OFF. LINEMEN OF THE YEAR

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

SPECIAL TEAMS POY

Caleb Morris - Coudersport & 

Adam Cousins - Moniteau

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

GAME OF THE YEAR

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Chris McSwain - Clarion

Coudy-Curwensville - Nov. 12

Sam Conway - DuBois

It was another great year of football in District 9 with great games, great players and great team making it as hard as ever to narrow the list down to the best of the best. But after many discussions, hours of pouring over statistics and some difficult decisions, here are the 2005 D9Sports.com District 9 Football Awards.

In one of the closer Player of the Year races in recent memory, Coudersport senior running David Babcock is the 2005 choice. Babcock, a multitalented back, helped to lead the Falcons to a 12-1 year, their third District 9 Class A title and their first-ever state playoff win that included a trip to the PIAA semifinals.

David finished third in the district in rushing with 1,662 yards and 26 touchdowns on 219 carries (7.6 yards per carry). Showing good hands out of the backfield, he also caught 11 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns with an average of 27.5 yards per catch.

Babcock was more than just a running back, though, he also was a fine return man finishing the season with 417 total return yards including six punt returns for 126 yards and 14 kickoff returns for 291 yards including a touchdown. He also returned an interception for a touchdown giving him 32 total TDs on the season.

David’s top performance came in a 42-14 Week 4 win at home over Coudersport when he rushed 23 times for 289 yards and three touchdowns. He also a big opening week accounting for 323 all-purpose yards in a 26-18 win over Johnsonburg. That night, he rushed 29 times for 182 yards and three touchdowns and returned kickoffs for another 121 yards including a 97-yard return of the second-half kickoff for a touchdown while being named D9sports.com’s District 9 Player of the Week.

Brad Rapp was the cornerstone of the top scoring defense in District 9 (12.2 ppg allowed) leading Clarion with 138 tackles (11.5 per game) while adding four sacks and two fumble recoveries. He was a big reason the Bobcats went 9-3 on the year with a their first trip to the District 9 Class A Championship game since 2000. With Rapp leading the way, Clarion allowed two or fewer scores against it seven times including seven or less points six times.

Brad raised his level of play down the stretch recording 104 of his tackles from Week 6 on when Clarion played seven consecutive teams with winning records including three playoff games and four regular-season games against playoff teams. He had 44 tackles alone in three D9 playoff games.

Rapp’s top tackle performance came in Week 9 when he had 22 in a 7-3 win over Moniteau that featured the Bobcat defense stopping the Warriors on four straight plays from inside the 5-yard line in the waning minutes of the contest to preserve the win and the No. 2 seed in the D9 postseason. He also had an 18-tackle, 1-sack showing in a 20-16 win over Elk County Catholic in the opening round of the playoffs.

Sophomores aren’t suppose to play the most crucial position for teams that come within one game of going to the state championship game, but that is exactly what Wetzel did in leading the Falcons to a 12-1 record, the D9 Class A title and the PIAA semifinals.

He finished the season as the fifth-rated passes by yards in District 9 (1,274) and the top rated QB by passer rating (170.18) while completing 53.4 percent of his throws (63 of 118) and having 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Maybe the most amazing part of Wetzel’s season was that in the first eight weeks he wasn’t asked to throw the ball much completing just 21 passes for 399 yards and four touchdowns. But starting in Week 9 in the AML Title game against Curwensville and continuing through three D9 playoff games and two PIAA playoff games Wetzel became a primary reason why Coudersport advanced to the semifinals completing 42 passes for 865 yards and 12 scores.

Two of Boomer’s best performances came against Curwensville.

First in the AML Title game, a 41-13 Falcon win, he completed 7 of 8 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Then two weeks later, in the D9 Class A semifinals, a 28-26 come-from-behind Coudy win, Wetzel was 11 of 23 for 234 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He threw the game-winning touchdown with 2:01 to play.

Clearfield County and especially Curwensville is starting to become an offensive linemen factory with senior tackle J.D. Skebo becoming the fourth Clearfield County player and the third Golden Tide in the four years of the Offensive Lineman of the Year award to earn the honor. Last season, Curwensville’s Brad Sopic and Sean Fairly shared the award, while in 2002 Clearfield’s Jon Altemus took home the honor.

Skebo was a big reason why Curwensville went 8-3 this year while leading District 9 in both total offense per game (387.18 yards per contest) and rushing per game (311.73 per game).

