ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 33, SMETHPORT 6

ST. MARYS – Hank Cappiello ran 11 times for 111 yards and three touchdowns to lead Elk County Catholic to a season-starting 33-6 win over visiting Smethport Saturday afternoon in St. Marys.

Cappiello, who also had two catches for 15 yards, scored on first-half runs of 15, 39 and 10 yards, and Mitchell Vallone and George Urmann added second-half scoring runs for the Crusaders.

Quarterback Clay Schuler had Smethport’s lone touchdown on a 2-yard run in the second quarter. He ran 13 times for 51 yards and was 2-for-9 passing for 12 yards and an interception, while Karl Lightner had 100 yards rushing on 11 carries.

DuBOIS 34, MIFFLIN COUNTY 24

LEWISTOWN — Despite begin ejected for leaving the sideline trying to break up a fight involving a teammate, Garrett Brown rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns to help the DuBois Beavers rally for a 34-24 win at Mifflin County Friday night.

Brown ran for three 1-yard touchdowns among his 19 carries before he was ejected breaking up a fight in the third quarter that also saw teammate Trevor Schwiderske tossed. Both Brown and Schwiderske will have to sit out the next game per PIAA rules.

The Beavers trailed 24-13 with 1:58 left in the second quarter, but scored the game’s final 21 points.

Quarterback Gabe French threw a 21-yard TD pass to Bryson Paulinellie before halftime, then Brown put the Beavers up for good with his third 1-yarder shortly before leaving the game. The Beavers scored in the fourth quarter on Shane Marshall’s 3-yard run.

French completed 13 of 19 passes for 135 yards as the Beavers took advantage of five Mifflin County turnovers, including three interceptions.

UNION 16, A-C VALLEY 14

RIMERSBURG — Brody Shick scored two touchdowns, including one on a 35- yard interception return late in the third quarter as the Union Golden Knights held on to beat A-C Valley, 16-14, Friday night.

Shick’s return put the Knights up 16-8 at the time, but A-C Valley had a chance to tie the game late after Mike Suto’s 13-yard run found the end zone with 3:21 remaining. On the attempt to tie the game on the two-point conversion, the Falcons came up short.

Shick’s first touchdown came on a 1-yard run midway through the first quarter. A-C Valley tied it at 8-8 before the half when Kevin Kaufman threw a 5-yard TD pass to Justin Roethen.

A-C Valley outgained Union, 227-142. Kaufman completed 10 of 21 passes for 124 yards. Cody Kline led Union with 64 yards rushing on 16 carries.

It was Union’s first season-opening win since 2000 when the Knights beat Moniteau.

SHARPSVILLE 35, MONITEAU 0

SHARPSVILLE — Five different players scored touchdowns as Sharpsville blanked Moniteau, 35-0, in a non-conference matchup between districts 9 and 10.

Sharpsville outgained the Warriors, 347-94, as quarterback Bryan Staffort completed 7 of 9 passes for 196 yards. He threw TD passes of 60 and 70 yards to Tyler Luchey and Joey Flynn respectively. All five Sharpsville touchdowns came on plays of 35 yards or more, including Greg Popatak’s 35-yard fumble return.

Dustin Geagan rushed for 22 yards on 12 carries to lead Moniteau’s limited offensive output. Quarterback Denny Pry completed 5 of 12 passes for 54 yards.

KEYSTONE 21, REDBANK VALLEY 7

KNOX — Matt Black returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown and teammate Zach Stiglitz rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown to lead the Keystone Panthers to a 21-7 win over visiting Redbank Valley.

Quarterback Josh Eberhart scored the Panthers’ other touchdown on a 2- yard run in the fourth quarter. Stiglitz sparked the Panthers defensively, leading the team with eight tackles along with two fumble recoveries. Austin Chambers made two sacks and Dustin Wolbert picked off a pass.

Brandon Bailey’s 3-yard run in the third quarter accounted for Redbank Valley’s lone touchdown. Quarterback Jake Dougherty completed

6 of 14 passes for 79 yards.

KARNS CITY 38, ST. MARYS 25

ST. MARYS — Wyatt Everetts and Tyler Kepple turned in scoring runs of 80 yards or more and five different players scored touchdowns as the visiting Karns City Gremlins outgunned St. Marys in a 38-25 win at Dutch Country Stadium Friday night.

