WEEK ONE DISTRICT 9 FOOTBALL WRAP-UP

Sept. 1-2

Last updated: 09/09/06 10:18:52 PM

ST. MARYS – Eric Mastrogiacomo scored three first-quarter touchdowns and had two interceptions on defense to lead Elk County Catholic to a 26-0 win over Otto-Eldred in the season opener for both team Saturday night in St. Marys.

Mastrogiacomo scored on runs of 36 and 8 yards while also returning an interception 58 yards in a 26-point opening quarter for the Crusaders. He finished the game with eight carries for 83 yards.

Brad Meholic added eight carries for 55 yards and a score for ECC.

Travis Bair was 6-for-14 passing for 80 yards for Otto-Eldred, while Kyle Armstrong had five catches for 73 yards and six carries for 16.

KANE – Kane defeated Sheffield 14-7 in the season opener for both teams Friday night in Kane.

Matt Mix’s 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in the game.

Kane's other touchdowns came on a 34-yard pass from Kenny Kane to DJ Horton. 

Kane was 3-for-9 passing for 40 yards, one touchdown and one interception in relief of Zach Anderson, who was 2-for-2 for 47 yards.

Mix ran 18 times for 77 yards and the score, while Dustin Moran had 19 carries for 72 yards. Horton had two catches for 47 yards and a touchdown, while John Bizzak had one grab for 34 yards. 

Matt Bryant had a 60-yard interception return for Sheffield in the second quarter.

Michael Bryant led Sheffield with five carries for 65 yards and two catches for 27, while Jordan Copley had seven for 51 yards and was 4-for-9 passing for 41 yards and an interception.

JOHNSONBURG 28, PORT ALLEGANY 7

JOHNSONBURG – Quarterback Calvin Grumley racked up 183 yards of total offense and two rushing touchdowns while also kicking a field goal to led Johnsonburg to a season-opening 28-7 win over visiting Port Allegany Friday night.

Grumley ran 11 times for 106 yards and two scores while going 6-for-14 passing for 77 yards and an interception.

Jesse Dennis added six carries for 67 yards and one touchdown, while John Yonker returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown.

Derick Morey actually gave Port Allegany a 7-0 lead 59 seconds into the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run before J-Burg took the halftime lead 12-7 on Dennis’ 2-yard run and Grumley’s 33-yard run. Yonker’s interception return made it 19-7 before Grumley put the game away with a 27-yard touchdown run and a 31-yard field goal.

Nick Nichols led Port with 20 carries for 46 yards, while Chad Saltsman had 10 for 34.

BELLEFONTE 9, PUNXSUTAWNEY 7

BELLEFONTE – Bellefonte eked by Punxsutawney for a 9-7 win in the season opener Friday night at Bellefonte.

Punxsy’s defense didn’t allow a touchdown with Bellefonte’s lone offensive points coming on a 33-yard field goal by Andy Masullo.

But Masullo also returned a Zach Smith interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

Mike Smiley scored Punxsutawney lone TD on a 13-yard run late in the third quarter. Smiley finished with 15 carries for 68 yards.

Heath Sprout had eight catches for 168 yards to lead Bellefonte, which outgained Punxsy 300-184.

CAMERON COUNTY 34, BROCKWAY 6

Brockway – After being pounded for nearly three years by teams from the AML South, Cameron County finally got a chance to exact some revenge in the 2006 season opener Friday night at Brockway.

And the Red Raiders did just that rolling to a 34-6 win over Brockway. It was the first win against an AML South foe by Cameron County since a 12-6 win at home over Elk County Catholic Sept. 12, 2003. Since then, the Raiders had lost 13 in a row to AML South teams including the first five in 2003 when they were an AML South member. Cameron moved to the AML North in 2004 and promptly lost its first eight games against its former division. It was also the Raiders first win over Brockway since 1999. The Rovers had won four straight in the series.

Quarterback Jordan Crane and a host of runners made sure those steaks came to an abrupt halt.

Crane was 4-for-9 passing for 117 yards and two touchdowns, while six Cameron runners combined to run for 258 yards and three more scores.

Cash Grimone led the way on the ground with 12 totes for 78 yards, Abram Zoschg added four for 60 and a 52-yard touchdown, John Malizia had five for 40 and a 16-yard touchdown and Cameron Clingan had three for 36 and a 29-yard touchdown. Zoschg also caught a 33-yard scoring pass from Crane, and Nick Malize had a 36-yard touchdown reception.

Dillon Park scored Brockway’s lone touchdown on a 2-yard run. He ran 16 times for 80 yards and caught one pass for 42.

Cameron led 7-6 at halftime before outscoring Brockway 27-0 in the second half.

ST. MARYS – Roy Beham ran 16 times for 72 yards and three touchdowns to lead Karns City to a 28-13 win over St. Marys in the season opener for both teams Friday night in St. Marys.

Beham scored on first-half runs of 1 and 3 yards helping the Gremlins to a 14-7 halftime lead before adding a game-sealing 24-yard scoring run with 6:37 left to play.

Cameron Turner hauled in a 50-yard pass from Matt Endlish for Karns City’s other score.

Brian Tamburlin led St. Marys with 15 totes for 83 yards and two scores. He reached the end zone on runs of 37 and three yards. His 3-yard touchdown with 10:51 left in the game got St. Marys to within a score at 21-13.

