|
By Dustin Kifer and Chris Rossetti
One playoff spot and a few playoff seeding questions will be answered in Week 10 with about half
of District 9’s teams hitting the field a week before postseason play gets underway.
In Class A, it’s simple this week for Clarion. Beat Brookville and the Bobcats earn a spot in
the District 9 Class A playoffs. Lose to the Raider, and Curwensville gets in after winning three
straight and four of its final five after starting the season 0-4.
The other seven Class A playoff spots are clinched with Cameron County, Kane, Redbank Valley,
Coudersport, Port Allegany, Keystone and Elk County Catholic already in the eight-team field.
Here’s a quick look at the Class A playoff picture
entering the final week of the regular season.
No. 1 Seed – This spot will be occupied by the winner of the AML
title game Friday night as Kane (9-0) hosts Cameron County (9-0).
No. 2 Seed – By virtue of being the top Class A team from the KSAC,
Redbank Valley (8-1) has clinched the No. 2 seed in the this year’s Class A tournament regardless of
the result of Friday’s game against Marion Center and will host a quarterfinal round game and a
semifinal round game if it wins the first-round contest.
No. 3 Seed – This spot will be occupied by the loser of the AML title
game (Cameron County @ Kane).
No. 4 Seed – Coudersport (7-2), the two-time defending champion,
has clinched the No. 4 seed. The Falcons are idle this week and will host Port Allegany in the
quarterfinals of the District 9 tournament next weekend.
No. 5 Seed – Port Allegany (6-3) is locked in as the fifth seed for
this year’s playoffs. The Gators, too, are idle this week and will travel to Coudersport in the
quarterfinals. Coudersport won the regular-season game 28-7 at the end of September.
For seeds six through eight, it is easier to talk about each team that is still eligible. Keystone and Elk County
Catholic have already clinched playoff berths but are not yet locked in to a seed. On the other hand,
Clarion and Curwensville are vying for the final spot.
Keystone - clinched a playoff berth – vs. Brockway this week
1)
6th seed with a win or an Elk County
Catholic loss
2)
7th seed with a loss and an Elk County
Catholic win.
Elk County Catholic - clinched a playoff berth - @ St. Marys
1)
6th seed with a win and a Keystone loss
2)
7th seed with a win and a Keystone win
3)
7th seed with a loss and a Clarion loss
4)
8th seed with a loss and a Clarion win
Clarion - clinches a playoff berth with a win - @ Brookville
1)
7th seed with a win and an ECC loss
2)
8th seed with a win and an ECC win
3)
Out of the playoffs with a loss
Curwensville - clinches a playoff berth with a Clarion loss - Idle
1)
If Clarion wins, Curwensville is out of the playoffs.
2)
If Clarion loses, Curwensville will be the No. 8 seed
CLASS AA PICTURE A LITTLE CLEARER
In Class AA, the playoff picture is much simpler. Karns
City, Brookville, Brockway and Moniteau should all be going to the playoffs in the open-team format.
Karns City, which hosts District 6 Forest Hills in its
season finale Friday, looks to finish the regular season with an unbeaten 10-0 record for the first time
since 1981 (the Gremlins have been 9-0 a few times since then) and have already locked up the top seed in
the Class AA playoffs.
Defending champion Brookville, at 6-3, is locked in at the
second seed while Moniteau (5-4), which will try to end a 3-game losing streak when it host Sharon this
week, can clinch the three-seed with a win. Brockway (5-4), which travels to Keystone, needs a win and a
Warrior loss to move into the third seed.
ST.
MARYS, CLEARFIELD VIE FOR HOME PLAYOFF GAME IN CLASS AAA
In Class AAA, defending champion Bradford (8-1) has the
No. 1 seed and a bye into the title game no matter what it does against Bishop McCort this week, while
St. Marys (6-3) and Clearfield (6-3) are still vying for the No. 2 spot and a home playoff game.
Clearfield gets the second seed with a win over Penns Valley or a St. Marys loss to Elk County Catholic.
The Dutch can only get the No. seed and their first-ever District 9 home playoff game if they beat ECC
and Clearfield loses to one-loss Penns Valley. St. Marys has already clinched an above .500 overall
record for the first time since 1986 and is looking for its first 7-win season since 1972 (7-2). No
matter who gets the home game, Clearfield and St. Marys will meet in the Class AAA semifinals. Clearfield
won the regular-season game 28-13 Oct. 19.
ONE
CONFERENCE GAME ON THE SLATE
The lone conference matchup this week sees winless Punxsutawney (0-9) traveling to Central
Mountain (5-4) in a MAC game. It will be the last game every played at J. Arlington Painter Stadium in
downtown Lock Haven so expect an emotional game from the Wildcats.
NON-CONFERENCE GAMES SET
In addition to the above mentioned games, Union (1-8) travels to District 7 Saltsburg for a 5 p.m.
kickoff Friday, while DuBois (2-7) hosts Altoona. Otto-Eldred (2-7), coming off the stunning 32-26 win
over Ridgway last week that knocked the Elkers out of the District 9 playoffs, will try to give interim
head coach Luke Breese his second win and first home victory when it hosts Cowanesque Valley.
PASSING GAME SURPASSING RUSHGIN GAME IN D9?
Is the passing game surpassing the rushing game in District 9? It would seem so this year where
through nine week only two D9 running backs have gone over 1,000 yards (Brookville’s Joe Galbraith and
ECC’s Eric Mastrogiacomo) while 10 quarterbacks have already surpassed the 1,000-yard mark and
Brockway’s Matt Pentz is four yards shy.
Bradford’s Nick Johnson (80 yards) and possibly Kane’s Dustin Moran (149 yards) and
Moniteau’s James Shope (124 yards) are the only other running backs with a realistic shot to get over
1,000 yards in the regular season.
Last season, eight runners broke 1,000 yards including playoff games, while eight passers were
also over 1,000. In 2005, there were seven 1,000-yard rushers and 10 1,000-yard passers and in 2004,
eight runners surpassed the 1,000-yard mark and while just five quarterbacks reached the century mark.
|