Everetts scored on runs of 4 and 80 yards and led the Gremlins with 137 yards on just eight carries. Kepple's 82-yard run with 6:50 left in the game came right after St. Marys had gotten to within 31-19 after Todd Barnes returned a Kepple pass 18 yards for a touchdown.

There were plenty of yards in the game as the Gremlins outgained the Dutch, 447-392. Dan Filges (3 yards, Tristan Rhoades (26 yards) and Dakota Mohney (11 yards) also scored on runs for Karns City. Kepple finished with 95 yards rushing on three carries and completed 8 of 15 passes for 128 yards.

St. Marys got a big night from Alex Feldbauer, who rushed for 163 yards on 33 carries and scored the Dutch's first two touchdowns on runs of 4 and 2 yards. Joe Luchini gained 86 yards on 14 attempts. 

Jordan Straub added a 24-yard TD run with 1:24 left in the game.

KANE 35, SHEFFIELD 13

KANE – Sean Jordan threw for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth to give first-year Kane head coach Todd Silfies his first victory in his first game, 35-13 over Sheffield, Friday night at Kane.

Jordan, who was 9-for-20 passing for 146 yards, hit Jeff Kocjancic with all four scoring passes. Kocjancic caught six balls for 77 yards.

Shequan Wright ran for a touchdown and threw for a score on the game’s final play for the Wolverines. Wright was 11 of 22 passing for 139 yards and the score. Dylan Wright caught the touchdown pass.

On defense, Kane was paced by Jamie Lingenfelter’s 15 tackles including two sacks. He also forced a fumble. Loren Kumher added eight stops including 3 ½ sacks, while Evan Delong had six tackles with three sacks, forced a fumble and recovered two fumbles.  

CLEARFIELD 35, ST. JOAN OF ARC CATHOLIC 20

HYDE – Christian Lezzer’s debut as the Clearfield quarterback was a successful one, as Lezzer accounted for all five scores in a 35-20 Bison win over Canada’s St. Joan of Arc Catholic Friday night at Clearfield.

Lezzer was 5 of 11 passing for 124 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, ran 13 times for 103 yards and a touchdown, caught one 16-yard touchdown pass and returned a fumble three yards for a score after sacking and stripping the Canadian quarterback.

Trey Jordan pulled in both Lezzer touchdown passes and had four catches for 120 yards, while Tyler Stratton added 13 carries for 83 yards and two catches for 15 yards. Tyler Woomer also got in the act going 3-for-3 passing with a touchdown and also running seven times for 41 yards.  

PORT ALLEGANY 54, JOHNSONBURG 0

JOHNSONBURG – Port Allegany quarterback Matt Bodamer continued his assault on the district and state passing record book in his first game of his senior season Friday night throwing for 338 yards and five touchdowns and adding three rushing touchdowns in a 54-0 win at Johnsonburg.

Bodamer was 15-for-19 passing and hit Tyce Miller for three touchdowns and Nick Conway and Trey Miller each for one. He also ran for 34 yards and three scores on 10 carries. He scored on a 5-yard second quarter run and on a 27-yard run with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter.

Tyce Miller had seven catches for 185 yards, while Trey Miller added four for 82.

With the five scoring tosses, Bodamer needs just five more to tie the District 9 record of 95 set by Brockway’s Derek Buganza.

PUNXSUTAWNEY 26, BROOKVILLE 23

BROOKVILLE — Dominating the opening and coming up with the big plays at the end, the Punxsutawney Chucks held off visiting Brookville to take the Route 36 Trophy back from the Raiders with a tight 26-23 win at LaMarca Stadium Friday night.

The Chucks dominated from the outset, scoring on their first three possessions of the game to take a 20-0 lead. But the Raiders picked themselves up and actually rallied to grab a 21-20 lead on quarterback Cameron Yard’s 3-yard run with 6:56 left in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, Christian Falgout returned the kick 61 yards to the Raiders’ 27. Three players later, quarterback Garrett Zimmerman connected with Clayton Dale on a 30-yard touchdown pass on third-and-13 to put the Chucks up 26-21 after a failed two-point conversion run. The Chucks took a safety at the end of the game when punting deep in their territory.

Falgout rushed for 78 yards on 23 carries to go along with 105 yards on three kick returns. He scored the game’s first touchdown on a 6- yard run. Fullback Jamie Bush rushed for 65 yards on 12 carries and added TD runs of 1 and 7 yards, the second of which gave the Chucks a 20-0 lead by the 4:18 mark of the second quarter.

