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By Rich Rhoades
The regular season schedule hits the midway
point starting Thursday night this week actually in District 9
football.
The annual Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion
is usually marked with a couple of early-week games and this
year, two are on the schedule as Redbank Valley hosts Clarion
and Clarion-Limestone travels to Union.
After that, it’s the start of division play
in the Allegheny Mountain League with five games on Friday and
one Saturday afternoon along with a couple key matchups in the
Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference Friday night.
The unbeaten list was cut by one last week
as Redbank Valley fell on the road to Moniteau. That still
leaves seven 4-0 teams, three of them in the AML-South with
Brockway, Curwensville and Elk County Catholic. Brookville and
Punxsutawney are still perfect out of the KSAC with Clearfield
and Bradford also unbeaten.
Here’s a closer look at the schedule:
Allegheny Mountain League
The crossover start to the season has
ended, leaving some interesting matchups to be played the final
five weeks of the regular season. Even though 1-3 Port Allegany
played the toughest cross-over schedule — losses to unbeaten
ECC, Brockway and Curwensville — the Gators still have destiny
in their hands against 2-2 Coudersport and Cameron County.
Overall, the AML-South blasted the AML-North in head-to-head
games, 17-6.
Saturday afternoon, the Gators host
Otto-Eldred (0-4). The Terrors have been outscored by an average
of 41.8 points per game, ranking them 596th out of
603 teams in the state according to epasports.com.
The best matchup by record has Johnsonburg
(3-1) hosting Elk Catholic (4-0) in the AML-South. The Crusaders
hope to continue their best start of a season since 1996’s 4-0
start. Ricky Pearsall’s 663 rushing yards rank him tied for
second in the district with Curwensville’s Alex Holland,
although his 10 rushing TDs do lead District 9.
Johnsonburg quarterback Andrew Nortum’s 414
yards passing rank ninth in the district. His top receiver is
Joe Holmberg, who’s caught 19 passes for 275 yards, ranking him
fifth in the district in yardage.
Brockway’s Derek Buganza passed Wilson’s
Tyler Smith on the state’s all-time passing yardage list and now
sits third at 8,071 yards behind Lancaster Catholic’s Kyle Smith
(8,545) and Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin (8,162). He’s passed
for 1,314 yards this year with 15 TDs, completing 67 percent of
his passes.
The Rovers travel to winless Ridgway (0-4),
which has allowed just three less points than Otto-Eldred,
ranking the Elkers 585 out of 603 in points allowed. The Elkers
have been outscored by 39.8 points per game, ranking them 594th
out of 603.
By the way, Brockway and Curwensville, both
averaging 52.8 points per game, share the state lead in scoring.
Speaking of Curwensville, the Golden Tide
head to 2-2 Kane. Next week, Brockway hosts Curwensville.
In other games in the AML-North, Cameron
County (2-2) visits Smethport (1-3) and Coudersport (2-2) hosts
Sheffield (1-3).
Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference
Large School Division
Two interesting matchups highlight the
Large School Division as Karns City (2-2) hosts unbeaten
Punxsutawney while Moniteau (2-2) travels to St. Marys (2-2).
The Chucks haven’t beaten Karns City in two
games since joining the KSAC and will try to continue their hot
start on the turf at the Gremlins. Punxsutawney has only allowed
three touchdowns as Ian Weaver leads the Chucks with 41 tackles.
Offensively, quarterback Logan Weaver has
passed for 397 yards and nine touchdowns. The Chucks’ balanced
running game is led by Ben Blazavich (202 yards, 5 TDs) and
Jason Fallara (178 yards, 3 TDs).
For Karns City, running back Tyler Slagle
rushed for 91 yards in the Gremlins’ 40-20 win against Keystone
last week. Karns City racked up 433 yards of offense.
At Dutch Country Stadium, last week’s RRR
Roadhouse D9Sports.Com Player of the Week Kyle Armagost of
Moniteau comes to town, leading the Warriors. He accounted for
six touchdowns in last week’s 46-32 win against Redbank Valley.
For the year, he’s passed for 585 yards and rushed for 501
yards. St. Marys will try to get the ball to running backs
Justin Quiggle (339 yards) and Kevin Hoy (273 yards).
In a non-conference game, the Brookville
Raiders head to 2-2 DuBois to take on the Beavers for the first
time since their District 9 League days in 2007. The Raiders’
Ryan Kerr is fourth in the district with 557 yards rushing.
Quarterback Sean Sleigh (423
Small School Division
In the KSAC-Small School Division, Redbank
Valley (3-1) hosts Clarion (2-2) Thursday night. The game will
likely decide the division champion as the Bulldogs and Bobcats
square off for the 85th time with Clarion leading the
all-time series 43-36-5.
The Bobcats are led by quarterback Danny
Walters, who has passed for 270 yards and rushed for 278 yards.
Marcus Smerker (248 yards) and Kris Burkhart (22 yards) also key
a run-oriented Clarion offense.
Redbank Valley is paced by quarterback
Brandon Bain (520 yards passed, 219 yards rushing). Caleb Delp
has rushed for 254 yards and Keaton Delp has caught nine passes
for 244 yards
Clarion-Limestone (1-3) visits Union (0-4)
in the other ALF Week Thursday night matchup in Rimersburg.
Friday, Keystone (1-3) travels to winless A-C Valley (0-4).
District 10 Region 6
Erie Cathedral Prep (2-2) at Bradford (4-0)
The unbeaten Owls will try to break through
against visiting Erie Cathedral Prep and stay at the top of the
District 10 Region 6 standings with the Ramblers and Warren.
Prep has crushed the Owls the past two
years, including 64-7 last year and 42-14 in 2008, but the Owls
will try again this year. Pat Pascarella leads the district in
rushing with 760 yards and nine touchdowns with a hefty 11.5
yards per carry average.
Leading Prep is quarterback Damion Terry,
who has passed for 300 yards and rushed for 198 yards. Anthony
Jordan has rushed for 200 yards in just three games.
Mountain Athletic Conference-Allegheny Division
Central Mountain (2-2) at Clearfield (4-0)
It’s early in the division standings, but
it’s a key matchup between two of the three 1-0 teams in the
MAC-Allegheny. The teams share one common opponent in
Central-Martinsburg. The Bisons routed Central-Martinsburg,
42-14, in Week 1 while Central Mountain beat the same team,
10-7, in Week 3.
Bisons quarterback Curtis Frye is second in
the district with 658 yards passing, completing 70 percent of
his passes. Derek Danver has caught 19 passes for 276 yards,
ranking him fourth in the district in receiving yardage. Derek
Morgan’s 457 yards rushing rank sixth in the district.
For Central Mountain’s run-oriented
offense, Von Walker leads the way with 254 yards rushing. The
Wildcats have passed for only 156 yards in four games.
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