Endlish, making his first start at quarterback, was 6-for-12 for 107 yards and a touchdown while adding four carries for 45 yard.

RIDGWAY – For the last two seasons the biggest problem for the Ridgway football team has been defense.

In that span the Elkers have allowed an average of 37.4 ppg.

Things might be changing, though, after a 22-0 shutout of Smethport in the season opener for both clubs Friday night in Ridgway.

The shutout was Ridgway’s first since a 6-0 whitewashing of Smethport Oct. 25, 2002. That was the second of two straight shutouts that year for the Elkers, who had three shutouts in 2002.

The 22 points on offense was also something new for Ridgway, which scored 78 points all of last season while breaking 20 points just once.

Newcomer Jerico Wetzel, a transfer from Florida, made an immediate impact scoring all three Elker touchdowns.

He had a 10-yard scoring run in the first quarter, a 1-yard run in the second quarter and a 20-yard pass from Nick Dickant also in the second quarter. Andy Aiello added a 32-yard field goal for Ridgway’s other score.

The Elkers racked up 317 yards of offense while holding Smethport to 80 yards.

Weitzel had 182 of those yards including 20 carries for 127 yards and six catches for 55. Dickant was 7 of 12 passing for 64 yards and a touchdown.

Matt Luther (23 yards) and Zach Rittberg (27 yards) had all of Smethport’s offense, as the Hubbers managed four first downs on the night.

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 35, DUBOIS 21

DuBOIS – DuBois built a 21-14 halftime lead but lost star running back Mark Malacarne to an injury in the third quarter allowing Central Mountain to rally for the 35-21 win in the season opener for both teams Friday at DuBois.

Malacarne scored three first-half touchdowns (73-yard run, 15-yard run, 10-yard pass) before kicking hurt. He finished the night with 12 carries for 166 yards while adding three catches for 32 yards for 198 total yards of offense. The rest of the Beavers had 66 yards of offense.

Ryan Maggs and Dustin Hawkins each ran for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns apiece for Central Mountain. Maggs led the way with 24 carries for 147 yards, while Hawkins had 21 totes for 126 yards.

Dustin Hawkins scored two touchdowns for Central Mountain while running 21 times for 126 yards. Ryan Maggs also scored twice while running 24 times for 147 yards. Maggs also had two catches for 41 yards.

BROOKVILLE – Brookville stuffed a two-point conversion attempt by Philipsburg-Osceola with 5:39 left to play and hung on for a 13-12 season-opening victory over the Mounties.

Brookville had taken the lead in dramatic fashion less the 30 seconds earlier when Max Kutz scored on a 65-yard run with 6:02 to play, and Levi Singleton added the extra point.

That was the middle score of a three-score fury take took 46 seconds.

Brookville led 6-0 on a 73-yard run by Joe Galbraith late in the third quarter before Philipsburg-Osceola tied the game on a 1-yard run by A.J. Czap with 6:25 left.

Kutz led Brookville with 12 carries for 126 yards, while Galbraith added eight for 93.

Czap paced P-O with 19 totes for 97 yards, and Dimitri Sidorick added 18 for 70. Czap was also 6 of 20 passing for 114 yards and an interception, while J.D. Mason catching two passes for 54 yards.

Galbraith had an interception for Brookville, while Kutz, Singleton and Justin Smith all recorded sacks.

BRADFORD 56, CLEARFIELD 35

CLEARFIELD – Bradford racked up 505 yards on the ground on its way to a 56-35 pasting of Clearfield in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Clearfield.

It was the second straight game Bradford, who had three backs over 100 yards, has scored 50 or more points in, as the Owls closed last year with a 55-51 win over Warren.

The 91 combined points marks just the seventh time since 1995 that a game involving at least one District 9 team has had a combined score of 90 or more points.

Bradford led 42-14 at halftime and cruised in a second half that was dominated by the Mercy Rule. 

Nick Johnson led Bradford with nine carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Taylor O’Brien added 124 yards and three scores on eight carries, while E.J. Moore had five carries for 135 yards and one score.

Andrew Janocko led Clearfield going 15 of 27 for 245 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Doug Kephart had seven catches for 118 yards, while Adam Jury had four for 102. Three of Janocko's touchdowns and most of his yards came in the fourth quarter against the Bradford reserves.

The 56 points allowed by Clearfield were the most the Bisons have allowed since Perry bat them 61-0 in the state playoffs Nov. 22, 2002.

STRATTANVILLE – Behind three touchdowns and a field goal by Adam Cousins, Moniteau rolled to a 42-6 win at C-L in the season opener Friday night.

Cousins scored on runs of three and 11 yards and returned the second-half kickoff for 95 yards while also connecting on a 27-yard field goal with two seconds left in the first half. That boot gave the Warriors a 16-0 halftime lead.

Josh Loss added two touchdown runs for Moniteau, as the junior QB scored on run of 19 and 23 yards while running eight times for 78 yards. He also threw for 93 yards (4 for 13), while Cousins ran 10 times for 49 yards. Justin Sanderson had five sacks for Moniteau.

Turnovers doomed C-L, as the Lions gave the ball away six times including five on fumbles.

Jace Rhoads, only a freshman, ran three times for 80 yards and a touchdown town for C-L. He scored on a 65-yard run in the fourth quarter. Harry Cooper added 10 totes for 30 yards for the Lions, who lost a season opener for the first time since falling at home to Karns City 25-7 in 2001.