It’s showdown time in the Butler County chapter of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference.

Moniteau and Karns City, both 6-0 and two of the remaining three undefeated teams in District 9, square off Friday night on the turf at Karns City. The winner takes over sole possession of the KSAC and bolsters its standing in the Class AA playoff seeding race.

The KSAC hasn’t featured two unbeaten teams this late in the season since Karns City and Clarion-Limestone faced each other with 7-0 records late in the 1998 season. The Gremlins won that game, 33-6.

The other unbeaten team, 6-0 Coudersport, has a big test at home Friday with visiting Johnsonburg (5-1), a team that nearly knocked off the Falcons last year.

One perfect team was knocked off last week when Brookville beat Bradford 39-21 spoiling the Owls’ homecoming for its first win in McKean County since 1998.

Thirteen of the 14 games on the schedule will be played Friday night. Only two games feature non-District 9 opponents.

With the playoff races, especially in Class A, getting less cloudy, there are other games to keep an eye on that have playoff implications. One of those is Cameron County (4-2) visiting Elk County Catholic (3-3). The Crusaders’ loss to Ridgway last week only makes this week’s matchup with the Red Raiders more important.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s games:

It should be a hard-fought game between archrivals.

Karns City is led by senior quarterback Matt Endlish (553 yards passing, 4 TDs) and running back Roy Beham (435 yards rushing, 8 TDs). Defensively, Justin Switzer (17 tackles) and Cameron Turner (9 tackles, 3 sacks) are coming off huge performances in last week’s 15-12 win at Clarion in which the Gremlins did not score an offensive touchdown.

Moniteau is led by speedy senior running back/return specialist/kicker Adam Cousins (472 yards rushing, 10 TDs) and emerging quarterback standout Tyler Armagost. A sophomore, Armagost became the starter in Week 3 and in four games has thrown for 557 yards and 7 TDs. His 191.94 QB rating is the best in the district among starting quarterbacks.

This game starts the tough part of Moniteau’s schedule, which follows with a home game against Redbank Valley, a trip to Clarion and a game against District 10 traditional power Wilmington.

In other KSAC games, Clarion (3-3) visits Clarion-Limestone (1-5) in what’s normally a highly anticipated game. However, the Lions’ struggles that have included two forfeits and a lopsided loss to Keystone last week, have dampened the outside enthusiasm. Still, look for a big crowd at the game between backyard rivals in series that Clarion holds a slim 18-17 lead in including two wins last year.

The biggest matchup by far has Johnsonburg trekking to Coudersport for the second straight year in an AML scheduling twist. Last year, Coudersport squeaked out a 26-18 win over Johnsonburg.

The Rams probably thought they should’ve won last year’s matchup that had a couple of calls go against them. They’ll get to go to Coudy for the second straight year. Don’t call it a conspiracy in the scheduling, though. Johnsonburg hosted Coudersport in 2004, which was their first regular season meeting since 2001 when they played in … Johnsonburg again.

Either way, it’s a compelling matchup featuring some standout players. The Rams are led by Calvin Grumley among others. The senior quarterback has passed for 660 yards and six touchdowns while rushing for 307 yards and six more TDs. Jesse Dennis leads the team in rushing with 349 yards. Other standouts include John Yonker, who’s coming off a strong defensive effort in a 7-6 win over Brockway.

Coudersport keeps chugging along. The Falcons are 6-0 for the fourth straight year. Running back Chris Cavallari is the leader, rushing for 766 yards and eight touchdowns. Even though he’s not ranked among the top 20 quarterbacks in passing yardage, junior signal-caller Boomer Wetzel has been effective. He’s passed for 337 yards even though he’s only thrown 41 passes in six games. Last year, Wetzel passed for 1,274 yards in leading the Falcons to a 13-1 record two rounds into the state playoffs.

A trend? Coudersport has allowed just 13 points in its last four games, including two shutouts. Johnsonburg has scored 10 points in its last two games, including an 18-3 loss to Curwensville. Coudersport beat Curwensville 20-12 in the season opener.

