Eight District 9 Playoff Contests on Tap Thursday Led by 3A Title Games in Boys and Girls

KNOX, Pa. – Led by the District 9 Class 3A title games for both the boys and the girls, eight games are on tap in District basketball playoff action Thursday.

(Photo: Morgan Johnson and Brookville aim for a second straight D9 title Thursday night against Moniteau. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)

DISTRICT 9 CLASS 3A GIRLS’ CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

NO. 2 MONITEAU VS. NO. 1 BROOKVILLE
When and Where: 6 p.m. at Keystone High School
Winner Gets: Chestnut Ridge out of District 5 in a PIAA sub-regional game Feb. 26 at Clearfield High School.
Records: Moniteau 9-13; Brookville 17-5
Moniteau Leading Scorers: Kristin Auvil (14.5 ppg), Aslyn Pry (8.5 ppg), Andie Arblaster (7.3 ppg)
Brookville Leading Scorers: Morgan Johnson (13.2 ppg), Marcy Schindler (11.9 ppg), Madison Johnson (8.1 ppg), Lauren Hergert (7.0 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Moniteau 2001 in Class 2A; Brookville 2018 in Class 3A
Notes: Brookville is the defending champion after not only winning D9 3A last year over Karns City but also advancing to the second round of the PIAA playoffs. The Lady Raiders have their entire team back from a year ago and are looking to back it back-to-back titles for the first time since winning three in a row from 1996-1998 in Class 3A … Moniteau is back to the title game for the third time in three years having lost to Karns City in 2017 in 3A and to Karns City in 2016 in 2A, but the Lady Warriors haven’t won a championship in 18 seasons having lost the last four championship games they appeared in … Brookville enters the title game having won seven of eight, while Moniteau got hot at the end of the season winning five of its final six games after starting the year 4-12. That includes a 46-39 win over North Clarion, a Class 1A semifinalist, in the final regular-season game Feb. 11 … The Feb. 11 game was the last time Moniteau played, while Brookville has been off since Feb. 15.

DISTRICT 9 CLASS 3A BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

NO. 2 MONITEAU VS. NO. 1 BROOKVILLE
When and Where: 7:30 p.m. at Keystone High School
Winner Gets: The District 5 champion, Everett or Chestnut Ridge, in a PIAA sub-regional game Feb. 28 at Pitt-Johnstown.
Records: Moniteau 13-9, Brookville 14-8
Moniteau Leading Scorers: Ethan McDeavitt (12.6 ppg), Gage Neal (12.1 ppg), Jared Lominski (9.6 ppg)
Brookville Leading Scorers: Aaron Park (11.4 ppg), Jack Krug (6.7 ppg), Logan Byerly (6.3 ppg), Trenton Gilhousen (6.3 ppg), Robert Keth (6.1 ppg).
Last District 9 Title: Moniteau Never (Warriors have reached four D9 2A title games, the last time in 2011 when they lost to Brookville, 58-49); Brookville 2014 in Class 2A
Notes: Brookville is making its third straight appearance in the District 9 Class 3A championship game having lost the first two to Karns City … Moniteau is back in the title game for the first time since falling to Brookville in 2011 … Brookville seems to have put behind a four-game losing streak near the end of the season. The Raiders lost four straight from Jan. 25 to Feb. 5 with the last two coming to the No. 1 seeds in the 1A (Elk County Catholic) and 2A (Coudersport) District 9 playoffs. Since the loss to Coudersport, Brookville has won three in a row with the last one coming in overtime at DuBois Feb. 15 … The Raiders also started the season slowly going 3-4 through seven games before winning eight in a row before the losing streak … Moniteau started fast under first-year head coach Mike Jewart going 9-3 through 12 games but finished the year 4-6 including losing two critical KSAC South games back-to-back after moving into first place in the conference with a Feb. 1 win over Keystone. Those losses to Karns City and Redbank Valley cost the Warriors the KSAC South title. They did rebound to beat A-C Valley, 62-50, in their regular-season finale Feb. 13.

CLASS 1A BOYS’ QUARTERFINALS

NO. 8 AUSTIN VS. NO. 1 ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC
When and Where: 7:30 p.m. at St. Marys High School
Winner Gets: The winner of the Johnsonburg/Cameron County game in the semifinals
Records: Austin 12-10; ECC 23-1
Austin Leading Scorers: Dempsey Glover (16.8 ppg), Blake Burgett (13.0 ppg), Jackson Glover (10.1 ppg)
ECC Leading Scorers: Alex Breindel (12.9 ppg), Regis Wortman (12.6 ppg), Alex Wehler (7.6 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Austin Never (The Panthers have never even reached a title game); ECC 2017 in Class 1A
Notes: Could there be a bigger discrepancy in schools’ playoff pedigree? While Austin has never reached a District 9 championship game, ECC has been to 32 winning 23 … Austin is in the playoffs for the second straight year after not going to the postseason since 2004 prior to the 2018 season.

