By Rich Rhoades       

With eyes shifting toward the postseason as the high school football season enters Week 8 this weekend, several District 9 teams will be trying to keep their playoff hopes alive or solidifying their positions.

Keeping things in its simplest forms — check the playoff standings section for a further breakdown — here is a quick look at the classifications:

CLASS A

Up to eight teams will receive berths and right now, seven teams own winning records — Elk County Catholic (6-1), Curwensville (6-1), Cameron County (5-2), Johnsonburg (4-3) and Port Allegany (4-3) out of the Allegheny Mountain League and Clarion (4-3) and Redbank Valley (4-3) from the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference.

The AML receives four automatic bids while the KSAC gets two automatic bids, meaning that the above seven teams plus Coudersport (3-4) would be the eight teams to receive berths if the playoffs began this weekend. Still harboring hopes for the playoffs are Kane (3-4) and even Smethport (2-5), Keystone (2-5) and Union (2-5).

CLASS AA

Brockway and Brookville are in for sure at 7-0 and 6-1 respectively while Moniteau (3-4) and Karns City (2-5) hold down the No. 3 and 4 spots. Whether those teams enter the postseason will depend on how they finish the regular season, especially if either the Gremlins or Warriors finish below .500. Up to four teams will make up the playoff bracket, so anything less than four would mean a first-round bye for the top seed.

CLASS AAA

The unbeaten Punxsutawney Chucks and Clearfield Bisons are still unbeaten at 7-0, meaning it’s likely we’ll see a rematch for the district title, won last year by the Chucks. Bradford, at 5-2, is waiting in the wings if either team falters.

Interestingly, none of the four Class AAA schools in the district — St. Marys (4-3) being the other — have division games scheduled for Week 10, which could allow for the district to have a four-team playoff. However, that’s not going to happen as the district title game is set for Week 12. Last year, all four teams finished with winning records, but the Chucks and Bisons were the only teams to go to the playoffs.

CLASS AAAA         

It’s a pretty thin District 6-9-10 sub-regional field with four teams and right now, the DuBois Beavers (4-3) lead the point standings ahead of Strong Vincent (4-3), Central Mountain (3-4) and State College (2-5).

Up to four teams may enter the playoffs that begin Week 11, meaning the Beavers are pretty much assured a postseason berth.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s games:

ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN LEAGUE

Cameron County and Brockway can clinch division titles and AML Championship game berths with wins this week. The Red Raiders host Port Allegany Friday night with a chance to win their fourth straight North Division title.

Jason Blose leads the Red Raiders with 747 yards rushing and six touchdowns in just five games. Quarterback Zach Austin (399 yards passing, 333 yards rushing) and Andrew Fragale (383 yards rushing) have also run for over than 300 yards.

So far, Port Allegany has overcome a tough AML crossover schedule draw — the Gators lost to Brockway, Curwensville and ECC — and remained in AML-North contention and can still win the division with a win over the Red Raiders and Coudersport next week.

Quarterback Mike Bodamer is second behind Brockway’s Derek Buganza with 1,222 yards passes to go along with 13 TD passes and 388 yards rushing. Seth Lowery has rushed for 609 yards while receiver Camrin Stuckey has 21 receptions for 421 yards and eight touchdowns.

Also in the AML-North, Coudersport visits Otto-Eldred (1-6) and Smethport entertains Sheffield (1-6).

Brockway can secure an AML-South title with a win at home against Johnsonburg. Buganza is coming off his RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.Com District 9 Player of the Week honor after breaking the state record for passing yards. He now stands at 8,549 yards. For the year, he’s at 1,802 yards with 18 touchdown passes.

The game features the top three receivers in yardage in the district in the Rovers’ Kyle Braun (33 catches, 618 yards, 6 TDs) and No. 3 Mike Vervoort (24-455, 7 TDs), and the Rams’ No. 2 Joe Holmberg (35-524, 8 TDs).

Vervoort scored five touchdowns in last week’s 35-14 win over Elk County Catholic. He leads the district with 23 touchdowns and has also rushed for team-best 637 yards.

Holmberg has accounted for the vast majority of Rams quarterback Andrew Nortum’s passing yards, 717, which rank third in the district.

Curwensville (6-1) hosts Elk County Catholic (6-1) in what should be an interesting game featuring the No. 1 and 3 rushers in the district. The Golden Tide’s Alex Holland leads the district with 1,373 yards while the Crusaders’ Ricky Pearsall is third behind Bradford’s Pat Pascarella with 1,206 yards. Holland (19 TDs overall) and Pearsall (16) rank second and third behind Vervoort.

In the other AML-South game, Ridgway (0-7) hosts Kane.

KEYSTONE SHORTWAY ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

It’s another non-division week for the KSAC. The best matchup is probably Brookville visiting Clarion at Clarion University.

The Raiders have two players working for milestones, as running back Ryan Kerr is 62 yards shy of reaching 1,000 for the season. Jared Heschke needs one reception and 37 yards to own career marks in both categories. He’s also two TD receptions shy sharing that team record.

Clarion, like Brookville, is pretty much run-oriented as quarterback turned slotback Danny Walters leads the Bobcats with 417 yards rushing.

Karns City will try to end a three-game losing streak when it hosts Clarion-Limestone (1-6) while Moniteau visits Keystone. The Warriors are coming off an encouraging performance in a 20-12 loss to unbeaten Punxsutawney last week. Quarterback Kyle Armagost has passed for 914 yards and rushed for 754 yards. Keystone will try to bounce back from its first loss to Union since 1994. Quarterback Mitchell Rearick has passed for 674 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 284 yards and six touchdowns.

The perfect Chucks, with 15 straight regular-season wins, head to Redbank Valley as they’re coming off their first game of the year where they’ve allowed more than one touchdown. Jason Fallara rushed for 517 yards and eight TDs while Ben Blazavich has gained 308 yards and six TDs. Quarterback Logan Weaver has passed for 658 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Redbank Valley is led by quarterback Brandon Bain, who has passed for 793 yards and 10 TDs. Caleb Delp has rushed for 636 yards with 143 yards receiving.

St. Marys hosts Union in the other KSAC crossover game. The Dutch appear to have lost leading rusher Justin Quiggle to a season-ending injury.

On Saturday, the A-C Valley Falcons (0-6), now with 46 straight losses, host Hancock, Md. Hancock, one of the smallest schools in Maryland, is located just south of the Mason-Dixon line and about 3 ½ hours away from Foxburg.

BEAVERS AND OWLS IN DISTRICT 10

DuBois and Bradford have divisional games in their District 10 regions this week. The Beavers host the 5-2 Corry Beavers in Region 5 action.

Shawn Newpher’s 761 yards rushing for DuBois rank fifth in the district while Sean Sleigh has passed for 860 yards and seven TDs. Receiver Max Hine has caught 23 passes for 380 yards.

Corry, led by running back Adam Zimmerman (733 yards  rushing, five 100-yard games) owns wins against common opponents Franklin (48-6), Slippery Rock (45-19) and Meadville (17-14) along with a loss to Oil City (20-17).

DuBois beat Franklin (34-15), Slippery Rock (28-19) with losses to Meadville (21-14) and Oil City (35-21).

 Bradford is also at home against1-4 Erie East. The Owls’ Pascarella is second in the district with 1,272 yards.