In other AML games, Curwensville (5-1) hosts winless Smethport (0-6), which has dropped 13 of 16 games dating back to its 2004 first-round playoff loss to Coudersport. Sheffield (1-5) visits Brockway (2-4). The Rovers haven’t had a losing season since joining the AML in 1999. Their last losing record came in 1996 when the Rovers went 2-7. Sheffield starts a stretch where Brockway has at least three winnable games.

Cameron County (4-2) visits Elk County Catholic (3-3), which needs to win to keep in contention for one of the eight Class A playoff berths. A Crusaders loss would make the hole a little deeper, especially with a trip to Johnsonburg on the schedule next week.

Kane hosts Otto-Eldred in a matchup of 2-4 teams. The winner would keep a slim Class A playoff hope alive.

Saturday, Ridgway (4-2) tries to keep its District 9 Class A playoff goals in good standing with a trip to 2-4 Port Allegany.

If the Bisons win their final three league games against DuBois, St. Marys and Punxsutawney, which sport a combined 3-15 record, the Bisons will at least claim a share of the league crown. As it stands, Clearfield, Bradford and Brookville each have one league loss with an unbreakable three-way tie. Bradford must play DuBois and Brookville has to play Punxsutawney to complete their league schedules.

In the other league game, St. Marys (1-5) visits Punxsutawney (2-4). Both teams are coming off wins against winless teams. The Dutchmen beat DuBois 9-7 while Punxsutawney downed Lewistown 21-7.

In the other non-conference games, Bradford (5-1) tries to shake off that loss to Brookville with a home game against Central Mountain (3-3). District 10’s Lakeview (4-2) visits Union (2-4). Lakeview beat the Golden Knights last year, 53-6.

They enter an exclusive club. Only DuBois and Bradford had 500 or more wins before last Friday. The up-to-date numbers:

1. DuBois, 567-367-34
2. Bradford, 503-418-47
3. Ridgway, 500-316-44.

Bradford entered the 500-win club earlier this year in a 38-0 win over Olean, N.Y., in Week 2

Sipes is now within range of breaking the district touchdown mark. His 68 TDs trail only Kyle Cathcarts’s 73 and leader Dave Richards’ 80.

Once again it’s a two-team dance. Clearfield and Bradford will likely be headed for a second meeting in the postseason. The Owls hammered the Bisons 56-35 by the Mercy Rule in the season opener. A rematch would be interesting, considering the two are likely to share the District 9 League crown with Brookville because the Owls lost to the Raiders and the Bisons beat the Raiders.

Perhaps Bradford head coach Steve Ackerman summed it up best after his team’s 39-21 loss to the Raiders. "There were so much more physical than us, it wasn’t funny," he told the Tri-County Sunday out of DuBois.

The Raiders are physical and have speed. Eli Morres, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound senior, has been a force on both sides of the line. Brookville now leads the district with an average of 339.2 yards per game. Max Kutz, averaging a whopping 11.7 yards per carry, is 190 yards shy of 1,000, which would give the Raiders their first 1,000-yard rusher since Doug Miller did it back in 1995. Joe Galbraith, averaging 9.3 yard per carry, is also a 1,000-yard threat with 549 yards rushing.

Still, the playoffs are anything but automatic for the Raiders, who were dropped by Moniteau in last year’s postseason. Two years ago, Brookville unexpectedly won the Class AA crown as the bottom seed and Karns City has long been a thorn in the Raiders postseason aspirations.

The Raiders might have the edge in the schedule down the stretch and be able to wrestle away the top seed. That would be huge, considering that Brookville would have to play either Karns City or Moniteau in a potential championship game, not both in the semifinals and finals.

Brockway would likely be the fourth and lowest seed and possible first-round playoff opponent. The Rovers, Raiders fans may remember, smashed Brookville 41-12 in the 2002 semifinals after the Raiders won their first-ever District 9 League title.

Consider at least four teams postseason bound -- Coudersport, Redbank Valley, Curwensville and Johnsonburg. Ridgway and Cameron County probably are in with wins this week. Also, all Keystone needs to do is beat winless A-C Valley in Week 9 after playing two non-conference games the next two weeks to clinch the second automatic spot from the KSAC.