Week 1 Football Recaps

District 9 football recaps from Friday, Sept. 2.

COUDERSPORT 36, BRADFORD 34, OT

COUDERSPORT, Pa. – Jared Green 9-yard touchdown run in overtime followed by Brock Wilson’s 2-point conversion carry lifted Coudersport to a 36-34 upset of visiting Bradford.

The Falcons, who blew leads of 14-0 and 20-14, forced the overtime session on an Aaron Wolfinger touchdown run followed by a Green 2-point conversion carry that tied the contest at 28.

Bradford then had the first possession of overtime, and Kyle Kirk put the Owls (1-1) up 34-28 with a 1-yard run. But Bradford missed the kick setting up the winning runs by Green and Wilson.

Coudersport led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter on a Chase Whitman run and a Wolfinger to Darren Keglovits scoring pass only to watch Bradford rally to tie the game at 14 by halftime thanks to a pair of Kirk touchdown passes – one to Donny Pattison and one to Mitch Vleminckx.

The Falcons regained the lead when Wolfinger hit his cousin, Green, with a 20-yard scoring pass that put Coudy ahead 20-14 but a Jaron Ambrose 33-yard run followed by a 67- yard Donny Pattison touchdown run, the second time the duo hooked up for six on the night, put Bradford in front for the first time, 28-20.

Wolfinger had a strong game for Coudersport (1-1) rushing 12 times for 60 yards and a score while also going 8 of 19 passing for 173 yards and two touchdowns. Green ran nine times for 46 yards and a touchdown and had two catches for 55 yards and a score.

Kirk threw three touchdowns and was 8 of 23 for 187 yards. Vleminckx had two catches for 62 yards and a score with Pattison adding three grabs for 39 yards and a touchdown while rushing nine times for 111 yards and a score. John Eakin was held to 58 yards on 15 carries after going over 200 yards last week.

ST. MARYS 26, MONITEAU 25

WEST SUNBURY, Pa. – Matt Marconi scored on a 6-yard run late in the third quarter, and the St. Marys offense came up with a game-clinching fourth-quarter drive as the visiting Dutch edged past Moniteau, 26-25, in the season opener for both squads.

Marconi’s touchdown run with 3:08 to play in the third quarter turned a 19-18 halftime deficit into a 26-19 lead for the Dutch.

It took Moniteau just 27 seconds to answer, as Chance Nagy, who had a heck of a varsity debut with three touchdown passes and a touchdown run, scored on a 1-yard run to make it 26-25 with 2:41 to play in the third quarter. But the Warriors missed the crucial extra point.

St. Marys’ offense then all but put the game away with a time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter that moved the ball from the Dutch 15-yard line to the Moniteau 10-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with under two minutes to play.

Moniteau was able to move out to midfield, but a late Hail Mary from Nagy came up short.

Nagy, a sophomore, started his varsity career by going 3-for-3 in the first half for 162 yards and three touchdowns. He twice found Dalton Anderson on long passes, one from 53 yards out and another from 67 yards out while also connecting with Wyatt Geibel on a 42-yard toss. Nagy finished the game 4 of 9 passing for 221 yards and ran 11 times for 59 yards. Anderson caught three passes for 179 yards and ran once for five yards.

Pat Schlimm, though, was equal to the task for St. Marys scoring on a 1-yard run and hitting Jeff Wehler with a 54-yard scoring pass. Christian Steffan also scored on a 23-yard run for the Dutch in the opening half.

Moniteau led 19-18 at the break, though, thanks to the 67-yard Nagy to Anderson pass with 1:08 left before the break. The touchdown came just 20 seconds after Schlimm hit Wehler from 54 yards out to give St. Marys an 18-13 lead. The first half saw four lead changes and a tie.

Marconi ran 30 times for 120 yards and had one catch for 26 yards, while Schlimm was 6 of 11 passing for 157 yards. Wehler caught three passes for 110 yards and added seven carries for 43 yards.

CLARION-LIMESTONE 20, UNION/A-C VALLEY 18

STRATTANVILLE, Pa. — Brendan Makray threw for two touchdown passes while Mike Macefe ran for 143 yards and a touchdown to lead the Clarion-Limestone Lions to a 20-18 win over the newly-formed Union/A-C Valley Falcon Knights at the C-L Sports Complex.

The Lions scored all three of their touchdowns in the first half as Macefe opened things with a 29-yard TD run. Makray then threw his TD passes to Riley Hummell (3 yards) and Dan Callen (31 yards) in the second quarter with Callen’s coming with just nine seconds on the clock. Makray completed 10 of 16 passes for 112 yards.

