2011 DISTRICT 9 CLASS A SEMIFINALS

NO. 6 BROCKWAY (8-3) vs. NO. 2 PORT ALLEGANY (10-1)

When: 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov 19

Where: Bradford's Parkway Field (Directions)

Rosters: Brockway; Port Allegany

Stats: Brockway; Port Allegany

Schedule: Brockway; Port Allegany

How they got here:

Port Allegany: The Gators opened the playoffs with a 37-8 win at home over Union last Saturday. Junior quarterback Matt Bodamer threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns while running for another. The Gators defense limited Union to 176 yards of offense, 92 of it coming on Austin Davis’ 92-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter with the Gators up 37-0.

Brockway: The Rovers, after trailing 2-0 at halftime, turned things around and beat Redbank Valley in New Bethlehem, 24-10. Brockway scored the final 17 points to break the game open. Chad Melillo and Tom Vervoort scored on runs of 7 and 56 yards. Kyle Braun opened the second half with a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown just 41 seconds into the third quarter. Vervoort rushed for 180 yards while Melillo finished with 89 yards.

About Port Allegany: Bodamer has put up video game numbers for the Gators this year. Last week, he became the fourth District 9 quarterback to go over 6,000 career yards and 70 touchdown passes. He passed Clearfield’s Chad Kroell and moved into third place on the yardage list at 6,117 yards and his 71 TD passes moved into third place as well. For the year, Bodamer has passed for 2,886 yards and 35 touchdowns to go against just five interceptions. His top target, senior receiver Tyce Miller, is on the verge of a 1,000-yard season with 977 yards on 55 catches with 14 touchdowns. Port won twice at Brockway, 40-30 in Week 2, and 56-27, two weeks ago in the AML Championship game. In those two games, Bodamer passed for 655 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

About Brockway: Quarterback Braun and running back Vervoort anchor the Rovers’ running game. Braun is on the verge of going over 1,000 yards at 995 with nine touchdowns while Vervoort just went over 1,000 and stands at 1,002 with 11 scores. Melillo has 523 yards and four touchdowns. No doubt the Rovers will need to run the ball and control the clock against the Gators. They averaged 206.5 yards in the first two meetings, but had play from behind in both games.

All-time series: Tied at 4-4.

NO. 4 COUDERSPORT (9-1) vs. NO. 1 CLARION (7-4)

When: 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov 19

Where: Bradford's Parkway Field (Directions)

Rosters: Coudersport; Clarion

Stats: Coudersport; Clarion

Schedule: Coudersport; Clarion

How they got here:

Clarion: Trailing Elk County Catholic 20-0 in the fourth quarter of last week’s opening round at Clarion University, the Bobcats pulled off an improbable come-from-behind 22-20 win. The Bobcats scored 20 points in the final 10 minutes. The Bobcats then also went for two at the end and made it when quarterback Brandon Heeter hit Marcus Smerker with a two-point conversion pass. Clarion then had to withstand a nearly amazing lateral play at the end of the game by ECC that ended with the Bobcats recovering a fumble at their own 11-yard line. T.J. Armstrong rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bobcats.

Coudersport: Trailing Curwensville 27-20 with less than two minutes to play, the Falcons drove 83 yards for a touchdown to pull within one and then went for the win instead of the tie and got it when quarterback Tim McCusker somehow managed to elude several Tide tacklers for the game-winning two-point conversion run. Mitchell Freeman ran for 109 yards and the Falcons won despite giving up 409 yards rushing, 296 of it to Alex Holland. McCusker completed 11 of 19 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

About Clarion: The Bobcats do it with defense and their 15.2 points allowed per game is second best among the remaining playoff teams in the district. Armstrong, from his linebacker spot, leads the Bobcats with 109 tackles. He also has rushed for a team-best 852 yards and 11 touchdowns. Heeter, who missed two games with an injury to start the season, has passed for 889 yards with 11 touchdowns. Camron Kirkland has rushed for 314 yards and caught 28 passes for 498 yards. Clarion may not have one of its top players, senior lineman/linebacker Ian Matson, who missed last week’s game with a concussion.

About Coudersport: Like Clarion, the Falcons have given up a similar amount of points at 15.9 per game and linebacker Ryan Counts leads the team with 102 stops. On offense, it’s McCusker and Freeman leading the way and helping make up for the loss of injured back Caden Whitman. McCusker has passed for 694 yards and 10 touchdowns while Freeman has run for 886 yards and 15 touchdowns. Receiver Jason Gibson has caught 25 passes for 351 yards.

All-time series: 2-2, with all meetings coming in the playoffs. Coudersport beat Clarion in the 2005 title game.