BROCKWAY AND COUDERSPORT READY FOR THE STATE PLAYOFFS 

Class A First Round - Coudersport vs. Kennedy Catholic at Slippery Rock University, 7 p.m. Nov. 25

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It’s District 9 vs. District 10 this week in the PIAA Class A and AA playoffs and depending on which classification you’re looking at, history sides with each district.

In Class A, the D-9 champion Coudersport Falcons (12-0) meet D-10 champion Kennedy Catholic (9-2) while the D-9 Class AA champion Brockway Rovers (8-3) take on D-10 champion Reynolds (10-2). Both games are Friday night with the Class A game at Slippery Rock University and the Class AA game at Clarion University.

How does history stack up? District 9 has won four of the last six Class A state playoff meetings, including three in a row. Curwensville blasted Sharpsville, 34-6, last year while Clarion-Limestone routed West Middlesex, 33-14, and 40-7, in 2003 and 2002 respectively. The last District 10 Class A team to beat D-9 in the playoffs was Sharpsville in back-to-back seasons, over Coudersport in 2001 and Curwensville in 2000.

Class AA favors District 10, which has won five of the last six first-round matchups with District 9. The only D-9 win was Brockway’s 12-7 win over Slippery Rock in 2002. Last year, Grove City topped Brookville 28-12 on its way to the state championship game where it lost to Lansdale Catholic.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s state playoff games involving District 9 teams:

SLIPPERY ROCK – After an impressive 31-7 romp over Clarion in the D-9 Championship game last Saturday at Clarion University, the unbeaten Falcons head to another college town to take on D-10 champion Kennedy Catholic.

The Falcons, ranked sixth by the Pennsylvania Football News, will play a team which whom they share a common opponent: Clarion. When Kennedy Catholic played Clarion at Clarion University in Week 8, the Golden Eagles stopped the Bobcats on a two-point conversion attempt to avoid playing overtime in a 14-12 squeaker.

Based on comparitive scoring, the Falcons should be confident. As if they needed it. Head coach Paul Simcoe’s squad has showed dangerous balance offensively and solid defense.

David Babcock, who rushed for 146 yards a week ago, raising his season total to 1,537 yards, leads the Falcons. Babcock didn’t score a touchdown against Clarion, but teammate Sam Decker scored three touchdowns, one of them on a pass from quarterback Boomer Wetzel. Decker has 772 yards rushing and 448 yards passing.

Wetzel has been lights-out since the Allegheny Mountain League Championship game. In that game and three postseason games, Wetzel has completed 26 of 42 passes for 693 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Defensively, the Falcons are giving up just 10.5 points per game.

Kennedy Catholic is a running-oriented team, led by Lee Plotts. Going into last week’s 34-12 win over Sharpsville in the D-10 title game, Plotts had rushed for 1,230 yards and scored 21 touchdowns. Ross Gargano had rushed for 593 yards. George Kovach will also get some carries and the quarterback is Lee Sham, who had passed for 570 yards.

Kennedy’s only two losses were to the D-10 Class AA championship game teams – Reynolds and Wilmington.

Friday’s winner gets the winner of the Duquesne-Windber game in next week’s state semifinals.

CLARION – The only District 9 win against a District 10 Class AA team in the state playoffs since 1998 came in Brockway’s 12-7 win over Slippery Rock back in 2002. Head coach Ray Reckner’s Rovers hope that the school’s second state playoff win happens this week.

The Rovers came out on top of a toss-up District 9 Class AA playoff field, culminating with a 22-20 win over Moniteau last Saturday. Quarterback Anthony Varischetti became the first Rovers quarterback to pass for over 1,000 yards in a season when he completed 11 of 21 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown against the Warriors.

Air Reckner? Perhaps. Varischetti’s passing will be needed again this week against the Reynolds Raiders, who won their first district crown since 1989 with a 21-0 win over Wilmington. The win avenged an early-season loss to the Greyhounds.

Reynolds, a traditional wrestling power, is located in Transfer, about 15 minutes north of Sharon. The Raiders’ only two losses came in back-to-back weeks in 7 and 8 to Sharon and Wilmington. Their top player is dangerous running back Jake McBride, who has 276 carries for 1,693 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is a big reason why Reynolds is ranked No. 9 in the state by the PA Football News.

The Rovers hope to get their running game established. Last week, Moniteau limited the Rovers to 94 yards rushing. Ben Donlin had 63 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns, one on a pass from Varischetti. While the Rovers’ rushing stats – 156 yards per game – are nowhere near the 2002 and 2003 championship teams’ totals, Brockway’s running game is part of a balanced offense that will need to be that way to beat Reynolds.

Friday’s winner plays the winner of the Forest Hills-South Park matchup in next week’s state semifinals.