|
By Rich Rhoades
Once again, the winner of this game will almost certainly be crowned the Allegheny
Mountain League North Division champion. Who are they?
Shame on you if you’re struggling to answer that question. Cameron County (4-0)
hosts Coudersport (3-1) Friday night in the AML North showdown of the year.
The Red Raiders have the biggest test for sure among District 9’s five undefeated
teams, although a few of the unbeatens have some challenges. Redbank Valley hosts Clarion (3-1) and
Johnsonburg hosts longtime rival Ridgway (2-2). Karns City and Moniteau are heavy favorites on the road
at Keystone (2-2) and Union (0-4) respectively.
Those games are among 15 games involving district teams, including one Saturday
game, as the season hits the midway point this week with most games failing to fall in the “easy win”
category for one team. Without a doubt, Week 5 has the most attractive slate of games in the season’s
early stages.
Cameron County head coach Tony DeFillipi’s squad has passed both big tests so far
in the first half of the season. The Red Raiders avenged last year’s Class A title game loss to Kane by
beating the Wolves, 27-26, in overtime in the season opener. After two shutout wins over Ridgway and
Brockway, Cameron knocked off AML South contender, if not favorite, Curwensville, 23-20, again in
overtime last week.
So it’s been quite a ride for Cameron County, which now hosts arch-rival
Coudersport in what looks to be the last test of the regular season. The Red Raiders’ final four
opponents have yet to win a game.
But the easy finish won’t matter if they can’t beat a tough Falcons squad that
lost its only game to Curwensville, 28-21, in a close game two weeks ago and aren’t much of an underdog
based at least on that common opponent.
Plus, the Red Raiders are chasing history. They haven’t beaten Coudersport in
back-to-back games since 1965-66, a span of 41 seasons, although the teams didn’t play each other from
1967 to 1983.
Cameron features a balanced running attack in Andrew Kesterholt (298 yards, 2 TDs),
Randy Schatz (204, 3 TDs) and quarterback Jason Blose (201, 5 TDs), who has also passed for 196 yards and
three scores. Receiver Andy Beer has almost all of Blose’s yardage with six catches for 156 yards.
Coudersport has fared more than well without injured star running back Dirk Cowburn,
who has been out with an injury since the opening week of the season. Running backs Tim Thomas (366
yards, 7 TDs), Zach Buckler (220, 2 TDs) and Brett Whitman (215, 3 TDs) have put up big numbers.
Whitman has also completed 12 of 19
passes for 169 yards in his time at quarterback while Eric Babcock has completed 17 of 31 passes for 274
yards and three scores. Both players have split time at the quarterback position.
In other AML North games, Sheffield travels to Otto-Eldred in a battle of 0-4 teams.
In the lone Saturday game, Port Allegany hosts Smethport in another matchup of winless teams.
In the AML South, Johnsonburg finally gets to play someone with a win as the Rams
easily took care of its first four winless AML North opponents. This week won’t be easy as the Rams
host 2-2 Ridgway in what is the longest football rivalry in District 9. It’ll be the teams’ 104th
meeting. Ridgway leads the all-time series, 49-46-8 and won last year, 22-21, to stop Johnsonburg’s
three-game winning streak.
The Rams’ do-it-all senior quarterback Ren Yonker leads the way. He’s passed for
458 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for a team-best 385 yards and four scores. Yonker also has a
team-high three interceptions on defense.
Ridgway features the district’s leading rusher in Elliot Pontious, who’s rushed
for 581 yards and six touchdowns.
Also in the AML South, Curwensville (3-1) tries to shake off the OT loss to Cameron
last week with a trip to Brockway (2-2) in what has always been a rugged contest.
The Rovers boast the district’s top passer in Derek Buganza, who has passed for
1,044 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions. Although seven of his TD passes have come against
winless teams, he still threw for 250 yards and a touchdown in the loss to Coudersport.
