Ridgway celebrating first AML Title since 1993 – Photo by Paul Burdick – http://pburdick.smugmug.com/
Cover photo of Ridgway quarterback Ben MacDonald – Photo by Randy Frey http://www.camconative.com/
Recaps will be updated throughout the weekend; Last updated at 2:51 p.m. Saturday
CLEARFIELD 35, BROCKWAY 8 – District 9 Class AAA Title Game (Click to read recap)
RIDGWAY 28, CAMERON COUNTY 21 – AML TITLE GAME
EMPORIUM, Pa. – Ben MacDonald scored two rushing touchdowns and threw a third touchdown to lead Ridgway to its first AML Title Game victory since 1993 with a 28-21 at Cameron County Friday night.
MacDonald’s first touchdown run, a 57-yard jaunt with 4:06 left in the third quarter, gave Ridgway (9-1), which beat Cameron County 42-8 in Week Two, a 21-0 lead and seemingly complete control of the game with 4:06 to play in the third quarter.
But Cameron County (4-6) made it a game by scoring twice in a span of 3:13 sandwiched between the end of the third quarter.
The Red Raiders got on the board with 2:28 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard Keith Spehalski touchdown run to make it 21-7 Ridgway.
Austin Doud then picked off a Ben MacDonald pass to set Cameron County up at the Ridgway 31-yard line, and Caleb Burnside scored on a 4-yard run 45 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game, 21-14 Ridgway.
Cameron County then had a chance to tie the game, but Ridgway’s Mike Covac recovered a Red Raider fumble and returned it to the Cameron 24-yard line setting up MacDonald’s second touchdown run of the game, this time a 5-yard score, with 4:54 to play to put the Elkers up 28-14.
But Cameron County wasn’t quite down, as Burnside scored his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 2-yard run, to make it 28-21 with 2:39 to play.
Ridgway, though, recovered the on-side kick and was able to run the clock out for the victory that secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming District 9 Class A playoffs for the Elkers.
J.P. Cerroni started the scoring for Ridgway with a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:01 left in the first quarter, and the 6-0 lead held up at halftime.
MacDonald then hit Cole Myers with a 35-yard scoring pass, and then hit Jack Toncich with the 2-point conversion pass to make it 14-0 Ridgway with 7:45 to play in the third quarter.
UNION 30, MONITEAU 22
WEST SUNBURY — While getting help with Cameron County’s loss to Ridgway, the Union Knights secured the No. 8 spot in the Class A playoffs with a 30-22 win at Moniteau Friday night.
The Knights (5-5) never trailed, but had to hold off the Warriors (5-5), who got within eight points when they set the final margin with 4:56 left in the game.
Chet Carmichael scored three touchdowns in three different ways. He caught a 90-yard TD pass from Lane Cicciarelli to open the game’s scoring in the first quarter, returned a kick 76 yards in the second quarter and found the end zone on a 55-yard run in the third quarter. He rushed for 64 yards on just two carries and his only reception was the 90-yarder.
Cicciarelli completed 5 of 9 passes for 155 yards and also connected with Cole Morris on a 39-yard TD pass to put the Knights up 30-14 with 6:20 left in the fourth.
Moniteau’s Derek Boben ran for a 4-yard touchdown and threw a 29-yard TD pass to Josh McBride, who also ran for 150 yards.
Union finished the regular-season on a three-game win streak including a 32-7 road win at Ridgway, the team it will face in the opening round of the Class A District 9 playoffs next week. The Elkers secured the No. 1 seed with the AML Title Game win over Cameron County Friday. It is Union’s fourth straight District 9 playoff appearance.
The loss was Moniteau’s third straight and the Warriors fifth in the last six games after a 4-0 start. The Warriors will be the No. 3 seed in the D9 Class AA postseason and will play at St. Marys, a team that they lost to 35-6 two weeks ago, in the semifinals next week.
DUBOIS 35, KARNS CITY 31
DUBOIS, Pa. – In a see-saw affair between two of the top of the ranked teams in the First Commonwealth Bank District 9 Football Rankings, Gabe French and third-ranked DuBois overcame a two-score second-half deficit to beat top-ranked Karns City 35-31 Friday night in DuBois.
French, the Beavers senior star quarterback had 573 yards of combined offense and accounted for four of DuBois’ five touchdowns. He was 27 of 43 passing for 330 yards, three touchdowns and an interception and added 243 yards rushing on 30 carries with a 28-yard touchdown run.
That helped DuBois (8-2) overcome a pair of 100-yard rushing performances by Karns City (9-1).
Tristan Rhoades led the Gremlins with 12 carries for 155 yards, 96 in the first half, and three touchdowns, while Collin Dunmyre added 10 carries for 105 yards.
DuBois led 21-13 late in the first half and 21-16 at halftime before a pair of Karns City touchdowns to start the second half gave the Gremlins a 31-21 lead late in the third quarter.