Union/ACV also scored three TDs, but the difference came down to conversions and the Lions converted the only one on Macefe’s run following Makray’s TD pass to Hummell.

Quarterback Lucas Bowser completed 13 of 21 passes for 202 yards and two TDs, both of them going to Gavin Hawk who caught eight passes for 142 yards. Bowser connected with Hawk on TD strikes of 23 and 37 yards.

Bowser’s 1-yard TD run got the Falcon Knights within 20-18 with 9:52 left in the fourth quarter, but his two-point conversion pass fell incomplete and the Lions held on for the win.

CONNEAUT 34, DUBOIS 33

DUBOIS, Pa. – In a game that featured six second-half lead changes, Kyle Sheets hit Ben Collier with a 47-yard pass and Ryan Lavery added the extra point with 9:41 to play to give visiting Conneaut a 34-33 win over DuBois in D10, Region 5 action.

DuBois (1-1, 0-1), which trailed 15-13 at halftime, got a pair of Braden Paulinellie touchdown passes and a Paulinellie scoring run in the second half to take a 33-27 lead 44 seconds in the fourth quarter when Paulinellie hit Kyle Hopson with a 25-yard scoring pass, the second touchdown of the game for Hopson.

But Conneaut (1-1, 1-0) answered right back when Sheets, who caught a pair of scoring passes from Connor Mattera, hit Collier with the scoring toss.

Paulinellie, filling in for the injured Matt Miller for the second straight week, had another big game accounting for 495 yards of offense. He was 25 of 45 passing for 335 yards and three touchdowns, although he did also throw three picks while rushing for 160 yards and the touchdown on 23 carries.

Hopson had a big game with seven catches for 173 yards and two touchdowns, while Kenny Garvey also caught a touchdown pass. Brock Adams ran for a score for the Beavers, as well, and had 52 yards rushing on eight carries while catching five passes for 27 yards.

Trailing 15-6 late in the first half, DuBois got within two with 33 seconds left before the break on an 18-yard Paulinellie to Garvey scoring pass.

The Beavers then took their first lead of the contest early in the third quarter, 19-15, on a 6-yard Paulinellie run.

But Mattera, who was 8 of 16 for 166 yards and two touchdowns while throwing an interception, hit Sheets from 66 yards out just 16 seconds later to give Conneaut the lead back, 21-19.

It took DuBois 19 seconds to regain the lead when Hopson hauled down an 89-yard scoring pass from Paulinellie to make it 25-21 with the game’s third touchdown in a span of 35 seconds.

Conneaut answered again late in the third quarter on a 25-yard Mattera to Sheets scoring pass making it 27-25 in favor of the visitors going to the fourth quarter.

Sheets hauled in five passes for 152 yards and also threw the touchdown pass. Gavin Tompkins had two picks for Conneaut.

Paulinellie added an interception on defense, his second of the year.

CURWENSVILLE 41, SMETHPORT 21

CURWENSVILLE, Pa. – Nick Stewart ran 18 times for 321 yards and five touchdowns while becoming the seventh player in District 9 history to top 4,000 career rushing yards in a 41-21 Curwensville victory over visiting Smethport.

Stewart, who came into the contest with 3,727 career rushing yards rushed the unofficial total of 321 giving him 4,048 career yards.

The junior is the third Curwensville player to reach 4,000 career yards joining the top two runners in D9 history (No. 1 – Nick Sipes – 5,963 and No. 2 Alex Holland – 5,754). Other backs to reach 4,000 career yards include Brockway’s Aaron Cantafio (4,694), Clearfield’s Dave Richards (4,641), Clarion’s Kyle Cathcart (4,449) and Clearfield’s Christian Lezzer (4,269).

Stewart also now has 55 career scores and is just 28 shy of Sipes’ D9 record of 83. He scored on runs of 47, 17, 8, 98 and 26 yards Friday night. Kaleb Witherite added a 1-yard touchdown run for the Golden Tide (2-0).

Smethport scored three rushing touchdowns with Akete Kindle, Rob Ruffner and Parker Shonts each finding the end zone for the Hubbers (0-2).

Ruffner led Smethport with 69 yards rushing on seven carries with Kindle adding 66 on 12 totes and two catches for 28 yards.

Witherite ran nine times for 33 yards and added an interception on defense.

