By Rich Rhoades

District 9’s list of unbeatens will at least be cut down by one this week as two of the district’s four undefeated teams face each other in a big Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference-Large School Division showdown.

While Moniteau hosts St. Marys in a battle for sole possession of the KSAC-Large School Division, D9’s other 4-0 teams are on the road. Clearfield visits Central Mountain while Coudersport visits Sheffield (1-3) Saturday afternoon.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s schedule:

KSAC-Large School

St. Marys (4-0) at Moniteau (4-0)

At West Sunbury, the Flying Dutchmen will try to continue a historic start to a season. They haven’t been 4-0 since their unbeaten season of 1966. But it won’t be easy as the Warriors have played well led by senior quarterback Kyle Armagost.

St. Marys pretty much relies on its running game with Cody Baker’s 680 yards rushing ranking second in the district. Brian Merritt (205 yards) saw limited time in last week’s win over Clarion with an injury and Justin Quiggle (223 yards) had to take over at quarterback with an injury to starter David Aul. Luke Schreiber leads the Dutch with eight sacks while Merritt has 6 ½ sacks.

Armagost’s 823 yards passing rank second in the district. He’s rushed for 247 yards and after passing out of the shotgun exclusively two weeks ago against Brookville in his 373-yard effort without doing too much with his legs and injured knee, he rushed for 67 yards on 15 attempts in last week’s win over Redbank Valley.

Ethan Pry (15 catches, 453 yards) is the top yardage receiver in the district. He also has three interceptions on defense. Dustin Geagan has rushed for 497 yards and five scores. Defensively, Kyle’s younger brother Andrew leads the team with 45 tackles.

In the other KSAC-Large School game, Punxsutawney (2-2) hosts Karns City (2-2). Chucks quarterback Garrett Zimmerman has passed for 561 yards while Karns City running back Glenn Toy has rushed for 367 yards.

In a non-league affair between two former District 9 League rivals, DuBois (3-1) heads to Brookville (2-2) for the Raiders’ homecoming game. Beavers quarterback Sean Sleigh (849 yards passing, 7 TDs) needs nine yards to break the school career passing yardage record.

KSAC-Small School

Redbank Valley (2-2) at Clarion (2-2)

On the turf at Clarion University, the division title will likely be settled as the Bulldogs and Bobcats meet for the 86^th time. Clarion leads the all-time series, 44-36.5 with the Bobcats winning the last three encounters.

T. J. Armstrong leads the Bobcats with 286 yards rushing. Jake Dougherty has passed for 471 yards and six touchdowns for the Bulldogs.

In other KSAC-Small School games, Union (2-2) visits Clarion-Limestone (1-3) and Keystone (1-3) hosts A-C Valley (0-4) in a rare Saturday afternoon start.

AML-South Division

The Allegheny Mountain League begins divisional play this week and four teams coming into Week 5 with 3-1 records — Ridgway, Curwensville, Elk County Catholic and Kane. Brockway is still in the hunt at 2-2.

Kane visits Curwensville as the Golden Tide’s Alex Holland is primed to go over 1,000 yards for the season. He’s leading the district at 969 yards with 13 touchdowns.

Brockway hosts Ridgway in an interesting matchup. The Rovers haven’t lost to the Elkers since the first time they faced each other as AML foes back in 1999. Since then, the Rovers have won 11 straight meetings by an average lopsided advantage of 25.5 points. Ridgway hasn’t been 4-1 since 2003. Rovers quarterback Kyle Braun has passed for 252 yards and rushed for 415 yards. Ridgway’s Eric Matheson is second in the district in scoring behind Holland.

Coming off its impressive win at Port Allegany last week, Elk County Catholic hosts Johnsonburg (0-4). Cole Gerber’s 475 yards rushing rank fifth in the district.

AML-North Division

As divisional play begins, it appears to be a two-team race with 4-0 Coudersport and 3-1 Port Allegany.

Coudersport visits Sheffield (1-3) Saturday afternoon. Caden Whitman’s 445 yards rushing is sixth in the district.

Port Allegany tries to shake off its loss to Elk County Catholic with a trip to Otto-Eldred (1-3). Gators Matt Bodamer has passed for a district-high 1,145 yards and 14 touchdowns against just two interceptions.

In the other AML-North matchup, Smethport (0-4) visits Cameron County (1-3).

Other games

The unbeaten Clearfield Bisons travel to Central Mountain (2-2) for a Mountain League game.  The two share one common opponent thus far in Central-Martinsburg. The Bisons opened the season with a 27-20 win while the Wildcats beat Central, 34-24, in Week 3.

Bisons running back Beau Swales is third in the district with 511 yards rushing.

In District 10 Region 6, Bradford (2-2) visits Cathedral Prep (3-1). It’s the fourth meeting between the teams since the Owls joined the league. Prep won the first three by an average score of 52-7.