By Rich Rhoades

BROCKWAY – Friday night’s Curwensville at Brockway football showdown at Varischetti Field hasn’t earned the game of the week title in District this weekend, it has grabbed regional attention.

Fans can vote the Tide-Rovers matchup as the WJAC-TV Johnstown Game of the Week. They can vote for the game by going to: http://www.wjactv.com/highschool/24311725/detail.html

The game is also definitely going to be the WTAJ-TV Altoona Sportsbeat Game of the Week. The station will be going live from Brockway starting at 5:30 p.m. and will have their live, game-day prediction at the 6;20 p.m. sports. Students of both schools are encouraged to come out and bring signs and be part of the show.

As for the game, it’s a battle of longtime Allegheny Mountain League-South Division rivals as two of District 9’s five undefeated teams do battle. It’ll certainly go a long way in determining the AML-South champion, although 5-0 Elk County Catholic awaits both teams the next two weeks.

The Tide-Rovers game is one of contrasts. Curwensville’s traditional power running game takes on Brockway’s vaunted passing attack led by quarterback Derek Buganza, who has taken charge of all of District 9’s passing records.

But both get it done when it comes to scoring points. Brockway is the highest scoring team in the state at 56.4 points per game. Curwensville is fifth at 51.8 points per game.

Buganza, in limited action last week with 98 yards passing in a 71-6 rout of Ridgway, moved past Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin into second place on the state’s all-time passing yardage list. His 8,153 yards passing now just trails Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin (8,162 yards) Lancaster Catholic’s Kyle Smith’s record of 8,545 yards.

Not to be outdone, Curwensville added a name to the District 9 record book last week as Alex Holland ran for district-record 419 yards in a 48-20 win over Kane. Holland went over 1,000 yards for the season and sits at 1,082 yards. He’s scored 14 touchdowns overall and also averages 30.2 yards on kick returns while sharing the team lead in tackles on defense with 20.

Curwensville has fared well against the Rovers, winning 9 of 11 games, including five of the last six. The Buganza-led Rovers are 0-2 against the Tide. Last year in Curwensville’s 32-19 win, Buganza was limited to a career-low 160 yards passing, completing 14 of 27 yards with one touchdown and one interception. In 2008, the Tide beat the Rovers 42-27 as Buganza completed 17 of 31 passes for 260 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Offensively for the Tide in those two wins, they’ve nearly put five different running backs over 100 yards. Last year, Holland ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

So the game plan for the Tide at least is pretty clear — keep Buganza and the Rovers offense off the field. Curwensville will do that with an offense averaging 416.7 yards per game, 324 of that coming on the ground.

Zach Dimmick has also rushed for good yardage with 227 and five touchdowns. The quarterback combination of Hunter McCracken and Alec Starr has passed for 508 yards and 10 touchdowns. The top receivers are Shane Hoover, who has caught nine passes for 188 yards. Shae Best has seven catches for 204 yards.

If a defense can stop Brockway, it might be Curwensville. The Tide defense has yielded just 161.8 yards per game.

But don’t be fooled about Brockway’s offense, which statistically is one of the most balanced units around. While Buganza’s numbers are video game quality, the Rovers are averaging 267 yards rushing a game.

Mike Vervoort has rushed for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns along with catching 17 passes for 334 yards. His 17 touchdowns overall lead the district. Houston Fairman has rushed for 216 yards.

Buganza’s other receiving targets include the district’s leading pass-catcher in Kyle Braun with 25 receptions for 519 yards. Jake Shaffer has 16 catches for 237 yards.

Around the rest of the district this week:

ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN LEAGUE

While the Rovers and Golden Tide are knocking each other around in Brockway, the unbeaten Elk County Catholic Crusaders will try to keep pace at the top of the AML-South standings when they host the Kane Wolves (2-3).

Ricky Pearsall’s 880 yards rushing are second in the district behind Curwensville’s Holland and he’s scored 16 touchdowns overall, including four in last week’s 34-8 win over Johnsonburg.