CLEARFIELD 21, PENNS VALLEY 7

SPRING MILLS, Pa. – Isaac Rummery threw a pair of touchdown passes and visiting Clearfield overcame an early touchdown deficit to top Penns Valley 21-7 in Mountain League action.

Rummery connected on a 90-yard pass to Ryan Lezzer early in the second quarter to tie the game at seven before hitting Mason Royer with an 8-yard pass midway through the third quarter to put the Bison (1-1 overall, 1-0 Mountain League) up for good, 14-7. Seth Caldwell then added a 33-yard touchdown run with 2:34 to play to seal the victory.

Penns Valley took an early 7-0 lead on n 16-yard Andrew Tobias to Nic Kubalak touchdown pass.

Rummery accounted for 198 yards of offense for Clearfield going 6 of 13 passing for 131 yards and the two touchdowns and rushing 17 times for 67 yards.

Lezzer had three grabs for 111 yards and the long score and ran five times for 33 yards, while Caldwell ran 17 times for 77 yards.

Tobias was 13 of 27 passing for 121 yards and an interception to go with his touchdown while rushing for 20 yards. Takota Bubb ran for 73 yards and caught three passes for 47 for the Rams.

The game was delayed approximately 15 minutes in the second half when a Penns Valley player was hurt and had to be taken to the hospital.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 55, CAMERON COUNTY 0

EMPORIUM, Pa. – Dan Stauffer and Jared Braun each scored two rushing touchdowns to help visiting Elk County Catholic roll to a 55-0 win over Cameron County.

Braun ran for a game-high 123 yards on 11 carries scoring on runs of 45 and 24 yards in the third quarter, while Stauffer added 65 yards on 10 carries finding paydirt from 10 and 11 yards out in the first half.

ECC led 28-0 at halftime thanks to Stauffer’s two scores and a touchdown run and a touchdown pass from Nate DaCanal.

DaCanal scored on a 23-yard run and hit Brad Dippold with a 23-yard pass. He finished the night 3 of 6 passing for 54 yards and the score while running for 71 yards and the touchdown on five carries.

John Wittman and Alec Bittler also scored for the Crusaders (2-0).

Jared Whiting paced Cameron County (0-2), which was held to just 85 yards of total offense, with 30 yards rushing while Adam Streich threw for 56 yards going 7 of 17 with an interception. Tristan Reed had three catches for 31 yards.

RIDGWAY 50, PORT ALLEGANY 0

RIDGWAY, Pa. – Six different Ridgway Elkers scored touchdowns led by two from Neil MacDonald, as the home team blew past visiting Port Allegany, 50-0.

Ridgway scored 50 points on just 281 yards of offense. Field position played a large role, as the Elkers limited Port Allegany to 41 yards of total offense.

MacDonald scored the game’s first touchdown a 1-yard run and then added a 66-yard punt return for a score. He ran for a team-best 50 yards on seven carries.

Also scoring for Ridgway were Jacob Zimmerman, Johnny Mitchell, Evan Furlong, Jacob Myers and Ryan Kilhoffer, who caught a touchdown pass from Mitchell. Mitchell threw for 44 yards on 2 of 4 passing and the touchdown and ran for 43 yards on five carries and the touchdown.

Trey Stiles had 33 yards to lead Port Allegany.

KANE 42, OTTO-ELDRED 7

DUKE CENTER, Pa. – Reed Williams threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns to lead Kane to its second straight blowout win, this time a 42-7 victory at Otto-Eldred.

Williams hit Ray Maze with a pair of scoring passes and Isaac Walters and Davis Gardner with one each all coming in the first quarter. He was 11 of 15 on the night.

Maze caught four passes for 116 yards with scoring catches of 45 and 31 yards, while Gardner, who hauled in a 64-yard scoring pass had four catches for 82 yards. Walters caught the first touchdown of the game, a 58-yard strike, on the game’s first offensive play and Kane (2-0) led 14-0 before the contest was three minutes old.

Jake Alcorn added 128 yards rushing on six carries with a 65-yard touchdown run, while Ange Costanzo chipped in with a 20-yard scoring run for the Wolves, who led 35-0 at the break. Erik DeLong added eight carries for 65 yards.

Seth Drummond paced Otto-Eldred (0-2) with 21 carries for 62 yards including a 29-yard scoring run in the second half.

BROCKWAY 56, SHEFFIELD 9

BROCKWAY, Pa. – Hunter Miller threw four touchdowns passes and ran for a fifth, and Andrew Trunzo scored twice to lead Brockway to a 56-9 rout of visiting Sheffield.

