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By Rich Rhoades
Playoff berths and conference/division
titles are on the line as District 9 football heads into Week 8
with all but one game scheduled for Friday night.
With Cameron County’s win over Coudersport
last week clinching the Allegheny Mountain League’s North
Division, who the Red Raiders will play in the AML Championship
game in Week 10 is still very much in the air.
The AML South currently has three teams —
Brockway, Curwensville and Kane — tied at the top with 5-2
records. That’ll change at least this week as Brockway hosts
Kane. Kane then visits Curwensville next week.
Two wins by Kane would obviously claim the
division, but a split or two losses by the Wolves would create
two different scenarios:
—
Beat Brockway, lose to
Curwensville: Curwensville, assuming it beats Johnsonburg this
week, would win the title.
—
Lose to Brockway, beat
Curwensville: Brockway, assuming it beats Ridgway, would win the
title.
Curwensville beat Brockway earlier this
year, so the Tide win any head-to-head with the Rovers.
This week, it’ll be the pass-happy,
shoot-out Rovers against the running-defense oriented Wolves.
Brockway junior QB Derek Buganza (2,130 yards, 19 TDs, 8 Ints.)
continues to put up big numbers. He threw for his 50th
career touchdown last week and his 5,317 career yards rank
fourth in D9 history, just 21 yards behind third-place Adam
Black of Keystone.
Buganza’s top receivers are Mike Vervoort
(44 catches, 468 yards, 10 TDs), Jake Shaffer (33-503) and Zach
Freemer (25-474).
While the Rovers have given up 20 or more
points in all but two of their games, the Wolves have allowed
just 49 points all season. They’ve tossed three shutouts and
given up just six points the last three weeks.
Leading the way on defense is junior
defensive end Marty Nicklas, who earned last week’s RRR
Roadhouse D9Sports.Com District 9 Football Player of the Week in
Kane’s 7-0 win over Ridgway. Nicklas made 10 tackles and four
sacks, raising his season sack total to 11 ½. Robert Kumher
leads the team with 70 tackles.
Offensively, the Wolves haven’t thrown a TD
pass all season. Arie Paup has rushed for 549 yards and scored
nine touchdowns.
Kane has won three of the last four against
Brockway, including 41-15 last year and 51-0 in 2007.
Also in the AML South, Curwensville hosts
Johnsonburg (3-4) and Ridgway (2-5) hosts Elk County Catholic
(2-5) in what could be a big Class A playoff scenario game.
In the AML North, unbeaten Cameron County
(7-0) hosts Sheffield (2-5), Otto-Eldred (1-6) travels to
Smethport (0-7) and Coudersport (5-2) hosts Port Allegany (5-2).
Both the Falcons and Gators have clinched a Class A playoff
berth, but a win in this one could secure a higher seed in the
bracket. The Falcons haven’t lost to the Gators since the 2003
playoffs, winning five straight since then.
Unbeaten Karns City (7-0) travels to
Moniteau (4-3) in a big rivalry game in the Keystone Shortway
Athletic Conference. Assuming they’ll beat winless A-C Valley
next week, the Gremlins will clinch the title outright by
beating the Warriors. Since the KSAC does not use a head-to-head
tiebreaker in determining championships, a Karns City loss to
Moniteau could create a tie at the top with Punxsutawney and
even though the Gremlins beat the Chucks, they would share the
title if they’re tied at the end of the season.
Karns City split with Moniteau a year ago,
with the Warriors winning at Karns City during the regular
season to stop the Gremlins’ 27-game KSAC winning streak and
17-game regular season winning streak. The Gremlins got revenge
in the District 9 Class AA Championship game with a 42-9 rout of
the Warriors. Karns City has beaten Moniteau 21 out of the last
24 meetings. Last year’s loss was the first in the regular
season to the Warriors since 2003.
In other KSAC games, Redbank Valley (2-5)
hosts A-C Valley (0-7), Clarion-Limestone (1-6) travels to
Clarion (5-2), Punxsutawney (5-2) visits Union (2-5) and
Keystone (5-2) hosts Brookville (3-4). A-C Valley has lost 38
straight games and has been Mercy Ruled in 10 straight going
back to last season.
In
the Mountain Athletic Conference-Nittany Division, both
Clearfield and St. Marys are going into Friday on a short week
after winning makeup games on Monday. The 4-3 Bisons travel to
Martinsburg to take on 7-0 Central, which is ranked No. 6 in
Class AA in the state by the Pennsylvania Football News. The 5-2
Flying Dutchmen travel to Philipsburg-Osceola (3-4).
Both Bradford and DuBois play
non-conference games. Friday, the 6-1 Owls hope to bounce back
from its first loss of the year to Strong Vincent last week with
a trip to North East to take on the 5-2 Grape Pickers. Saturday
afternoon, the 4-3 Beavers travel to Pittsburgh to play 5-2
Perry. The Commodores, usually the favorite to win the
Pittsburgh City League, won’t win the league this year thanks to
losses to Schenley and Brashear.
PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
Here is a rundown on what’s going on in the
district playoff races. For complete explanations on how playoff
teams are determined, go to this link:
http://www.piaad9.org/dist9_fbinfo_0910.pdf
CLASS A
http://www.d9sports.com/20092010/Football/Standings/ClassAPlayoff.htm
Cameron County, Clarion, Curwensville, Port
Allegany, Keystone and Coudersport have clinched six of the
eight allotted playoff spots. The order of where they finish
could certainly change in the next three weeks.
