By Rich Rhoades

Cameron County, Karns City and Bradford remain the District 9’s unbeaten trio as the seasons heads into its sixth week this weekend.

And once again, all three teams will be favored in their games this week as part of another 15-game schedule with two games set for Saturday.

In Emporium, the Red Raiders will try to avoid a letdown after beating arch-rival Coudersport last week when they host Otto-Eldred (1-4), which is coming off its triple-overtime win last Saturday against Sheffield.

Cameron’s Andy Lippert ranks fourth in the district with 662 yards rushing and is second on the team with 45 tackles. Quarterback Jason Blose has passed for 259 yards and rushed for 225 yards while Andrew Fragale leads the team with 47 tackles.

Last week’s RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.Com District 9 Player of the Week, quarterback Noah Colbert of Otto-Eldred, has passed for 577 yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. Three of those scoring passes came last week. Otto’s Drew Coscia’s 586 yards rushing rank sixth in the district.

Karns City heads to New Bethlehem to take on 2-3 Redbank Valley. The Gremlins have won eight of nine against the Bulldogs and haven’t lost in NewBie since 1999, a streak of four straight wins.

Saturday, unbeaten Bradford takes its show on the road to Erie’s Veterans Memorial Stadium to play the 3-2 Erie East Warriors. Pat Pascarella leads the Owls with 779 yards rushing, which ranks second in the district. The Owls have allowed just one touchdown in the last three games. East beat Meadville, 34-7, three weeks ago. Bradford beat Meadville, 14-0, in rainy conditions last week.

Quarterback Gary Brown (654 yards passing, 317 yards rushing) and running back Alondre Hamilton (423 yards rushing) are East’s top players.

A handful of games featuring teams with lesser records should provide some interesting matchups.

Starting in the still jammed-up Allegheny Mountain League’s South Division where four teams are tied at 3-2, Kane travels to longtime rival Johnsonburg in a battle of 3-2 teams. Arie Paup leads the Wolves with 335 yards rushing. Robert Kumher is tops with 53 tackles on defense and Marty Nicklas has six sacks.

For Johnsonburg, quarterback Andy Nortum has passed for 524 yards and six touchdowns, most of that coming in the last two games. His top receiver is Joe Holmberg (20 catches, 310 yards) and the Rams’ top tacklers are Matt Shuey (56) and Steve Carnesali (49).

Coming off its win at Brockway, Curwensville (3-2) visits Ridgway (2-3). Alex Holland and Jed Greslick combined for 245 of the Tide’s 351-yard rushing effort against the Rovers. Greslick’s 534 yards for the season rank eighth in the district. Cory Eshbach’s 274 yards rushing lead the Elkers.

At Brockway, the Rovers (3-2) host Elk County Catholic (2-3) in a game that features the district’s top passer and rusher coming off sub-par performances. Rovers quarterback Derek Buganza passed for a career-low 160 yards against the Tide, but he still leads the district with 1,678 yards and 15 touchdown passes. ECC’s Ricky Pearsall rushed for just 50 yards in a loss to Kane, but still leads the district with 791 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The only other AML game Friday night has Smethport (0-5) hosting Coudersport (3-2). The Hubbers have lost 29 of 32 games since the beginning of the 2006 season.

One AML Saturday game is on the schedule as 4-1 Port Allegany hosts Sheffield (1-4). The Gators’ Seth Lowery leads the team with 563 yards rushing and ranks second on the defense with 41 tackles behind leader Ryan Bodamer’s 61.

In the rest of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference, the most compelling game is Moniteau (3-2) visiting Keystone (3-2). The Panthers will try to shore up their defense after giving up 60 points or more for the third time since last year’s Week 5. It’s the fifth time during that stretch the Panthers have given up 50 or more points.

Offensively, the Panthers have fared well as quarterback Dan Reed has passed for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns, the yardage total ranking second behind Buganza. He’s also rushed for 246 yards and five scores. His top receivers are Brett Zuck (20 catches, 444 yards) and Ben Marchand (18 catches, 373 yards).

Moniteau gets most of its offense from quarterback Kyle Armagost (387 yards passing, 311 rushing) and running back James Shope (635 yards rushing, fifth in district).

Also in the KSAC Friday, 3-2 Punxsutawney travels to 1-4 Clarion-Limestone. Leading the Chucks is sophomore quarterback Logan Weaver, who’s passed for 887 yards and rushed for 185 yards. He now owns the top passer rating in the district at 131.7. The other two KSAC games are Clarion (4-1) at Union (1-4) and Brookville (2-3) at A-C Valley (0-5), where the Raiders visit Foxburg for the first time since 1992.

In the Mountain Athletic Conference-Nittany Division, St. Marys travels to Tyrone in a battle of 4-1 teams. Kevin Hoy leads the Dutch with 715 yards rushing, ranking third in the district. Levi Reihart (382 yards rushing) and Steve Franco (573 yards passing) are the top players for Tyrone.

In another Nittany game, Clearfield (3-2) hosts winless Bald Eagle Area (0-5). Bisons quarterback Curtis Frye has passed for 927 yards, most of it going to his top receiver Trey Campman (26 catches, 495 yards).

In the MAC-Seven Mountains Division, DuBois (3-2) visits Bellefonte (1-4). Beavers quarterback Josh Means has passed for 471 yards and rushed for a team-best 352 yards. Cam Kelly has rushed for 340 yards and Jon Sunealitis leads the team with 36 tackles.

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES

District 9 Class A playoff race

Check out the initial posting of the District 9 Class A playoff standings. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

Right now, it’s shaping up to be an Allegheny Mountain League invitational as the AML has six of the eight positions, including No. 1 Cameron County, No. 3 Port Allegany, No. 4 Curwensville, No. 5 Coudersport, No. 7 Johnsonburg and No. 8 Ridgway.

The No. 4 through No. 8 spots are right now as No. 4 through No. 7 have 3-2 records. No. 9 Elk County Catholic and No. 10 Redbank Valley are also 2-3 with Ridgway.

Correction on Brockway-Curwensville

Going into last week’s Brockway at Curwensville game, the Golden Tide had won eight of the 10 meetings between the teams since both joined the AML. It was incorrectly stated. Now make it 9 of 11 after last week’s game. The Rovers are now 0-5 at Curwensville during the stretch.

Addition to 3,000-yard passing honor roll

Add Kane’s Zach Anderson to the growing list of 3,000-yard career passers in District 9. An updated list is below, which includes another 160 yards and a touchdown from Brockway’s Derek Buganza last week:

Passer (senior season)                                   Yards              TD

Mike DeFilippi, Smethport (1999)                  6,638               59

Chad Kroell, Clearfield (1994)                       6,088               79

Adam Black, Keystone (2001)                       5,338               55

Tyler Armagost, Moniteau (2008)                  5,278               52

Derek Buganza, Brockway (2010)               4,601               43

Tom Pore, Keystone (1997)                            4,504               46

Hayden Johnston, C-L (2004)                        4,401               70

Jon Guth, Brookville (1993)                           4,033               29

Zach Anderson, Kane (2007)                         3,922               34

Jim Kelly, East Brady (1977)                         3,915               44

Ben Marzullo, Brookville (1999)                    3,710               32

Boomer Wetzel, Coudersport (2007)              3,637               42

Andrew Janocko, Clearfield (2005)               3,615               28

Jeremy McCool, Keystone (1989)                  3,484               31

Jarrin Campman, Clearfield (2008)                 3,217               29

Jake Smith, Redbank Valley (2007)               3,221               43