COUDERSPORT-CURWENSVILLE TO TANGLE IN AML TITLE GAME FOR THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON

AML TITLE GAME HISTORY

COUDERSPORT – You’ll have to excuse Coudersport and Curwensville if they are tired of seeing each other on the football field.

After all, when the AML South Champion Curwensville Golden Tide (8-1) travel north to face AML North title winning Coudersport Falcons (9-0) in the AML Title Game Saturday night (7 p.m.) at the Coudersport Area Recreational Park it will be the fourth time the schools have met on the gridiron since Oct. 29, 2005.

Curwensville is hoping this time is different than those previous three, which were all won by Coudersport.

The Falcons, the defending District 9 Class A champions, defeated Curwensville 41-13 at Curwensville in the AML Title Game last season and then held off the Golden Tide 28-26 in the District 9 semifinals two weeks later in Coudersport. The two schools then opened this season against each other with visiting Coudersport handing Curwensville its lone loss of the year 20-12.

Coudersport is making its fifth straight appearance in the AML Title game having gone 1-3 in its first four, while Curwensville is in the conference title tilt for the third straight year going 1-1 during that time. The Golden Tides 26-14 win over Coudersport in the 2004 AML Title Game was the last regular-season loss for the Falcons (see explanation below), who have won 18 straight regular-season games since then and 23 of their 25 overall games since that night.

Curwensville’s AML Title game win in 2004 was the second in school history. The Golden Tide are 2-2 in AML Title games since joining the league in 1999.

Coudersport’s win last season in the AML Title contest was the first in the long history of the historic program. The Falcons are 1-3 all-time in the game.

In this year’s AML Title clash something is going to have to give.

Coudersport has the Top Ranked scoring defense in District 9 (4.1 ppg), while Curwensville has the second ranked scoring offense (31.9 ppg).

The Falcon defense has not allowed a touchdown since Port Allegany scored in the third quarter of a 28-7 Coudersport win Sept. 29. That is a span of 17 quarters. Coudersport has allowed just one touchdown in its past 24 quarters and hasn’t allowed any team more than 12 points in a game.

A trio of very good senior linebackers and an experienced senior defensive end leads the defense.

Drew Levavasseur, one of those backers, is the leading tackler for the Falcons with 69 stops and two sacks. He also has two interceptions.

Defensive end Isaac Cary is the second leading tackler with 59 while adding five sacks, while linebacker Kirk Duffee has 57 tackles and two sacks.

Linebacker Kody Frederick leads the team with nine sacks while adding 51 sacks. Linebacker Chris Cavallari is adding seven sacks and 37 tackles.

Curwensville does have the honor – with Otto-Eldred – of having scored the most points against Coudersport this season. And the Golden Tide offense is built to score averaging a D9 second-best 359 yards per game including 290.1 per contest on the ground, also the second best in the district.

Nick Sipes, the leading rusher in District 9 history (5,411 yards), makes the offense go. He is the top runner in District 9 this year with 1,435 yards and 24 touchdowns on 236 carries. He now has 77 career touchdowns and needs three more to tie Clearfield’s Dave Richard for the all-time District 9 lead. He has 32 consecutive 100-yard games and had a season-high 247 in Week Three vs. Brockway. In the game against Coudersport this season, Sipes ran 30 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

One of the reasons Sipes has been able to lead the district in rushing is the threat of senior quarterback Shawn Sopic. Sipes’ career has overshadowed Sopic’s, but he has been a very good starting quarter leading Curwensville to a 31-7 records as the Tides starting quarter with one AML Title, three AML South titles and one District 9 Class A championship since taking over as the starting quarterback in Week 6 of his freshman season. During that time, he is 124 of 285 passing for 2,141 yards, 25 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. He also has rushed 213 times for 1,245 career yards and 16 touchdowns.

