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By Rich Rhoades
Five District 9 teams roll into Week 5 of the high school
football season with perfect records. That number will at least drop by one after this week.
The district showdown of the week has two 4-0 squads meeting in
New Bethlehem as Redbank Valley hosts Karns City Friday night in a Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference battle
for first place.
Karns City, Redbank Valley and Moniteau are actually tied in the
conference standings with unbeaten records. Moniteau (3-1) hasn’t played anyone in the top half of the
standings, so it’ll remain to be seen where the Warriors stand.
By all accounts, the Gremlins-Bulldogs winner will be considered
the favorite to win the KSAC.
Who’s the favorite? Judging by common opponents, perhaps Karns
City since the Gremlins demolished Keystone last week at home, 42-14. Redbank Valley squeaked by Keystone in
Knox in its season-opener, 13-12.
But the Bulldogs will be at home, which actually hasn’t been a
safe haven against the purple, white and gold. Karns City has won its last four games in New Bethlehem, dating
back to the 1999 season when the Gremlins split two games at Redbank Valley, winning there in the playoffs.
Perhaps that’s all meaningless compared to the personnel
matchups. Naturally, that’s where this one will be won. The Bulldogs rely heavily offensively on senior
quarterback Jake Smith and junior running back Alex Bladel. Smith (277 yards, 5 TDs) and Bladel (287, 7)
account for nearly three-quarters of the team’s rushing yardage. Smith has connected on 61.5 percent of his
passes for 737 yards and seven TDs with no interceptions.
Last week, Smith earned D9Sports.Com Player of the Week honors in
his team’s 41-20 win over Clarion. He passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns, ran 71 yards and a touchdown
and made nine tackles and intercepted a pass on defense. He was also named the CHAMP KSAC Player of the Week by
the All American Awards and Engraving Monday Evening Quarterback Show (92.7 FM in Clarion, 6-7 p.m. Mondays)
for the third straight week.
The scary thing about Karns City is that they don’t have any
standouts statistically, although its team numbers are good. Quarterback Anthony Stimac has passed for 370
yards while Josh Stimac has rushed for 208 yards, barely good enough to rank among the district leaders in 26th
place.
For the numbers, Karns City racked up 472 yards of offense
against Keystone last week, including 414 yards on the ground. Redbank Valley was outgained by Keystone in the
season-opener, 283-211.
Redbank Valley ranks second in the district in offensive yardage
(9th rush, 4th pass) while Karns City ranks 7th overall (5th rush,
16th pass).
In other headline games, Kane (4-0) visits Ridgway (3-1) in a key
Allegheny Mountain League-South Division matchup. Talk about good QB numbers. Take a look at Zach Anderson, the
Wolves’ senior quarterback who returned to the team after missing most of last year with an injury. Anderson
(See his profile on the main football page) has completed a remarkable 68.3 percent of his passes for 553
yards. His QB rating of 225 is second only to Cameron County’s Jordan Crane.
Bradford (3-0) hosts St. Marys (3-1) in a key District 9 League face-off.
The Flying Dutchmen’s 14-7 win over Brookville last week was big, but a win this week in Bradford would be
huge and perhaps send them on their way to the D9 League title.
But not so fast says Bradford, which has beaten St. Marys 11
straight times since losing to the Dutch way back in 1995. The Owls are cruising along with their traditional
power running game led by Taylor O’Brien (337 yards, district-best 11 TDs), Nick Johnson (333) and Dan
McMurtrie (265), who all rank among the top 18 rushers in the district despite playing one less game.
In one scheduling note for the week, Otto-Eldred has forfeited
its game Friday against Cameron County because of a lack of healthy players. The Terrors will fall to 1-4 while
the state-ranked Red Raiders (7th in Class A by PA Football News) will be 5-0.
The KSAC features to additional games with Clarion (1-3) visiting
Union (0-4) and Keystone (2-2) hosting Moniteau (3-1).
In the AML South on Friday, Brockway (3-1) hosts Elk County
Catholic (2-2). Is it Air Rovers now? Brockway quarterback Matt Pentz threw five TD passes in last week’s win
over Smethport. The Rovers have won six of eight against ECC since entering the AML, but lost at ECC last year,
33-14. The Rovers are still in the AML-South hunt with a game against Kane still on the schedule.
Johnsonburg (1-3) visits Curwensville (0-4) in the other AML
Friday game.
Saturday afternoon in the AML North, it’s the resumption of the
longest series in District 9. Port Allegany (3-1) hosts Coudersport (3-1) in the 111th meeting
between the teams. While Port Allegany leads the all-time series, 62-45-3, Coudersport has won 10 of the last
11 games and 15 of the last 18 since 1990. Earlier this year, Bradford and a non-D9 team, Olean N.Y., played
each other for the 110th time.
In the other Saturday afternoon game, Smethport travels to
Sheffield in a matchup between 0-4 teams. Smethport has lost 13 straight games, including 16-14 to Sheffield
last year, while Sheffield has lost 19 of its last 20 games dating back to the last game of the 2004 season.
In non-conference matchups, Brookville (2-2) hosts
Clarion-Limestone (1-3). The Raiders won a forfeited game last year scheduled against the Lions and lead the
all-time series between next-door neighbors, 15-7-1. Two D9 teams play WPIAL teams this week. DuBois (1-3)
heads to Kittanning (2-2) to take on a Wildcats team that hammered the Beavers last year, 49-12. A-C Valley
(0-4) hosts Apollo-Ridge (1-3) in the first-ever meeting between those teams.
Clearfield and Punxsutawney play Mountain Athletic Conference
games against District 6 opponents. The Bisons (2-2) host Bellefonte (3-1), which are coached by former
Brookville quarterback Zac Wynkoop. It’s the 52nd meeting between the Red Raiders and Bisons, who
have won nine of the last 11 meetings.
Punxsutawney (0-4) travels to Huntingdon (1-3). The Chucks
haven’t beaten Huntingdon since 1937, although the teams are playing each other for just the 10th
time.
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