NO. 7 DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC VS. NO. 2 NORTH CLARION
When and Where: 7:30 p.m. at Brookville
Winner Gets: Winner of Otto-Eldred/Clarion-Limestone game in the semifinals
Records: DCC 12-11; North Clarion 19-2
DCC Leading Scorers: Justin Miknis (20.9 ppg), Jonathan Kurtz (7.4 ppg)
North Clarion Leading Scorers: Kyle Mills (18.9 ppg), Tyler McCord-Wolbert (11.8 ppg), Korey Mills (11.0 ppg), Logan Minich (10.7 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: DCC 2010 in Class 1A; North Clarion 1985 in Class 1A
Notes: This is the second meeting of the year between these teams, North Clarion eked by the Cardinals, 66-64, Feb. 4 in DuBois … Miknis is a 1,000-point scorer for the Cardinals … North Clarion is perhaps the biggest team in the field with 6-7 Kyle Mills and 6-4 Tyler McCord-Wolbert in the starting lineup … North Clarion hasn’t been to a District 9 title game since losing to ECC in Class 1A in 1999.

NO. 6 OTTO-ELDRED VS. NO. 3 CLARION-LIMESTONE
When and Where: 7:30 p.m. at Elk County Catholic HS
Winner Gets: Winner of DCC/North Clarion game in the semifinals
Records: Otto-Eldred 11-9; C-L 20-3
Otto-Eldred Leading Scorers: Andrew Sheeler (11.6 ppg), Cole Sebastian (10.2 ppg), Cameron Grigsby (9.5 ppg), Braden Maholic (7.3 ppg), Gavin Jimmerson (7.0 ppg)
C-L Leading Scorers: Deion Deas (21.4 ppg), Ian Callen (18.6 ppg in 12 games), Hayden Callen (17.0 ppg), Curvin Goheen (8.6 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Otto-Eldred Never (The Terrors did make it to the Class 2A title game in 1997 losing to Keystone); Clarion-Limestone 2015 in Class 1A
Notes: C-L has a pair of 1,000-point scorers in senior Ian Callen and junior Deion Deas. Deas was thought to be lost for the season with an ankle injury but returned in the KSAC Title Game and scored his 1,000-point. The Lions have had both Ian Callen and Deas on the court at the same time for just eight games this year with Callen having missed the first 11 with a football knee injury and Deas missing three with the ankle … These schools also met in the D9 1A football quarterfinals with C-L winning that one at C-L.

NO. 5 JOHNSONBURG VS. NO. 4 CAMERON COUNTY
When and Where: 6 p.m. at St. Marys High School
Winner Gets: Winner of Austin/ECC game in the semifinals
Records: Johnsonburg 15-8; Cameron County 16-6
Johnsonburg Leading Scorers: Austin Green (18.5 ppg), Isaac Scholder (9.9 ppg)
Cameron County Leading Scorers: Jake Walters (15.7 ppg), Caden Beldin (13.5 ppg), Marcus Brown (10.4 ppg), Dino Brown (10.2 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Johnsonburg 2018 in Class 1A; Cameron County 1973 in Class B
Notes: Johnsonburg is the defending champion and has been to two straight title games and four in seven years winning twice. The Rams have never won two straight D9 titles … Cameron County’s last title came during the golden age of Red Raiders basketball. The 1973 title was the fourth in a row for Cameron County and fifth in seven years starting in 1967. The Red Raiders reached five straight championship games from 1970-74 losing to ECC in 1974.

CLASS 1A GIRLS’ QUARTERFINALS

NO. 7 NORTHERN POTTER VS. NO. 2 COUDERSPORT
When and Where: 7 p.m. at Oswayo Valley HS
Winner Gets: North Clarion in the semifinals
Records: Northern Potter 11-11; Coudersport 17-4
Northern Potter Leading Scorers: Abbi Anderson (12.1 ppg), Courtney Martin (8.0 ppg), Mirissa Bliss (7.7 ppg)
Coudersport Leading Scorers: Shae Black (13.9 ppg), Sarah Chambers (13.4 ppg), Rosalyn Page (8.9 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Northern Potter Never (Last appeared in title game in 1988 in 1A); Coudersport 2018 in Class 2A
Notes: This game was slated for Wednesday night in Austin but was postponed and moved to Oswayo Valley Thursday. Coudersport has won two D9 titles in a row, both coming in Class 2A before the Lady Falcons moved down to 1A this year … Coudersport last won three titles in a row between 2001-04 when the Lady Falcons won four straight crowns … This is the third meeting this year between these teams. Coudersport dominated the first two winning 47-23 in Ulysses Dec. 12 and 58-24 in Coudersport Jan. 16.

CLASS 2A GIRLS’ QUARTERFINALS

NO. 5 CRANBERRY VS. NO. 4 CLARION
When and Where: 6 p.m. at Brookville High School
Winner Gets: Top-seeded Kane
Records: Cranberry 12-10; Clarion 15-7
Cranberry Leading Scorers: Malliah Schreck (19.3 ppg), Maddie Cornelius (5.8 ppg)
Clarion Leading Scorers: Kait Constantino (12.8 ppg), KK Girvan (10.5 ppg), Wendy Beveridge (8.9 ppg)
Last District 9 Title: Cranberry 2012 in Class 2A; Clarion 2014 in Class 1A
Notes: The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday at North Clarion but was moved to Thursday in Brookville … This is the third meeting this year between these KSAC rivals. Clarion won the first two meetings getting a 52-44 home win Dec. 18 and a 48-45 road win Feb. 1 … This is a rematch of a quarterfinal game from a year ago won by Cranberry.