But French’s scoring run got the Beavers to within three, 31-28, at the end of the third quarter, and then French hit Devin Clark with a 9-yard touchdown pass with 8:52 to play that proved to be the game winner.
Clark had a big game catching the football with 11 receptions for 99 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 11 times for 15 yards. Kevin Foley had six grabs for 94 yards, while Dante Dawson had four catches for 64 yards including a 41-yard touchdown grab. Dawson also recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for the game’s first score.
The loss snapped a 17-game regular-season win streak for Karns City, which last lost in the regular season 42-7 to Clarion Sept. 16, 2013.
The 8-win season for DuBois is the Beavers second 8-win campaign in three years.
CLARION 59, BROOKVILLE 0
CLARION – Behind 215 yards rushing, nearly all of them in the first half, and three touchdowns by Ian Corbett, Clarion rolled to its sixth straight win with a 59-0 pasting of visiting Brookville Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.
The Bobcats (9-1) led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 41-0 at halftime.
Freshman Colton Rapp added a pair of touchdown runs scoring on both of his carries while running for 40 yards.
In all, Clarion scored eight time on the ground with Thomas Plummer (5 carries, 56 yards), Caleb Bailey (3 carries, 30 yards) and Destin Strausser (3 carries, 18 yards) also scoring on the ground for the Bobcats.
Taylor Smith also hit Ethan Straffin with a 2-yard scoring pass. Smith was 3 of 4 passing for 40 yards and the score.
Corbett, who needed just eight carries for his 215 yards, has now rushed for at least 100 yards in six straight games and eight times on the year with four games of at least 200 yards including last week’s career-high 397 yards against Redbank Valley. He leads District 9 with 1,788 yards rushing and 29 touchdowns.
Brookville finishes the season 2-8, its worst record since going 1-8 in 2001. John Frank ran for 126 yards on 16 carries while Jonah Sampson went for 91 yards on 27 carries.
WEST SHAMOKIN 53, CURWENSVILLE 14
CURWENSVILLE – Zac Horner and Andrew Wingard combined to rush for 243 yards and five touchdowns, as WPIAL non-playoff qualifier West Shamokin ran right over Curwensville in a non-conference game Friday night at Riverside Stadium in Curwensville.
Horner ran for 134 yards and three touchdowns, and Wingard added 109 yards on the ground with two scores for the Wolves (5-5), who finished a season without a losing record for just the second time in the school’s 15-year history.
Nick Stewart and Kyle Johns each had touchdown runs for Curwensville (6-4), which will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming District 9 Class A playoffs and play at No. 2 Clarion, the defending champion, next week.
More on this game will be posted when it is received.
KANE 48, CLARION-LIMESTONE 6
STRATTANVILLE — Tyler Rolick scored three touchdowns and Tyler Weidenhoff scored two defensive touchdowns less than 90 seconds apart in the second half to lead the Kane Wolves to a 48-6 win at Clarion-Limestone.
Rolick ran for TDs of 35 and 7 yards and caught a 70-yard TD pass from Jack Kocjancic, all of it in the first half as the Wolves (6-3) led 35-6 by halftime. Rolick needed just 7 carries to run for 100 yards. John English ran for 90 yards on 17 carries, scoring on a 6-yard run in the first quarter.
Weidenhoff returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown with 11 seconds left in the first half, then scored again on a 40-yard fumble return 1:16 into the second half.
C-L (1-8) scored its only touchdown on Anthony Louder’s 25-yard interception return 14 seconds into the game. Kyle Robertson ran for 63 yards on 13 carries.
SHEFFIELD 22, EISENHOWER 21, OVERTIME
RUSSELL – On a fake extra point two-point conversion pass from Adam Higby to Kevin Evan, Sheffield beat former rival Eisenhower 22-21 in overtime Friday night at Eisenhower in the first meeting between the Warren County schools since 2005.
Higby, the kicker and quarterback, took a direct snap after lining up for the extra point in overtime following J’Sani Marlow’s 3-yard touchdown run that brought the Wolverines (2-8) to within a point and found Evan for the game-winning score.
District 10’s Eisenhower (4-6), who hadn’t faced Sheffield since leaving the AML following the 2005 season, had taken a 21-14 lead in overtime on the extra session’s first possession when Louie Head scored on a 3-yard run and Grant Venman kicked the extra point.
Sheffield, which trailed 14-7 going to the fourth quarter, tied the game 22 seconds into the final eight minutes of regulation when Higby connected with Marquis Clark with a 46-yard touchdown pass and then kicked the extra point.
Marlow gave the Wolverines an early 7-0 lead on a 47-yard run 40 seconds into the contest, but Head hit Jarrett Johnson with a 15-yard pass midway through the first quarter to tie the game at seven.
The contest remained that way until late in the third quarter when Head hit Logan Bellardo with a 24-yard scoring toss to put the Knights on top, 14-7, for the first time in the game.
Marlow had a huge game for Sheffield rushing 29 times for 168 yards and the two touchdowns. Highby was 3 of 9 passing for 56 yards and the score with Clark hauling in two passes for 50 yards and the touchdown.
