COUDERSPORT FACES DUQUESNE WITH TRIP TO HERSHEY ON THE LINE 

7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2

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CLARION – District 9 champion Coudersport (13-0) finds itself in uncharted territory when it faces WPIAL (District 7) champ Duquesne (13-0) in the PIAA Class A semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

It is the first-ever trip to the semifinals for the Falcons, who won their first state playoff game ever in dramatic fashion last week 48-42 in double overtime over Kennedy Catholic. Coudy is trying to become just the third District 9 team to advance to the state title game joining Keystone (Class A, 1989) and Smethport (Class A, 1992). The Falcons were 0-2 in the PIAA playoffs before last Friday.

Duquesne isn’t a whole lot more experienced than Coudersport having been this far just once, in 1993. That year, the Dukes won the Class A state title with a 24-21 win over South Williamsport. But that was the only time prior to this season that Duquesne had been to the state playoffs. The Dukes advanced to the semifinals with an 18-0 win over Windber.

Coudersport has quickly become a balanced team over the last few weeks showing an ability to move the ball both on the ground and through the air.

The credit to that has to go to an offensive line that is helping the Falcons average 332.1 yards per games including 231.9 on the ground and 100.2 in the air. Since Week 9, Coudy is averaging 152 yards per game running and 171.0 passing. Senior Brandon Smith (6-4, 255) and junior Issac Carey (6-1, 210) are the keys to that line.

The line has opened holes for the running back tandem of David Babcock (205 carries, 1,612 yards, 26 touchdowns) and Sam Decker (113 carries, 773 yards, 12 TDs). Babcock is now the third ranked runner in D9, while Decker ranks 12th.

Sophomore quarterback Boomer Wetzel has really come into his own over the past few weeks and is now eighth in D9 in passing yards (1,179) while leading the district in QB rating (198.80). He is 57-for-97 with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Wetzel’s top receivers are Decker (12^th in D9 with 22 catches for 457 yards, 5 TDs), Babcock (9 grabs, 251 yards, 4 TDs), Chris Cavallari (10 catches, 148 yards, 2 TDs) and Logan Hathaway (6 catches, 121 yards, 5 touchdowns).

Duquesne has one of the top offenses in the WPIAL and ranked ninth in the district going into the state playoffs averaging 350.92 yards per game and XX points per contest. The Dukes average 219 yards on the ground and 132 in the air.

Quarterback Durrell Dunn, wide receiver Ejiah Fields and running back Layton Dunn lead the offense.

Durrell Dunn was 52 of 91 for 1,321 yards and 20 touchdowns going into the Windber game, while Fields was the top ranked receiver in the WPIAL with 36 catches for 988 yards and 15 touchdowns. Layton Dunn was the sixth ranked runner in the WPIAL going into the Windber game with 232 carries for 1,794 yards and 20 touchdowns.

On defense, Duquesne has been pretty good as well ranking 15^th in the WPIAL allowing 195.5 yards per game while also allowing 10.2 ppg. Fields has been a real key with nine interceptions going into the Windber game, the second highest total in the WPIAL.

NOTES – These two schools and their athletes are familiar with each other with Coudersport beating Duquesne 52-40 in the opening round of last year’s PIAA Class A Basketball playoffs … While Coudy has played a game a Clarion U. this season (beating Clarion 31-7 in the D9 Class A title game), Duquesne actually has a shorter trip both mileage wise (80.4 to 103 miles from Coudy) and time wise (About 2 hours to about 2:30 from Coudy).