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By Rich Rhoades
One more District 9 unbeaten is sure to
fall this week as the Allegheny Mountain League’s South Division
has the week’s marquee matchup once again.
Saturday night, the 6-0 Brockway Rovers
travel to Dutch Country Stadium to take on another 6-0 team in
Elk County Catholic. A win by the Rovers will virtually assure
them of the AML-South title while ECC would need to still beat
Curwensville next week to do the same.
The Rovers didn’t need to throw much to
beat undefeated Curwensville last week, 41-26. Still, Rovers
quarterback Derek Buganza continues to edge closer to the state
passing yardage record held by Lancaster Catholic’s Kyle Smith.
With 8,281 yards, Buganza trails Smith by
264 yards. For the season, he’s completed 84 of 127 passes for
1,534 yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.
With Buganza nursing an injured thumb, the
Rovers’ running game has been impressive and for the season, the
team has actually run for more yards than passed, 1,634 to
1,578. That’s been an obvious factor in the Rovers scoring 53.8
points per game, which ranks second in the state behind
Clairton.
Last week, senior Chris Marshall ran for a
career-high 167 yards and a touchdown. Mike Vervoort leads the
team with 547 rushing yards to go along with his 18 receptions
for 372 yards. Marshall has 289 yards rushing. Kyle Braun leads
the team with 27 catches and 541 yards while Jake Shaffer has 17
receptions for 293 yards.
Brockway’s defense did the job a week ago,
limiting the Tide to 133 yards rushing and the district’s top
rusher in Alex Holland to 83 yards. This week, it’ll be tested
again with the No. 2 rusher in the Crusaders’ Ricky Pearsall.
He’s the main force behind the ECC
offensive attack, rushing for 1,093 yards on 145 carries with 13
touchdowns. His 211 yards in last week’s win over Kane pushed
him over the exclusive 3,000-yard milestone.
Pearsall also has two return touchdowns
this year and is averaging 45.7 yards in his six kick returns.
ECC quarterback Kyle Schneider has passed
for 474 yards and five touchdowns with his top receiving target
being Tyler Herzing with 11 catches for 317 yards.
The Crusaders have returning all-state
punter David Bojalad, who is averaging 37.7 yards per boot. He’s
also the team’s tight end and place-kicker.
The Rovers beat the Crusaders last year,
41-12, ending a three-game losing streak to ECC. Brockway’s last
win in St. Marys came in a 25-13 triumph in 2005.
In other games this week:
ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN LEAGUE
In the rest of the AML-South, Curwensville
(5-1) hosts winless Ridgway (0-6) in what could be a train wreck
waiting to happen. The Golden Tide, coming off their first loss
of the year at Brockway, are ranked sixth in the state in
scoring at 47.5 points per game. Ridgway, meanwhile, is 598th
out of 602 teams in the state with 48.7 points per game allowed.
The Tide’s Alex Holland still leads the district in rushing with
1,164 yards.
In the other Friday night AML-South game,
Kane (2-4) hosts Johnsonburg (4-2) as the Rams try to bolster
their postseason seeding and the Wolves try to stay alive in the
Class A playoff race.
The top three teams in the AML-North play
the bottom three teams in the division. Friday night,
first-place Cameron County (4-2) travels to Duke Center to take
on Otto-Eldred (1-5) while Coudersport (3-3) hosts Smethport
(1-5).
Saturday, Port Allegany (3-3) travels to
Sheffield (1-5). Gators quarterback Matt Bodamer, the district’s
second leading passer in yardage with 994, is set to go over
1,000 for the season.
KEYSTONE SHORTWAY ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
It’s back to division play in the KSAC as
the unbeaten Punxsutawney Chucks (6-0) try to keep their
undefeated run going. At 2-0 in the Large School Division, the
Chucks host Moniteau (3-3) for their next-to-last division game
before their Week 9 showdown with Brookville.
The Chucks are tied for third in the state
in surrendering just 21 points all season. They’ve blanked three
opponents and head into Friday’s game without allowing a point
in 10 straight quarters. Ian Weaver leads the Chucks’ defense
with 58 tackles. Ben Blazavich has 5 ½ sacks and Duell Thompson
leads the team with three interceptions and is one of nine
different players with at least one pickoff.
Offensively, Jason Fallara (396 yards) and
Blazavich (300) have rushed for 300 yards or more. Quarterback
Logan Weaver has passed for 527 yards and 10 touchdowns to go
against just two interceptions.
Moniteau’s top threat is quarterback Kyle
Armagost, who has passed for 847 yards and rushed for 656 yards.
Both totals rank in the top six in the district.
In the other Large School game, the
Brookville Raiders (5-1) will also try to make it 3-0 in
division play when they host Karns City (2-4), which is off to
its worst start since a 2-7 season in 1997.
Karns City, however, still has a crack at a
share of the division crown if it can beat the Raiders and hope
Brookville wins at Punxsutawney in Week 9. The Gremlins haven’t
lost at Brookville since 1992, although that’s a streak of just
two games. Karns City won at Brookville in 2008 and in the
postseason in 2003.
The Raiders’ Ryan Kerr ranks fourth in the
district with 766 yards rushing. Quarterback Steven Kennedy has
had a good rookie season, passing for 5-7 yards and rushing for
471 yards. For Karns City, quarterback Dylan Hipple has thrown
for 458 yards while Glenn Toy (247 yards) and Alex Kinkela (206)
lead the team’s running game.
In the Small School Division, Clarion (3-3)
can clinch a tie for the title with a win at A-C Valley (0-5).
The Falcons, with 45 straight losses, haven’t scored a point in
18 straight quarters, or since the first half of their Week 1
game against Clarion-Limestone.
Redbank Valley (3-3) visits
Clarion-Limestone (1-5) as both teams try to end losing streaks.
After winning three straight games, the Bulldogs have lost three
straight. The Lions haven’t won since Week 1 at A-C Valley. The
Lions rank 593 out of 602 in the state with 46.8 points allowed.
In the other game, Union (1-5) hosts
Keystone (2-4).
OTHER GAMES
Two former D9 League rivals meet for the
first time since the league’s last season in 2007 when DuBois
(3-3) heads to St. Marys (4-2). The Flying Dutchmen won their
last two games against the Beavers in 2007 and 2006 with DuBois
last winning, 42-2 in 2005.
St. Marys’ Justin Quiggle shared last
week’s RRR Roadhouse District 9 Football Player of the Week with
ECC’s Pearsall. He leads the Dutch with 711 yards rushing and
has gained 504 yards on the ground the last three weeks. He also
leads the team with 247 receiving yards.
Leading DuBois are quarterback Sean Sleigh
(771 yards passing) and running back Shawn Newpher (561 yards
rushing).
In the Mountain Athletic
Conference-Allegheny Division, unbeaten Clearfield hasn’t been
6-0 since starting the 2004 season at 10-0. The Bisons rank 16th
in the state in scoring at 42 points per game and quarterback
Curtis Frye’s 864 yards passing rank third in the district.
They’ll travel to 1-5 Lewistown Friday night.
The Bradford Owls (4-2) will travel to
unbeaten Warren (6-0) in District 10, Region 6 play. The Owls
and Dragons share just one common opponent thus far in Fort
LeBoeuf. The Dragons beat Fort LeBoeuf, 21-7, in Week 3, one
week before the Owls won, 35-0.
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