Class AAA Regional Playoff Bracket

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – If you are going to the District 5-6-8-9 Regional Championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium, you might want to prepare yourself for a high-scoring affair.

That is because District 9’s Clearfield (11-0) averages 39.4 points per game, while the Bison’s Pittsburgh City League (District 8) opponent University Prep (6-3) scores 33.4 ppg while running an offense described by its players as similar to the University of Oregon’s.

As would be expected of high-scoring teams, both squads feature top-notch quarterbacks.

For Clearfield, that is dual-threat junior Christian Lezzer, who ranks eighth in District 9 in passing and fourth in rushing.

Lezzer, coming off a 200-plus yard ground game in a 38-18 win over Punxsutawney in the Regional semifinals last week, has rushed for 1,402 yards and 21 touchdowns while averaging 7.5 yards per carry. He has also thrown for 1,210 yards while completing nearly 60 percent of his passes (47 of 82) with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.

On the other side of the field, University Prep features senior Akil Young. Young, who threw for 462 yards and six touchdowns in a 47-38 win over Somerset last week, has thrown for 1,878 yards and 21 touchdowns on the season while tossing five interceptions. He is 119 of 210 (56.7 percent).

Both teams also feature top-notch receivers.

Lezzer’s favorite target is senior Trey Jordan who ranks third in District 9 in receiving with 27 catches for 937 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Young, meanwhile, looks to 6-foot-2 junior Marcus Johnson a lot of the time. Johnson has 35 grabs for 711 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season and is coming off an 8-catch, 214-yard, 2-touchdown performance against Somerset.

Another key player for University Prep is junior running back Clay Moorefield who has eight catches for 98 yards and a touchdown for the Wildcats last week and has scored seven touchdowns on the season.

Clearfield’s third key player is running back Tyler Stratton, who ranks seventh in District 9 in rushing with 1,134 yards and 15 touchdowns while averaging 7.9 yards per carry.

NOTES – The winner of Saturday’s Regional title game meets the District 4 champion – either Selinsgrove or Milton … Two of University’s Prep’s three losses came to City League champion Perry, including a 9-6 loss in overtime in the City League title game two weeks ago. The Wildcats also lost 12-6 to Perry in mid-October and 49-20 to Aquinas Institute of New York in the season opener … Clearfield has a history of playing Pittsburgh City League opponents in the PIAA playoffs going 1-3 in four games between 2002-2008. The lone win came 24-21 over Brashear in 2008 while the Bison lost to Perry in 2002 (61-0), 2004 (12-9) and 2005 (55-14) … University Prep is in its second year of playing football after a reorganization of the Pittsburgh City League a couple of years ago.