By Rich Rhoades

UBOIS – Is it another up-hill challenge for the Bradford Owls?

A week ago, it was going to be a perceived struggle for the injury-laden Owls in the District 9 Class AAA championship game. But Bradford blanked St. Marys 17-0 to claim its second straight District 9 title.

It’s now on to the PIAA playoffs for Bradford (8-2) and a rematch with Selinsgrove, the District 4 champions with a record of 10-2, at 7 p.m. Friday at DuBois’ E.J. Mansell Stadium. Last season, the Seals beat Bradford 48-14.  

Selinsgrove is a talented team with a Hall of Fame head coach, a third-year starting quarterback and a couple of big playmakers at receiver and special teams.

The Seals are coming off their fourth straight District 4 title under 35^th-year head coach Bill Scott, who has won nine D4 titles at the school, and Selinsgrove has had a lot of PIAA playoff success the last three years winning first-round games before falling in second-round contests to competitive teams from the WPIAL, including a 27-14 loss a year ago to WPIAL champion and state runner-up Thomas Jefferson, who finished 13-1.

Bradford also knows what it is like to win the PIAA playoffs. The Owls are 4-4 in their last eight PIAA postseason games dating back to 2000 including a run to the semifinals in 2003 before losing to Pine-Richland.

To pull off a win this season, Bradford will have to deal with Selinsgrove senior quarterback Eric Deckard, who has passed for 1,191 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for a team-best 620 yards and 10 scores.

Deckard lead a running attack by committee for the Seals, who have three other backs over 300 yards rushing – senior Trevor Kerstetter (518 yards, 3 TDs), freshman Seth Lauver (444 yards, 5 TDs) and sophomore Cameron Benner (301 yards, 5 TDs).

Deckard, who has passed for 4,270 career yards and 36 TDs, will look to his top receiving targets in senior Mike Ritter (33 receptions, 461 yards, 6 TDs) and senior Bryce Auker (31-496-20. Those two were two of his top three receivers last year as well.

For Ritter, however, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He’s returned two kicks, three punts and two interceptions for touchdowns this year. Auker is a big contributor on defense as well at linebacker, leading the team with 103 tackles, including three sacks.

Senior linebacker Nate Gingrich leads the team with eight sacks and ranks second with 81 tackles.

Selinsgrove’s two losses were to Danville and Berwick. Last week’s 28-7 win over Jersey Shore was the Seals’ second of the season over Jersey Shore.

Bradford, which has been tough on defense all season – the Owls have allowed more than 15 points just three times – got another solid defensive effort in the District 9 championship game last week turning in its first shutout of the season.

Rob Pire, the 6-foot, 223-pound senior tackle, finished with seven tackles, including a sack, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. Nick Johnson had 11 tackles and Dan McMurtrie, wearing a cast on one arm, turned in some big plays when his status of playing coming into the game was in doubt.

Johnson has been the leader on defense all season with a team-high 89 tackles, 1.5 sacks and an interception, while Pire is second on the squad with 66 stops and four sacks. Britt Bookhamer adds 66 tackles and a team-high 4.5 sacks

Offensively, the Owls could be better than they were against St. Marys. They had just 175 yards of offense, but were given some short fields to work with. Still, Bradford will have to establish some success on the line against a big Selinsgrove front.

Johnson leads the team with 1,131 yards (8.4 per carry) and 12 touchdowns. It wouldn’t hurt if the Owls can spring him on a kickoff or punt return as well. McMurtrie (524, 5 TDs) and Steve Hill (226, 4 TDs) will also share the ball-carrying load.

If the Owls pass, Kyle Yurkewicz has to have some confidence in throwing after he tossed his first varsity TD pass last week in his only pass attempt. The third-string QB coming into the season will be starting his fourth game in a row. He’s attempted seven passes since replacing the injured Tyler Grandy who replaced the injured Ben Walter, last year’s starter.

The teams have one common opponent – DuBois – and if you compare score it gives one pause considering the Seals beat the Beavers, who struggled to a 2-8 season, 7-0 in Week 7. Bradford beat DuBois 28-7 one week later.

In the DuBois-Selinsgrove game, Deckard threw three interceptions and the Seals had difficulty finishing off drives deep into Beavers territory. That offset Selinsgrove’s 372-78 advantage in yardage.

NOTES: The Owls won their PIAA openers in 2000, 2001 and 2003 … Selinsgrove’s Coach Scott owns a career record of 266-144-1, although not all the wins have come at Selinsgrove, and ranks in the Top 20 all-time wins in state history. He was elected into the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002 … The winner of this game advances to the second round against the WPIAL champion, either Thomas Jefferson (12-0) or Montour (12-0). Those teams meet Friday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh starting at 4:30 p.m. and are ranked No. 1 and No. 4 respectively by the Pennsylvania Football News. Selinsgrove and Bradford aren’t ranked.