The Golden Tide defense will present another challenge to Buganza and the Rovers,
who will have to deal with the David Kalgren-led team.
Kalgren, a two-time winner of the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.Com Player of the Week
award already this year, has passed for 687 yards and eight touchdowns. On defense, he has three
interceptions and ranks fourth on the team with 28 tackles.
Elk County Catholic hosts Kane in a battle of 3-1 teams. Kane senior Ross Nicholson
has rushed for six touchdowns and leads the Wolves defense with 38 tackles and five sacks from his
defensive end position.
Without a doubt, the game of the week in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference
is in New Bethlehem as Redbank Valley hosts Clarion in what is the longest rivalry in terms of games
played in the KSAC. It’ll be the 82nd meeting between the Bulldogs and Bobcats with Clarion
leading the all-time series, 41-35-5. Redbank Valley, however, has won the last two meetings.
Redbank Valley escaped Brookville last week in overtime and looks to keep its
perfect season intact against the Bobcats, who escaped Punxsutawney with a win as well. However, the
Bobcats lost sophomore starting quarterback for at least this week if not much longer with an injury.
That’ll put the pressure on Clarion’s running game, led by Bubba Rue (323 yards,
4 TDs) and Jon Kemmer (274, 4 TDs).
Redbank Valley’s Alex Bladel ranks second behind Pontious in district rushing with
533 yards and a district-best 10 rushing TDs. He’s closing in on 3,000 career yards, with 2,774.
Also in the KSAC, Punxsutawney travels to A-C Valley in a matchup of winless teams
on the district’s two longest losing streaks. The Falcons have lost 26 straight games while
Punxsutawney has lost 15 straight games. In fairness to the Chucks, they’re the big favorites in this
game considering a close loss to Clarion, a team that crushed the Falcons 43-0 three weeks ago.
Brookville heads to Clarion-Limestone for its homecoming in a game with two 1-3
teams. It’s the 25th meeting between next-door neighbors.
In the Mountain Athletic Conference’s Nittany Division, both Clearfield and St.
Marys, at 3-1, go on the road. The Bisons, coming off a huge win over Tyrone, travel to winless Lewistown
(0-4) while the Flying Dutchmen head to Penns Valley (1-3).
Speaking of the Bisons, their win over Tyrone ended its 35-game regular-season
winning streak. Once again, quarterback Jarrin Campman is putting together a solid season with 702 yards
passing and 304 yards rushing. He’s thrown for five TDs and ran for seven. The Bisons are also getting
a big lift from a healthy Isiah Morgan, who’s run for 347 yards.
St. Marys is quietly putting together a good season and takes a three-game winning
streak into Friday’s game. Mitchell Straub (259 yards, 3 TDs), Shane Krise (258, 3 TDs) and Kevin Hoy
(245, 7 TDs) lead the way for the Dutch.
In the MAC-Seven Mountains Division, DuBois will try to rebound with a tough loss at
Indian Valley last week when it hosts 3-1 Central Mountain. The Beavers are banged up with starting
quarterback Danny Henry out for the season. They’ll likely lean on running back Garrett Malmgren, who
ranks third in the district with 500 yards rushing.
Matt Overdorf (474 yards rushing, 6 TDs) and Cody Dolan (492 yards passing, 4 Ds)
lead the Wildcats.
Bradford (3-1) hosts unbeaten Meadville (4-0) in a non-conference game in District
10. Running backs Pat Pascarella (261 yards, 3 TDs), Mark Havers (250, 4 TDs) and Mike Pascarella (232, 4
TDs) account for most of the Owls’ offense, almost 70 percent of it.
The Bulldogs have scored 43.8 points per game, but have given up 27 points to Oil
City and 42 to Corry (last week) in wins. Like the Owls, Meadville routed Warren. The Bulldogs are led by
running back Mike Kalustian, who’s rushed for 440 yards and seven touchdowns.
|