This season, Sopic is the 15^th leading rusher in District 9 with 78 carries for 595 yards and four touchdowns while also ranking 14^th in D9 in passing (31-for-68, 612 yards, 5 TDs, 3 Ints). Against Coudersport, he was 4-for-9 for 49 yards and one interception.

Additional key offensive players for the Tide are running back Brandon Hess (75 carries, 380 yards, 4 TDs), the 29^th leading rusher in D9 and receiver Jesse Hoover (13 catches, 238 yards, 2 TDs).

When Coudersport has the football, except the Falcons to stay on the ground. They rank fourth in District 9 in rushing yards per game (241.7) but only 22^nd in passing (60.2 yards per contest). Overall, Coudersport’s 301.9 yards per game ranks eighth in District 9 and its 27.2 ppg ranks ninth.

Cavallari, a senior running back, has been the main reason the Falcons have been able to run the football so well. After gaining just 248 yards last season, he is second in District 9 this year with 1,259 yard and 13 touchdowns on 187 carries. He also has nine catches for 119 yards and two scores, and his 1,378 offensive yards accounts for just over 50 percent of all the Falcons yards this season.

Coudersport has used two quarterbacks during the season with junior Boomer Wetzel, last season’s D9Sports.com District 9 Rookie of the Year, starting the year as the starter. But Wetzel has seemingly lost that starting nod to fellow junior Justin Kinder, who has thrown the majority of the passes in the Falcons last four contests.

On the year, Wetzel is 19-for-46 for 350 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions, while Kinder is 16-for-44 for 166 yards, two touchdowns and one pick.

Fullback Adam Foust (37 carries, 196 yards, 4 touchdowns) split end Logan Hathaway (9 catches, 194 yards, 4 TDs) also are players to watch on offense for the Falcons.

Those players will be going against a Curwensville defense that ranks fifth in District 9 allowing 10.8 ppg. The Golden Tide have pitched two shutouts this season and have allowed 20 or more points just twice. That defense has gotten stronger in the past five weeks allowing an average of 7.2 ppg during that stretch including allowing just three points to Johnsonburg, the fourth seed in the upcoming D9 Class A Playoffs.

Sipes, a linebacker, is the leading tackler with 61 stops one the year. He also had one sack and one interception. David Kalgren is adding 48 tackles and three picks, while Nathan Russell has 47 stops and five sacks. Sopic (32 tackles, 5 interceptions) and Philip Michaels (29 tackles, 4 interceptions) have also played key roles on the defensive side of the ball.

COUDERSPORT WINNING STREAK NOTE – The reason Coudersport’s regular-season win streak is 18 games with the only loss being in the AML Title game is because the 2004 AML Title game was played during a regularly scheduled week (Week 9) and if the Falcons hadn’t been in that game, they would have had another game they would have been required to play. The AML Title game was also used to determine the AML’s automatic bid in the District 9 playoffs from 1999-2005, so the game in theory had playoff implications, something the AML Title game didn’t have during Smethport’s District 9 record 67-game streak from 1989-96 … This year’s AML Title game will not be counted as a regular-season game, because neither team had a regularly scheduled game in Week 10, and both teams have already clinched automatic berths in the District 9 Class A Playoffs.

GAME NOTES – The five straight AML Title game appearances for Coudersport are the most by any team since Smethport made 11 straight appearances between 1989 and 1999. The Hubbers were 6-5 in those games. The Falcons are trying to become the first back-to-back AML Champions since Smethport turned the trick in 1997 and 1998, and Coudersport is trying to become the first team to beat the same team for those back-to-back titles since Eisenhower beat Smethport in 1995 and then again in 1996 … The AML South is 5-2 in AML Title games since the conference went to the North-South format in 1999. Prior to that, the conference was broken into an East-West format … Coudersport is 20-2 at C.A.R.P. since the start of the 2003 season and hasn’t lost a home game since Curwensville beat it in the 2004 AML Title game, a streak that has reached 12 games.