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By Rich Rhoades
A handful of compelling games are on tap in Week Six as the
2007 high school season has passes the halfway mark and is heading for home.
Only four District 9 teams remain unbeaten after Karns City
blanked Redbank Valley 23-0 in a battle of unbeatens last week, and three of those teams – Cameron
County, Kane and Karns City will try to stay that way on their home turf this week.
The week also features a special Thursday night contest
when Redbank Valley tries to rebound from the loss to Karns City by hosting District 10’s Maplewood
(2-3), a school located in Guys Mills outside of Meadville, at 6:30 p.m. in what has become an annual
Clarion Autumn Leaf Festival Thursday game for the Bulldogs. Redbank Valley has fared well on the
Thursday nights going 5-2 since 2000 including 5-1 at home.
All but one of the remaining games are Friday night including a key D9
League game when Bradford (4-0, 2-0 D9 League) visits Brookville (3-2, 1-1).
The Raiders must win the game if they want any chance at the final D9 League title, and that
victory would be Brookville’s third straight over the Owls, something that hasn’t happened since it
won six straight from 1993 to 1998.
It won’t be easy, considering the Owls hammered St. Marys
last week, 31-12. Two weeks ago, the Dutch beat the Raiders 14-7.
Joe Galbraith, the district’s leading rusher, paces the
Raiders attack. He’s averaging over 10 yards a carries with 803 yards. Last week against C-L, Galbraith
rushed for 293 yards on only nine carries. He scored on a 96-yard run in the fourth quarter. Raiders
quarterback Shane Heschke has rushed for 403 yards and passed for 440 yards.
For Bradford, it’s all about the run. The Owls lead
District 9 in rushing at 324 yards per game (Brookville is second at 296), and Bradford has thrown just
nine passes all season while throwing for just 63 yards.
Three Owl runners are in the Top 20 in rushing in District
9 with Nick Johnson leading the way with 424 yards and four touchdowns, which is good for eighth in D9.
Taylor O’Brien ranks ninth in the district in rushing with 416 yards and a team-high 11 touchdowns, and
Dan McMurtrie is the 19th leading rusher with 324 yards and two scores.
Also in the D9 League, St. Marys (3-2) travels to DuBois
(2-3) in what could be a good matchup. The Beavers are coming off an impressive win at Kittanning as
quarterback Danny Henry completed 11 of 12 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Considering how badly
the Beavers were beaten at home by Kittanning last year, the turnaround is a big boost to head coach
Jason Shilala's squad. St. Marys, meanwhile, has to rebound from the tough loss to physical Bradford.
In the AML South, a battle of 3-2 county rivals could be a
good matchup as Elk County Catholic hosts Ridgway. The Crusaders broke out the passing game last week as
Player of the Week Kyle Garner threw five TD passes in his six completions in a 47-14 rout Brockway.
Ridgway gave unbeaten Kane a run, trailing 28-20 going into
the fourth quarter, but the Elkers couldn’t hold on. The good news was the return of senior Jerico
Weitzel to the lineup. Weitzel, out since a Week 1 injury, rushed for 87 yards on 12 carries and caught a
54-yard TD pass while also returning a fumble for a score.
Also in the AML South, unbeaten Kane (5-0) hosts
Curwensville (1-4), which got its first win of the year with a dramatic 29-27 win over Johnsonburg. In
the waning moments, quarterback David Kalgren tied the game with a 1-yard run with 19 seconds remaining.
The Tide then went for two, scoring on another Kalgren run.
Johnsonburg (1-4) hosts Brockway (3-2) as the Rovers try to
rebound from the surprising lopsided loss to ECC.
In the AML North, Coudersport head coach Paul Simcoe tries
for win No. 201 when his 4-1 Falcons host Sheffield (1-4). A Simcoe-coached team at Coudersport has never
lost to Sheffield. That means a perfect 20-0 record. Sheffield hasn’t beaten the Falcons since 1973.
Cameron County (5-0), ranked seventh again in the state in
Class A by the Pennsylvania Football News, comes off its bye week (Ok, it was a forfeit win over
Otto-Eldred) with a home game against Port Allegany (3-2).
Karns City (5-0) heads back home to Butler County to host
Clarion (2-3). The Gremlins haven’t lost at home to the Bobcats since 1999 and are 4-1 in their last
five home games with Clarion since 1998.
Keystone (2-3) travels to Clarion-Limestone (1-4) looking
for its first back-to-back wins over the Lions since three in a row from 1995-97. C-L has given up 148
points in its last three games to three good Class AA teams in Karns City, Brookville and District 6’s
Philipsburg-Osceola.
Then in the battle at the KSAC bottom, A-C Valley (0-5)
hosts Union (0-5). Union won last year’s tilt in Rimersburg, 23-20. It’s one of just two wins in the
last 45 games for the Golden Knights dating back to the 2002 season. A-C Valley, meanwhile, has lost 26
of its last 27 games with its lone win coming against Union.
Clearfield (2-3) continues its Mountain Athletic Conference
schedule this week at home against Central Mountain (2-3). You want entertainment, like a close,
high-scoring game? Go to a Bisons game. The average score: 31.2 to 27.8.
Winless Punxsutawney (0-5) has the tough chore of hosting
Tyrone (5-0), which is ranked No. 4 in the state in Class AA by PFN. In
a late edition to the schedule, Moniteau (4-1) will travel to Western Beaver for a 12:30 p.m. game
Saturday afternoon. Western Beaver is 5-0 and ranked No. 9 in the state in Class A by the Pennsylvania
Football News. The Beavers were originally scheduled to play at Duquesne Saturday but that game was
cancelled when the Pennsylvania Department of Education shutdown Duquesne High School prior to the start
of the school year. It marks the second week in a row that a former Duquesne opponents as rescheduled
with a District 9 team. Last week, Apollo-Ridge beat A-C Valley 35-0. |