The Raiders outgained the Chucks, 401-220, but couldn't overcome three turnovers. Zach Vroman rushed for 201 yards on 17 carries and Yard rushed for 168 yards on 19 carries.=

BROCKWAY 42, JOHNSONBURG 8

EMPORIUM – Alec Shaffer-Doan threw for 228 yards and five touchdowns including four to Jacob Perrin to lead Brockway to a 42-8 blowout road victory at Cameron County Friday night.

Shaffer-Doan finished the night 13 of 22 passing and hit Perrin nine times for 170 yards including a 65-yard scoring strike just 11 seconds into the game. That started a 24-point first quarter for Brockway, which led 34-0 at halftime.

Chad Melillo added 15 carries 116 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Rovers, while Anthony Benson also caught a 31-yard touchdown pass and Phil Esposito hit a 30-yard field goal.  

Cameron County’s lone score came on a 15-yard touchdown run from Aaron Garrigan with only 50 seconds left.  

CLARION 57, CLARION-LIMESTONE 0

CLARION – Clarion outgained Clarion-Limestone 435-13 while holding the Lions to minus 7 yards rushing and two first downs in rolling to a 57-0 win Friday night at Clarion University Memorial Field.

The Bobcats took advantage of six C-L turnovers including five lost fumbles in getting their ninth straight win over the Lions. The nine straight victories have come by a combined score of 398-43 and ties for the longest on-field win streak in the series, which Clarion now leads 26-17.

Old Dominion recruit T.J. Armstrong (6 carries, 58 yards; 5 tackles, 1 sack) and junior Damien Slike (4 carries, 96 yards) each scored twice for Clarion, while Camron Kirkland, Destin Strauser and Ian Corbett also added scoring runs and Ethan Straffin returned a fumble for a touchdown.

RIDGWAY 41, OTTO-ELDRED 32

DUKE CENTER – Ridgway built a 27-6 halftime lead and then held off a furious Otto-Eldred second-half comeback attempt to grab a 41-32 victory Friday at Otto-Eldred.

Sam Delhunty scored three times for the Elkers and finished with 17 carries for 47 yards, while Zach McKnight added 143 yards rushing on 16 carries while also catching a 9-yard touchdown pass from Ben McDonald who was 7 of 11 for 145 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Dakota Vaughns had a monster night in defeat for Otto-Eldred going 16-for-30 passing for 293 yards and a touchdowns and rushing 13 times for 62 yards and three touchdowns.

Sam Colebert added four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown and ran 14 times for 73 yards, and Andrew Lawrence had five catches for 114 yards.  

BRADFORD 20, OLEAN (NY) 7

BRADFORD – Matt Yurkewicz ran 13 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Josh Corignani to lead Bradford to a 20-7 win over interstate rival Olean (NY) Friday night in Bradford.

In the 115^th meeting between the schools separated by 20 miles and the New York-Pennsylvania border, Bradford rallied from a 7-0 third-quarter deficit thanks to scoring runs of 56 and eight yards from Yurkewicz and the touchdown pass. Yurkewicz finished 3-for-6 for 68 yards and an interception.

Corignani added 97 yards rushing on nine carries and had the one catch for 34 yards for the Owls.

CURWENSVILLE 34, COUDERSPORT 26

COUDERSPORT – Curwensville got touchdowns from four different players including two by Zach Tibbens to get a 34-26 see-saw win at Coudersport  Friday night.

The lead exchanged hands five times for Curwensville scored the game’s final two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

Tibbens scored on runs of five and 40 yards with the 40-yard run sealing the victory one play after the Golden Tide defense stopped a fourth-and-3 play a foot shy of the sticks late in the fourth quarter.

Jordan Russell (45 pass from Hunter McCracken), Brad Coudriet (17 run) and Alex Olson (1 yard run) also scored for Curwensville with Olson’s fourth-quarter scoring plunge giving the Tide the lead for good.

Caden Whitman had a monster game in the loss for Coudersport. Whitman who missed the last half of last year with an injury and wasn’t even cleared to play by doctors until Monday ran 15 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns including a 97-yard run on the last play of the third quarter that put the Falcons ahead 26-21. He also scored on runs of five and 75 yards, while Ethan Hite caught a 40-yard screen pass from Zach Elenchin. Whitman added an interception on defense.