Miller, who was 9 of 10 passing for 249 yards while also rushing once for a yard, connected with Trunzo from 66 yards out on the game’s first offensive play giving Brockway a 7-0 lead 17 seconds into the game.

Brockway (2-0) then scored three times in a plan of just over four minutes late in the quarter with Miller scoring from a yard out, Trunzo returning an interception 20 yards for a touchdown and Miller hitting Dylan LeCates on an 8-yard pass to make it 28-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Rovers then scored four more times in the second quarter to take a 56-0 halftime lead.

Cameron Baka scored early in the frame on a 15-yard run before Miller hit Noah Vokes from a yard out to make it 42-0. Alex Starr then scored on an 11-yard run, and 32 seconds later, Miller connected from 54 yards out with Hunter Antonuccio.

Sheffield’s lone offensive touchdown came in the third quarter on a 4-yard Kevin Evan run, while the Wolverines (0-2) scored on a fourth-quarter safety as well.

Trunzo caught two passes for 76 yards, while Baka had two for 61 while rushing one time for 15 yards and the score. LeCates added two grabs for 57 yards, and Mark Latuska ran seven times for 58 yards.

Evan had 49 yards and the touchdown on four carries. Matt Dunham added 26 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving on three catches for Sheffield.

CLARION 41, PUNXSUTAWNEY 0

CLARION, Pa. – Spencer Miller threw four touchdown passes, including three to Ty Burford, as Clarion cruised to a 41-0 win over visiting Punxsutawney in the season opener for both teams at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

Miller hit Burford with first-half scoring passes of 40 and 27 yards and then the two hooked up from four yards out in the quarter.

Burford was also involved in the fourth Miller scoring pass, as he tipped a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the first half that ended up in the hands of Michael McCloskey giving Clarion a 19-0 halftime lead.

A pair of North Clarion kids scored in the fourth quarter for the Bobcats with Logan Minich reaching the end zone on a 42-yard run and Sam Minich scoring on a 25-yard scamper. Clarion also scored on a safety when Tom Wurster blocked a punt out of the end zone.

Clarion outgained Punxsutawney 192-11 holding the Chucks to negative six yards rushing.

Miller was 10 of 18 passing for 192 yards while also throwing two interceptions. Burford had five catches for 90 yards with McCloskey adding three for 69. McCloskey also ran eight times for 57 yards, while Colton Rapp led the ‘Cats with 70 yards on the ground. Miller chipped in 36 on three carries.

Ethan Riley had 12 yards rushing for Punxsutawney, while Dylan Ishman was 4 of 8 passing for 17 yards and an interception.

The Chucks defense did pick off three Clarion passes, including two by Robert Stormer and one by Tyler Richardson.

KARNS CITY 49, BROOKVILLE 6

KARNS CITY, Pa. — Quarterback Jacob King threw for 233 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Karns City Gremlins to a 49-6 blowout win over visiting Brookville.

King, who completed 11 of 17 passes, connected with four different receivers on the touchdowns — Chandler Turner for 57 yards, Jason Crowley for 12, Clay Garing for 1 and Kaiden Powers for 59 yards. Powers also scored on a 2-yard run while Turner rushed for 94 yards on nine carries as the Gremlins led 49-0 after three quarters and outgained the Raiders, 481-209.

Brookville’s lone score came on Tyler Park’s 14-yard pass to Bryan Dworek in the fourth quarter.

REDBANK VALLEY 55, KEYSTONE 18

KNOX, Pa. — Jared Kespelher, and Colten and Curtis Mohney each scored two touchdowns to lead the Redbank Valley Bulldogs to a 55-18 rout of the Keystone Panthers.

Kespelher caught both of his touchdown passes from Keaton Kahle in the first quarter, covering 25 and 50 yards. Colten Mohney ran for both of his TDs in the second quarter on runs of 12 and 3 yards. Curtis Mohney had a 3-yard TD run in the first quarter and scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter. Curtis and Colten ran for
113 and 70 yards respectively while Kahle completed 5 of 12 passes for 98 yards. Kespelher’s scoring grabs were his lone catches, totaling 75 yards.

The Bulldogs led 35-6 at halftime and hiked it to 48-12 when Brock Barrett returned a punt 62 yards to start the Mercy Rule running clock with one second left in the third quarter.

Panthers quarterback Nate Wingard completed 9 of 19 passes for 131 yards. He threw a 6-yard TD pass to Corey Rapp in the second quarter. Rapp caught six passes for 112 yards.