Head accounted for much of Eisenhower’s offense rushing 33 times for 91 yards and the touchdown and going 9 of 15 passing for 100 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Johnson had four catches for 43 yards and the touchdown with Bellardo catching two passes for 32 yards and the score.
It was Sheffield’s first overtime win in three tries. The Wolverines lost 7-6 to Coudersport in 2011 and 35-29 in three overtimes to Otto-Eldred in 2009.
BLAIRSVILLE 52, REDBANK VALLEY 6
BLAIRSVILLE — Blairsville wrapped up its first-ever 10-0 regular season and routed visiting Redbank Valley, 52-6, Friday night.
The Bobcats outgained the Bulldogs (7-2), 429-139, as Redbank Valley quarterback Jake Dougherty completed 5 of 14 passes for 74 yards. He did not take a snap in the second half.
The only Redbank Valley touchdown came in the first half when Dougherty threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Hetrick midway through the second quarter. Other than that, the Bobcats dominated. They led 26-6 at halftime and rolled from there.
Cameron Livingston returned the game’s opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown and the Bobcats broke the game open even more by extending their lead from 13-6 to 26-6 in a span of 31 seconds late in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs host Brockway in the first round of the District 9 playoffs either Friday or Saturday.
MERCER 43, BROCKWAY 14
BROCKWAY — Mercer’s Logan Clark carved up the Brockway Rovers when he threw for 254 yards and four touchdowns in a 43-14 non-conference win Friday night.
Clark completed 15 of 23 passes, tossing three TD passes in the first half as the Mustangs (2-8) led 27-7 at halftime.
The Rovers (5-5) scored at both ends of the game as Anthony Benson returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Troy O’Brien scored on a 66-yard run with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter to set the final score.
Brockway heads to Redbank Valley in the opening round of the Class A playoffs.
WARREN 36, BRADFORD 27
WARREN — Rallying from a 20-16 halftime deficit, the Warren Dragons pulled away from the Bradford Owls in the second half for a 36-27 win Friday night.
Kyle Kulka ran for 144 yards on 19 carries with three touchdowns on runs of 30 in the first quarter, 43 in the third quarter and 29 in the fourth quarter that put the Dragons (4-6) up 30-20 with 9:35 left in the game.
Quarterback Evan Suppa threw two TD passes, including a 12-yarder to Devin Nowacki with 3:17 left, answering Bradford’s score that cut the margin to 30-27 just 40 seconds before that.
Justin Fishkin led the Owls (2-8) with 144 yards on 19 carries. Kyle Langdon ran for 75 yards on 17 carries with TD runs of 4 and 3 yards in the first half. Alex Colosimo ran for 46 yards on 10 carries with two TD runs of 17 and 4 yards.
ST. MARYS 37, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 0
ST. MARYS — Kyle Glatt ran for 136 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead the St. Marys Flying Dutchmen to a 37-0 shutout of Elk County Catholic Friday night.
Glatt scored on runs of 11, 55 and 1 yards while recovering a fumble in the end zone for his fourth TD. T.J. Hogan also scored on a 1-yard run and Jordan Straub added a 14-yard TD run as the Dutch (7-3) set the final score in the third quarter to set the PIAA’s Mercy Rule running clock in motion.
Elk County Catholic (8-2) was limited to 51 yards of offense. The Crusaders host Kane in the first round of the Class A playoffs next week.
St. Marys secured home field in its Class AA semifinal, also next week, against Moniteau.
PENNS MANOR 14, KEYSTONE 13
KNOX — Nearly rallying from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit on a rainy night, the Keystone Panthers came up short in knocking off District 6 playoff team Penns Manor.
The Panthers (3-7) got within 14-13 following Zach Stiglitz’s 5-yard run with 2:33 left in the third quarter, but kicker Tyler Beal missed the extra point. That wound up being the final score.
Bryce Altman completed 13 of 18 passes for 133 yards with a touchdown and interception. He threw a 31-yard TD pass to Jake Weaver late in the second quarter. Stiglitz ran for 60 yards on 10 carries and made a team-high 15 tackles on defense. Weaver caught four passes for 66 yards.
The Comets (8-2), seeded fifth in the District 6 Class A playoffs, scored both touchdowns in the first quarter. Bailey Mumau ran for 103 yards and scored on an 18-yard run. He also returned an interception 90 yards for a score.
COCHRANTON 35, A-C VALLEY 0
COCHRANTON – Cochranton limited A-C Valley to 110 yards of offense in handing the Falcons their 22nd straight loss, 35-0, Friday night in Cochranton.
A-C Valley (0-10) did get strong games defensively from Evan Redding and Brady Terwilliger with the duo combining for 26 tackles led by Redding’s 15 tackles including three for a loss. Terwilliger had 11 stops.
Offensively, Damien Wolfe paced the Falcons with eight carries for 32 yards, while Zach Muhl was 4 of 7 passing for 29 yards.