Assuming the two teams that secure the
final two spots for the playoffs accept their playoff bids —
both will most likely finish with losing records — here is a
general idea on how that could play out. Right now, Johnsonburg
holds the seventh sport with a 3-4 record while Ridgway and
Union are tied for the eight spot with a 2-5 mark and 250 power
points.
Elk County Catholic and Redbank Valley are
also in contention with 2-5 records, but right now are ranked 10th
and 11th with 240 and 230 power points respectively.
—
Johnsonburg (3-4):
The Rams are underdogs this week against Curwensville, but a win
would clinch the Rams a playoff spot. A loss would set up an
interesting Week 9 matchup against Elk County Catholic, putting
the winner of that game into one of the playoff spots. The loser
could still get in, but it would be difficult.
—
Elk County Catholic
(2-5): The Crusaders are probably favored to beat Ridgway
this week and must beat the Elkers to set up that Week 9
scenario mentioned in the Johnsonburg segment to earn a playoff
spot.
—
Ridgway (2-5): Would
have to beat Elk County Catholic and probably need ECC to beat
Johnsonburg to get in. Or, if the Elkers upset Brockway Week 9,
that would get them in as well.
—
Redbank Valley (2-5):
The Bulldogs will likely beat A-C Valley this week, setting up a
probable must-win scenario against Moniteau in Week 9.
—
Union (2-5): It would
be quite a story if the Golden Knights sneak into the postseason
field, considering that one of their wins was a forfeit against
Brookville. If the Knights do split their final two games with a
loss to Punxsutawney and a win against Clarion-Limestone, they
could get in if Johnsonburg loses to Curwensville and Redbank
Valley loses to Moniteau. That means the Johnsonburg-ECC loser,
Redbank Valley and Union would all finish 3-6 for the final
playoff spot. That would mean a three-way tie using the power
points and all the Knights would need is one Brookville win in
its final three conference games.
CLASS AA
Karns City is in and Brockway would be in
with a win this week against Kane or a win next week against
Ridgway. The final two spots could be an interesting story in
the next three weeks.
The final two spots could be a big battle
between Kane, Moniteau and Brookville. It might not be decided
until after Week 10 when the Raiders play their final conference
game against Punxsutawney.
Things could be locked up with four teams
determined after this week IF Moniteau beats Karns City, Kane
beats Brockway and Keystone beats Brookville, putting the
Warriors and Wolves in and eliminating the Raiders.
Otherwise, it could take two more weeks to
settle things. Some more scenarios:
—
Kane: If Moniteau
doesn’t beat Karns City this week, the Wolves get in with a win
this week against Brockway or Curwensville next week. Kane could
back into the postseason with an 0-2 finish if Moniteau its next
two games to Karns City and Redbank Valley and Brookville loses
two of its three games with Keystone, Clarion and Punxsutawney.
—
Moniteau: If the
Warriors lose to Karns City and beat Redbank Valley, they would
need Brookville to lose more than one of its final three games
OR Kane to go 0-2 in its final two. If Moniteau goes 0-2 the
next two weeks, its only way to get in would be for the Raiders
two lose two out of their final three without the win coming
against Punxsutawney.
—
Brookville: A lot of
the Raiders’ chances have been explained in reverse above, but
sweeping their final three would naturally get them in. Winning
two of three would get them in with all scenarios unless
Moniteau sweeps the next two weeks and Kane wins at least one
game. The Raiders could squeak in by losing two of their last
three if their one win is against Punxsutawney and Kane and
Moniteau go 0-2 the rest of the conference schedule. And to end
it with a crazy scenario, the Raiders could go 1-2 with their
only win against Clarion if Kane and Moniteau go winless AND
Clarion-Limestone beats Union Week 9.
CLASS AAA
Who knows how long it’s been since all four
of the current District 9 Class AAA teams — Bradford, St. Marys,
Clearfield and Punxsutawney — all sported winning records in the
same season. Too bad only two teams will advance to the
playoffs, also known as the championship game in this bracket.
Playoff teams are decided on Power Rating
points only. Here are the standings to date:
W-L
Points for wins
Bonus Points
Total
Bradford
6-1
680
160
840
St. Marys
5-2 540
60
600
Punxsutawney
5-2
440
120
560
Clearfield
4-3
420
70
490
Even though Bradford appears to be up
comfortably in the standings, the Owls may have trouble winning
another game with North East, Cathedral Prep and Corry on the
schedule.
St. Marys is favored this week against
Philipsburg-Osceola, but has unbeaten Central-Martinsburg next
week followed by Clearfield.
Punxsutawney could certainly leapfrog St.
Marys with a strong finish while it looks like Clearfield will
need to finish very strong against unbeaten Central-Martinsburg,
5-2 Huntingdon and St. Marys.
A clearer picture could be presented next
week.
CLASS AAAA
The DuBois Beavers are currently in third
place in the Sub Region 6-8-9-10 points standings. Up to six
teams can qualify, which is every team. Here are the point
standings:
W-L
Total Points
State College
6-1
750
McDowell
5-2
650
DuBois
4-3
430
Central Mountain
4-3
380
Altoona
2-5
290
Allderdice
1-6
60
It’s doubtful that all six teams will
choose to enter since two teams have losing records. For the
Beavers, it’s not an easy finish with Perry, Strong Vincent and
Hollidaysburg. So a 4-6 record and probable fourth seed could
match DuBois up with perhaps State College in the first round.
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