Kane has a balanced running game as Logan Depto (205), Dylan Eckstrom (202) and Pat Anderson (201) have all rushed over 200 yards.

In the other AML-South game, Johnsonburg (3-2) hosts Ridgway (0-5) in the 106^th meeting between next-door rivals. Rams quarterback Andrew Nortum has passed for 496 yards with receiver Joe Holmberg catching 24 passes for 336 yards. Only three teams across the state have allowed more points than the Elkers, who have allowed 251 points — Carson Long (District 3, 294), Honesdale (District 2, 260) and Kennedy Catholic (District 10, 255).

In the AML-North, the matchup of the week features Cameron County (3-2) at home against Coudersport (3-2), two of the three division contenders. It’s a likely run-fest as Jason Blose (519 yards, 5 TDs) leads Cameron County and Mitch Freeman (425 yards) leads Coudersport.

Otto-Eldred (0-5) hosts Sheffield (1-4) and Saturday afternoon, Port Allegany (2-3) hosts Smethport (1-4). Gators quarterback Matt Bodamer is second in the district behind Buganza with 823 yards passing.

KEYSTONE SHORTWAY ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The KSAC moves into non-conference mode this week and unbeaten Punxsutawney (5-0) looks to extend its perfect start to the season — the Chucks haven’t been 6-0 since starting the 1990 season with a 7-0 record — when it travels to Clarion University to play Clarion (3-2).

The Chucks just don’t give up a lot against their opponents this year as they’ve allowed just three touchdowns. Only seven teams in the state have allowed fewer points than the Chucks, who are tied for eighth the state in points allowed.

Offensively, the Chucks are built around their running game that averages a little over then 200 yards per game. Jason Fallara (348 yards) and Ben Blazavich (241) lead the Chucks, who also have capable junior quarterback Logan Weaver in their arsenal. Weaver has passed for 448 yards and 10 touchdowns against just one interception.

Clarion has three running backs over 248 yards rushing in running backs Kris Burkhart (249) and Marcus Smerker (331) along with part-time quarterback Danny Walters (302).

The Bobcats got some confidence in last week’s come-from-behind win over Redbank Valley, which will likely get them the KSAC-Small School Division title.

In other matchups involving two KSAC teams, Clarion-Limestone (1-4) hosts Brookville (4-1) as the Raiders try to bounce back from their first loss of the year at DuBois last week. Moniteau (2-3) hosts Union (1-4). Two teams go out of the district for opponents as Karns City (2-3) hosts District 10’s Hickory (3-2) and Keystone travels to District 5’s Chestnut Ridge (4-1). The Gremlins play a Hickory team that beat Wilmington, 35-19 last week. Wilmington blasted Karns City, 50-7 in Week 3.

OTHER GAMES

The 5-0 Clearfield Bisons will host Philipsburg-Osceola (2-3) in a non-conference game. Quarterback Curtis Frye, who’s passed for 765 yards and completed 69.3 percent of his passes, leads the Bisons. He rushed for four short TDs in last week’s 42-14 win over Central Mountain. Running back Derek Morgan has rushed for 532 yards.

The Bisons and Mounties share three common opponents. Both beat Penns Valley, but the Bisons beat Bald Eagle Area (49-14) and Indian Valley (28-7) while the Mounties lost to BEA (40-27) and IV (53-15).

The DuBois Beavers (3-2), on a three-game winning streak, jump back into their District 10 Region 5 schedule when they travel to Meadville (1-4) to take on the Bulldogs. The two teams share one common opponent so far. Meadville beat Slippery Rock 49-14 in Week 4, one week after the Beavers got by Slippery Rock, 28-19.

Meadville also has a 49-28 loss to future Beavers opponent Bradford in Week 2.

Speaking of the Bradford Owls (4-1), they’ll make a trip to Edinboro to take on another 4-1 squad in General McLane. Pat Pascarella paces the Owls’ power running game with 870 yards rushing, third-best in the district, but General McLane averages almost 300 yards rushing per game and has thrown just 23 passes all season. Five players have run for over 150 yards, led by quarterback Josh Ponsoll’s 289 yards.