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By Rich Rhoades
Seven District 9 teams head into Week 4 of
the high school football season with 3-0 records and none of
them play each other.
Of those seven, three are in the Allegheny
Mountain League’s South Division and those three — Curwensville,
Brockway and Elk County Catholic — still don’t match up. It’s
the first week of divisional play in the AML.
Elsewhere, Port Allegany, DuBois, Clarion
and Clearfield try to get off to 4-0 starts as well. Here’s a
breakdown of this week’s schedule that has 14 Friday night games
and one Saturday afternoon game.
Allegheny Mountain League
After three weeks over crossover divisional
play, the South as usual dominated with a 13-5 edge over the
North. Not surprisingly, Port Allegany notched three of those
wins against the South. With all of that, the Gators could make
a huge step toward a North title with a win this week over
Coudersport. With an Otto-Eldred win over Smethport, a Gators
win over the Falcons would give them at least a three-game lead
on the entire division with four division games to play.
Port
Allegany (3-0) at Coudersport (1-2)
First things first with Gators senior
quarterback Matt Bodamer. Quarterback rating anybody? He’s
completed 48 of 59 passes (81.4 percent) for 854 yards with 15
touchdowns against just one interception. While the quarterback
rating system (NCAA variety in this case) isn’t the easiest to
understand, Bodamer’s rating of 283.45 outdistances TCU
quarterback Casey Pachall’s mark of 242.4. Only two major
college QBs are over 200, including West Virginia’s Geno Smith
(209.8). The NCAA record for passing efficiency is held by
Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson’s 191.8 mark from last year.
For NFL passer rating fans, Bodamer’s mark
is 151.27, easily better than Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt
Ryan’s 117.6.
Last week, Bodamer became the third
Pennsylvania quarterback to reach 100 career touchdown passes
after throwing our seven against Ridgway. He trails Lancaster
Catholic’s Kyle Smith (118) and Allentown Central Catholic’s
Brendan Nosovitch (106) on the all-time list.
With 7,851 career passing yards, Bodamer is
looking to become the sixth quarterback in the state to reach
8,000 yards. The 8,000-yard club:
Derek Buganza, Brockway
9,752
Brendan Nosovitch, ACC
9,249
Kyle Smith, Lancaster Cath.
8,545
Pat Devlin, Downingtown East
8,000
The Gators are trying to beat the Falcons
for the fifth time in a row, something they haven’t done since
the 1980s (1985-89) and their last 4-0 start was 1988.
Bodamer’s receiving targets have big
numbers obviously, including Tyce Miller (19 catches, 368 yards,
6 TDs) and Nick Conway (17 catches, 283 yards, 5 TDs).
For Coudersport, which is coming off a
surprising 22-14 loss to Johnsonburg, Mitch Freeman has rushed
for 351 yards and four touchdowns. Caden Whitman has rushed for
324 yards, although 236 of it came in the opening loss to
Curwensville.
In the other AML North game Friday night,
Smethport (1-2) travels to Otto-Eldred (0-3). Saturday, Cameron
County visits Sheffield in a battle of 0-3 teams.
In the AML South Friday night:
Brockway (3-0) at Kane (2-1)
The Rovers have racked up some big numbers
with quarterback Alec Shaffer-Doan leading the way. Doan has
passed for 702 yards with 11 touchdown passes against three
interceptions so far. His top receiving targets are Jacob Perrin
(23-404, 6 TDs) and Anthony Benson (12-216, 4 TDs). Chad Melillo
has rushed for 248 yards and six scores.
Kane quarterback Sean Jordan threw for four
touchdowns for the second time this year in last week’s blowout
of Otto-Eldred. For the year, he’s thrown for 517 yards and nine
touchdowns. Jonah Smith ran for 191 yards and two scores against
Otto. Jeff Kocjancic is the Wolves’ top receiver.
Ridgway (1-2) at Elk County Catholic (3-0)
The Crusaders have gone 10 straight
quarters without allowing a point and they’ve yielded just six
points all season. Head coach Travis Skrzypek’s team has had
eight different running backs score touchdowns. Ben McCullough
(275) leads the team in yardage. Hank Cappiello (210) leads the
squad with three rushing TDs.
Ridgway’s Zac McKnight has rushed for 361
yards.
Curwensville (3-0) at Johnsonburg (1-2)
The Golden Tide have two players over 400
yards rushing — Jed Greslick (444 yards, 2 TDs) and Zach Tibbons
(414 yards, 4 TDs). Quarterback Hunter McCracken has completed
all but two of his passes (14) to Jordan Russell for 248 of his
257 yards with all four scoring strikes to him as well.