According to Curwensville head coach Andy Evanko, the 6-2, 305-pound tackle "with feet" was one of the main reasons Curwensville rushed for 3,429 yards this season – the Tide were so dominate in the running game that the No. 2 rushing team in D9, Clarion, was 63.56 yards per game behind them – while gaining 4,259 total yards of offense.

"Besides having Nick (Sipes) – D9’s leading rusher – to run the ball, we placed our two beast lineman JD and Sam Kephart (next to each other) and ran the ball over them," Evanko said. "These two big guys led the way for us all season. JD is a big kid who is very physical and can run. He was a key part of our line."

District 9 has been blessed over the years with some pretty special players on the special teams, and this year was no different. In fact, their were so many great special teams players that the 2005 award is being shared by two players – Moniteau kicker/return specialist Adam Cousins – and Coudersport kicker/punter Caleb Morris.

Cousins earns the awards based on not only his strong kicking leg but also his fast return legs. He was 3 of 9 with field goals this season including a season-long 37-yard boot vs. Clarion. Many of his misses were from long range. On extra points, Cousins was nearly perfect going 26 of 30. He also had one touchback on kickoffs while punting the ball seven times for 150 yards as the back-up punter. His 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter gave Moniteau a 10-7 win over Karns City in the D9 Class AA semifinals sending the Warriors to the D9 Title game for the first time in their history.

Return wise, Adam was very dangerous returning 10 kickoffs for 278 yards and a touchdown and 21 punts for 260 yards. His 83-yard return of the opening kickoff in the Warriors 35-25 win at Brookville in the opening round of the D9 Class AA Playoffs set the tone for Moniteau’s first-ever postseason victory.

Morris, while not getting an opportunity to kick many field goals for the high-scoring Falcons (he was 2 of 6 with a long of 27 yards) made his mark on games in another important manner – giving Coudy’s opponents poor field position time and again with booming punts and kickoffs.

Caleb, who was 33 of 42 on extra points, forced Coudersport opponents to start at their own 20 or deeper 31 times this season thanks to an eye-popping 19 touchbacks and 12 punts inside the 20-yard line. Overall, he averaged 39.2 yards per kickoff and 37.6 yards per punt on 22 punts.

After graduating what seemed like an All-Star team over the past three years, many including this web site believed Clarion-Limestone was destined for a sub-par year (at least by their standards) in 2005.

But third-year head coach Todd Smith, his staff and his players had other ideas and that is why Smith is the 2005 D9Sports.com District 9 Coach of the Year.

Instead of sub par, the Lions, who consistently had only around 20-25 players dressed for every game, were super in 2005 going 9-2 with a trip to the D9 Class A semifinals. It wasn’t like C-L was beating up on weaker or smaller teams either. Along the way, Smith guided the Lions to wins over five Class AA opponents, including four who reached the postseason, and one Class AAA foe. Overall, C-L was 5-2 against teams that made the postseason in 2005 with the only two loses coming to Clarion, the D9 Class A runner-up.

Big players come to play in big games, and McSwain had a monster performance in Clarion’s 14-6 win over cross-town rival Clarion-Limestone in the District 9 Class A semifinals Nov. 12 at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

That night, the senior running back ran for a career-high 315 yards on 40 carries while scoring two touchdowns. He was involved in 74.1 percent of Clarion’s plays that night, as the Bobcats ran the ball 53 out of a total of 54 plays.

McSwain’s biggest run came late in the third quarter 26 seconds after C-L had scored to cut a Clarion lead to 7-6 with under a minute to play in the quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, the Bobcats were pinned back at their own 8-yard line and all the momentum seemed to belong to C-L. But McSwain quickly changed that momentum and the game with a 92-yard, electrifying touchdown run down the left sideline to put the Bobcats ahead 14-6.

Chris wasn’t quite down yet. After a C-L punt gave Clarion the ball back at its own 20-yard line with 10:02 to play, McSwain helped make sure C-L would never see the ball again. He, his fellow backs and the Bobcat offensive line proceeded to go on a 16-play, 7-yard drive that ran the entire 10:02 off the clock for the victory.

McSwain had scored Clarion’s first touchdown on a 1-yard run with 4:30 left in the third quarter. That capped another mammoth Bobcat drive that lasted 12 plays and covered 58 yards. McSwain added extra points on both touchdowns, a surprising development considering he hadn’t tried an extra point in any of Clarion’s first 10 games.

