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By Rich Rhoades
DuBOIS — The DuBois Beavers are hosting a
playoff game. Now that’s news.
Can they win one? That’d be even bigger.
For the first time since 1996, the
top-seeded Beavers (8-2) will play a playoff game at E.J.
Mansell Stadium when they take on longtime power State College
(5-4) Friday night at 7 p.m. Friday’s winner meets the Strong
Vincent-Mifflin County winner in next week’s District 6-9-10
sub-regional finals.
DuBois’ last playoff win also came in that
same game back in 1996 when it blanked Hollidaysburg, 24-0, in
the District 6-9 semifinals. Since then, the Beavers have gone
0-7 in playoff games played on the road or at neutral sites.
Their last postseason game was a 49-13 loss to McDowell in the
sub-regional semifinals.
State College, meanwhile, has been a
nemesis of the Beavers since the early 1990s. The Little Lions
and Beavers are meeting for the 51st time with State
College owning a 32-17-1 edge. Most of that advantage was built
in the current stretch where the Little Lions have won 10
straight and 15 of the last 17 meetings against the Beavers.
The last DuBois win over State came in a
14-7 win in 1996. From there, State hasn’t lost to DuBois with
two playoff wins in the District 6-9 playoffs in 1999 (49-21)
and 2001 (24-17). It’s the first matchup between the teams since
State’s 16-0 win at DuBois during the 2004 regular season.
It’s been a good year for the Beavers under
first-year head coach Frank Varischetti, who took over after the
departure of Jason Shilala. Varischetti had a strong run at
Brockway using the spread offense and featuring the
record-breaking passing of Derek Buganza.
At DuBois, Varischetti has quarterback Sean
Sleigh leading the way. He’s passed for 1,876 yards and 17
touchdowns this season and his career numbers of 3,617 passing
yards and 31 touchdown passes are school records.
Similar to Buganza at Brockway, Sleigh has
used plenty of receiving targets with five players with 19 or
more catches. Max Hine (49 catches, 625 yards, 9 TDs) leads the
way while Garrett Miles (20-372, 4 TDs), Shaun Foley (27-302, 3
TDs), Jeremiah Clinchoc (19-241, 1 TD), Garrett Brown (22-187)
are also threats.
While Sleigh has been active running the
ball as well, Brown (664 yards, 5 TDs) and Brady Haines (497
yards, 9 TDs) have done the bulk of the work.
Defensively, the Beavers have played well,
especially in wins where they’ve given up less than 10 points
per game. They’ll have their hands full with State College, a
team that played a much more difficult schedule in the Mid-Penn
Conference in District 3.
State has lost to three state-ranked teams
— North Allegheny (53-21), Central Dauphin (26-17) and
Cumberland Valley (45-21) — who are ranked Nos. 3, 6 and 9
respectively by the Pennsylvania Football News.
Senior running back Jack Haffner has run
for 1,431 yards and 19 touchdowns so far this year. He’s rushed
for over 200 yards three times, including 237 yards with four
touchdowns in last week’s 34-27 win over Central Dauphin East.
Haffner, 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, has some
speed and been timed at 4.57 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
Because of Haffner’s success, quarterback
Josh Weakland hasn’t thrown as much as last year with 894 yards
and four touchdowns with eight interceptions. Last year,
Weakland threw for 2,179 yards and 21 touchdowns.
State has been a fixture lately in the
state playoffs where in 2009 it lost to LaSalle College, 24-7,
in the state finals.
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