensville and Clarion met in the Class A Championship game eventually won by Curwensville.

Friday night, it’s a rematch of last year’s district championship won by the Chucks, 34-28, on the same field in a dramatic finish that saw Punxsutawney score the go-ahead touchdown with 1:41 left then preserve it on Braedon Pennington’s hit on Bisons receiver Trey Campman that prevented the Bisons from getting the ball near the goal-line in the final seconds.

It’ll be hard to match the dramatics of that game as both teams bring in a handful of players from that game.

Both starting quarterbacks — juniors Logan Weaver and Curtis Frye for the Chucks and Bisons respectively — are among the headliners. But the defenses might be the lead story for both teams as the Chucks and Bisons rank 1-2 in the district in scoring defense at 4.3 and 10.2 points per game allowed respectively.

The Chucks rank third in the state behind Clairton (1.9) of the WPIAL and North Schuylkill (2.4) out of District 11. Clearfield is 39^th.

Only Moniteau managed to score more than one touchdown in a game this year against head coach Alan Nichol’s team, which has four shutouts.

Linebacker Ian Weaver paces the defense with 82 tackles while defensive end Ben Blazavich has 6.5 sacks. Safety Duell Thompson leads the team with four interceptions.

Head coach Tim Janocko’s Bisons have shut out their last two opponents — Bellefonte and Huntingdon. Linebacker Brandon Hogue leads the team with 71 tackles. Linemen David Hoover and Cliff Hill have 8.5 and 6 sacks respectively while Frye and Beau Swales each have three interceptions.

Offensively for the Chucks, Weaver, in his third year as a starter, has completed 74 of 126 passes (58.7 percent) for 1,068 yards with an impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio of 17:2. His top receivers are Zak Dickey (27-362, 8 TDs), Blazavich (17-266, 2 TDs) and Thompson (16-260, 2 TDs).

Out of the backfield, it’s not known if the Chucks will have their leading rusher and two-way starter Jason Fallara (564 yards, 9 TDs), who was out with an injury for the Brookville game two weeks ago. Blazavich (68-340, 6 TDs) and Glenn Perry (59-272, 5 TDs) have seen plenty of action carrying the ball as well.

Clearfield’s Frye has passed for 1,417 yards, completing 88 of 146 passes (60.3 percent) with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s also rushed for 245 yards and eight scores.

Frye has plenty of receiving target options as five players have 12 or more catches. Derek Danver (29-428, 6 TDs) leads the way, followed by Andrew Redden (14-282, 1 TD), Derek Morgan (13-203, 1 TD), Swales (12-226, 1 TD) and Jack Mellgard (12-152, 2 TDs).

Morgan leads the Bisons with 948 yards on 154 carries with 13 touchdowns while Swales has gained 585 yards on 82 carries with 11 touchdowns.

NOTES: The winner advances to the PIAA playoffs and will take on the winner of Friday’s District 6 Championship game between Johnstown (9-1) and Bellefonte (7-3) next Friday or Saturday at a site and time to be announced … The Bisons turned in their sixth unbeaten season and first since 2004. The others were 1998, 1994, 1955 and 1939. The Chucks were 10-0 in 1977 and 1963 and 9-0-1 in 1941. … Last year’s title for the Chucks was their second and first since 1991 when they won the Class AAAA crown. The Bisons, meanwhile, have won seven district titles — six in Class AAA and one in Class AAAA — and have played for the Class AAA title in all but one year since 1998. … The Chucks have won a school-record 18 straight regular-season games dating back to last year’s Week 2 loss at DuBois. … The Chucks haven’t beaten the Bisons in back-to-back meetings since 1990-91. Since then the Bisons have won 15 of 18 games. Last year’s win by the Chucks ended an 11-game losing streak dating back to their last win in 1997.