The two long second-half drives and the long touchdown run helped McSwain rush for 204 of his 315 yards in the second half after an impressive 111-yard first half.

The District 9 Class A semifinal contest Nov. 11 between visiting Curwensville and Coudersport turned out to be a surprising classic won in the last minutes by Coudersport 28-26.

What made the game surprising was that Coudersport had destroyed Curwensville 41-13 two weeks earlier at Curwensville in the AML Title Game.

This time the Golden Tide made sure there won’t be a blowout jumping out to a 12-0 lead and holding an 18-6 halftime lead thanks to two touchdown catches by Bart McGary and a touchdown run and touchdown pass off a halfback option by Nick Sipes.

But Coudersport showed why it had gone undefeated during the regular season rallying in the third quarter to take a 22-18 lead on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Boomer Wetzel to Sam Decker and a 34-yard TD toss from Wetzel to David Babcock.

Curwensville wasn’t done yet, as Sipes rolled off an 82-yard touchdown run and Shawn Sopic added the 2-point conversion run to give the Golden Tide a 26-22 lead with 6:19 to play.

The Tide defense then rose to the occasion on Coudersport’s next possession with Jason Null intercepting a Wetzel pass at the Coudy 42 with 6:02 to play.

Curwensville then ran nearly three minutes off the clock while moving the ball to the Falcon 27. But the Coudy defense came up big dropping Curwensville back to the 34 on a fourth down play giving the Falcons one last hope with 3:14 to play and 66 yards to go to victory.

The Falcons, however, looked to be in trouble when the first three plays of the drive netted a total of three yards leaving Coudy facing a fourth-and-its season from its own 37. Wetzel, only a sophomore, showed the poise of a senior, though, finding Decker with a first-down pass to the Coudy 46.

Talent and luck then smiled on Coudersport moments later when Wetzel hit Babcock with a 54-yard touchdown pass to put the Falcons ahead 28-26 with 2:01 to play. Babcock juggled and bobbled the ball that was tipped before reeling it in and out racing the Curwensville defenders to the end zone

Wetzel had a monster game going 11 of 23 for 234 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Babcock had four catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns, while Decker had six grabs for 114 yards and a touchdown while also throwing a touchdown pass.

Curwensville owned the rest of the stat sheet outgaining Coudy 450-286 and getting 21 first downs to the Falcons’ 12. But turnovers were costly with the Tide fumbling the ball seven times and losing five of them.

Sipes was the main forced for the Tide running 38 times for 262 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing a scoring pass. He finished the game and the year with 3,976 career rushing yards and needs just 24 to become the fourth player in D9 history to gain 4,000 career yards.

McGary added six catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

Coudersport used the momentum from the victory to go on to beat Clarion for the D9 Title 31-7, the third D9 title for the Falcons. Coudersport then defeated Kennedy Catholic in another classic 48-42 in double overtime earning the Falcons first PIAA state playoff win before losing to Duquesne 33-2 in the PIAA semifinals.

The Contributor Award is a special award that is only being given for the second time in the six years of the award. It goes to an individual (not a player) who has dedicated him or herself to high school football over a long period of time.

This year’s Contributor Award goes to Sam Conway, a helper with the DuBois football team.

Conway was the equipment coach and operations manager as a volunteer coach for the Beavers who retired at the end of the year.

DuBois head coach Jason Shilala nominated Conway, and this is what he had to say in that nomination.

"Coach Conway puts in a tremendous amount of time and does not receive a dime. He prepares the team for games, makes sure the uniforms are washed and handed out prior to games and takes care of all travel in terms of headsets, extra helmets, balls, towels, you name it. He helps make phone calls to different organizations for us all the time and helps out with awards, summer travel, driving kids to camp, speed clinics, etc. He also makes sure we have managers to help run practice. If you can thing of it, Coach Conway takes care of it. This man has done everything that no other coach wants to do for the past several years (for me when I was junior high coach and now for me as the varsity coach). He has allowed my staff and I to focus strictly on football and not the other 10 millions things that occupy your time. His help has allowed us to be success, and he is truly a ‘DuBois Football Man’. I am sorry to say Coach is retiring at the end of this year, and I will not be able to replace his enthusiasm and commitment to our program. To find someone as dedicated as him is virtually impossible."