WITH JOHNSTON OUT, CURWENSVILLE BECOMES CLASS A FAVORITE

Prior to Johnston injury, a torn spleen that will force him to miss the remainder of the season, the two-time defending champion Lions (8-0) were probably the favorites despite the big numbers being put up by the Golden Tide (8-0).

Some would ask why, but the answer was pretty simple: Clarion-Limestone had the experience and the schedule this year that made them the favorites. The Lions played a tougher schedule that included Bradford, Clarion and Redbank Valley, two of which are from a higher classification.

Curwensville, on the other hand, despite putting up very impressive numbers hadn’t really been tested much in the AML, which appears to be down a little bit this season.

The only team I see in the AML South as being a legitimate contender for a title is Brockway, which Curwensville beat by just a touchdown, 14-7.

Other than Brockway, two of the three other teams that are currently above .500 that Curwensville has beaten have either been injury or suspension depleted. And even then the big question remains whether those teams are above .500 because they are that good or because the competition they are playing isn’t as good as them.

The same could be said in some cases for C-L but not all. From all accounts, Bradford, Clarion and Redbank Valley are all pretty good football teams. Add that to the Lions experience factor and they were the favorites with Johnston.

But now that Johnston is gone all bets are off.

The Golden Tide become the favorites.

Curwensville has a great running attack led by the Sipes brother duo of Nate and Nick. Not only that, the Golden Tide have shown great special teams play and a great defense.

If they have a weakness it is in a passing game that hasn’t been needed this year.

What happens if a team stops Curwensville’s running game? No one knows because quarterback Shawn Sopic has never been asked to throw the ball more than nine times in any one game, and he has never completed more than four passes in any one game.

Any question mark surrounding Curwensville is how they would react in a close game. Outside of the Brockway win way back in Week Two, all of Curwensville’s games have been over before halftime. And the Golden Tide have never trailed in the second quarter let alone the second half of a game this season. What will happen if the fourth quarter comes around and the Tide are down? No one knows.

But despite these question marks, Curwensville appears to have the best talent of the teams left in Class A.

The No. 2 team in Class A now becomes the Clarion Bobcats.

Clarion was three bad special teams’ plays away from beating Clarion-Limestone this season, and the Bobcats have a very strong running attack led by Chris McSwain. Clarion also has a very stingy defense that relies on teamwork not star power.

The Bobcats have also played a strong schedule that includes a win over Redbank Valley and loses to C-L and Clearfield.

Clarion’s major weakness is the lack of a real passing game and an offense that is not designed to play catch-up. Clarion likes to play a ball-control offense and it is best when it holds a lead.

The third and fourth teams in Class A are probably Coudersport and C-L.

The Falcons have been in a ton of close games, but the problem is some of those close contests have come against teams that on paper they should have blown out. Yet Coudersport once again plays tough defense and has some offensive star power.

C-L without Johnston is still a decent team with an athletic Scott Davis at quarterback. The problem for the Lions is they don’t run the ball very well, and Davis is not the caliber of quarterback Johnston was. C-L will probably have to run a lot more Wing-T sets, because the Lions aren’t built to be a power running team. The thing going for C-L is they still have plenty of good athletes in Davis, Erik White and David Brooks. But at the same time, they are missing two starters on defense now and a third, Dan Jeannerat, is playing with a bum knee.

In the second half of the Class A bracket, Port Allegany is probably the No. 5 seed. The Gators seem similar but not quite as good as last year’s team. But they are still more than capable of making it back to the D9 Class A title game. Running back Cody Anderson makes the offense go. Port’s biggest problem is they lost by 52 to Curwensville two weeks ago.

Smethport is having a resurgent season under first-year head coach Rob Cosper. But the Hubbers might be a year or two away from really coming all the way back to prominence. A chance at a first-round upset depending on the first-round match-up is a possibility.

ECC is probably No. 7 on the list. The Crusaders have come back nicely after winning just one game last year. But ECC lost its top running back Anthony Tettis a couple of weeks ago and have struggled since. A first-round game at either Curwensville or C-L could get ugly.

The eighth and final team has yet to be determined out of the group of Otto-Eldred, Johnsonburg and Keystone. But once again a first-round trip to either Curwensville or C-L doesn’t bode well for whichever team qualifies.