Johnsonburg, which ended a 16-game losing
streak, got a big spark from quarterback Frank Kocjancic in the
win over Coudersport. He completed 14 of 19 passes for 220 yards
and three touchdowns. For the year, he’s passed for 482 yards
and six TDs. Mitchell Holmberg, his top target, has four of
those TD connections.
KSAC
Of the six games involving KSAC teams this
week, five are crossover games between the Large and Small
School divisions.
Moniteau (0-3) at Clarion (3-0)
The unbeaten Bobcats have given up just six
points all year and they’ll take on a Warriors team that hasn’t
gone 0-4 since 1999. For Clarion, Damien Slike (243 yards
rushing, 3 TDs) and quarterback John Katis (261 yards passing,
70 pct. completion percentage, 6 TDs) lead a balanced offense.
For Moniteau, Dustin Geagan has rushed for
210 yards, 150 of it coming in last week’s loss to Karns City.
Union (3-0) at Karns City (2-1)
The resurgent Knights haven’t been 4-0
since 1985 and they haven’t beaten Karns City since a 13-6 win
in 1995, so they’ll try to do both in Butler County. Union
quarterback Brody Shick has passed for 242 yards and intercepted
four passes on defense. Running back Cody Kline (219 yards, 1
TD) leads the ground game.
For Karns City, Wyatt Everetts (203 yards)
and Tristan Rhoades (151 yards) lead the running attack while
quarterback Tyler Kepple has passed for 318 yards and three
touchdowns while rushing for 160 yards.
Keystone (1-2) at Brookville (2-1)
Brookville Raiders head coach Chris Dworek
goes after his 100th career win against the team he
started with. Dworek was 4-5 in 1995 in his only year at
Keystone before heading to Brookville where he’s been ever
since.
The Raiders are led by junior running back
Zach Vroman (355 yards, 3 TDs) and senior quarterback Cameron
Yard (227 yards passing, 268 yards rushing).
Keystone quarterback Josh Eberhart has
passed for 180 yards and rushed for two touchdowns.
A-C
Valley (1-2) at Punxsutawney (1-2)
The Chucks try to rebound after getting
roughed up by DuBois while the Falcons try for a two-game
winning streak for the first time since 2004.
Garrett Zimmerman (227 yards passing, 2
TDs) and running backs Jamie Bush (206 yards, 2 TDs) and
Christian Falgout (189 yards, 2 TDs) lead the Chucks.
A-C Valley quarterback Kevin Kaufman has
passed for 466 yards and rushed for 128 yards.
St.
Marys (1-2) at Clarion-Limestone (0-3)
The Flying Dutchmen let a game get away at
Brookville last week and they’ll try to shake that off against a
struggling Lions team. Alex Feldbauer is among the district
leaders in rushing with 428 yards. Last year’s 1,000-yard rusher
Cody Baker returned to the lineup last week and gave the Dutch
94 yards.
The Lions haven’t been 0-4 since going
winless in 1986. They’ve turned the ball over 15 times and given
up an average of 415 yards per game. Their 62 points per game
allowed shares the worst mark in the state with Geibel of the
WPIAL and their 58-point difference per game is the worst in the
state.
Farrell (2-1) at Redbank Valley (0-3)
The winless Bulldogs get to play the
Steelers this week. Farrell is coming off a 27-8 loss to West
Middlesex, a team that beat Moniteau, 27-8.
District 10 Region 5
DuBois (3-0) at Oil City (0-3)
How good is Garrett Brown? He’s rushed for
466 yards (13.7 per carry) with seven touchdowns despite missing
one full game and almost one half of another. Last week, Brown
blasted Punxsutawney for 295 yards on just 15 carries with four
touchdown runs of 66, 52, 80 and 57 yards while returning the
second-half kickoff 99 yards for a score.
DuBois hasn’t been 3-0 since starting 2005
8-0. The Beavers and head coach Frank Varischetti shouldn’t have
a tough time this week against winless Oil City, which has
surrendered 111 points in three games, including big numbers in
a 42-9 loss at General McLane last year. Defensively, the
Beavers have picked off seven passes by seven different
defenders.
Bradford (2-1) at Slippery Rock (3-0)
After playing Warren for the 100th
time last week, the Owls travel to Mercer County to take on
Slippery Rock for the first time ever. Owls quarterback Matt
Yurkewicz has passed for 145 yards while rushing for 296 yards
and five touchdowns.
Mountain League
Clearfield (3-0) at Huntingdon (0-3)
Coming off a 34-33 slugfest win over
Central-Martinsburg last week, the Bison travel to winless
Huntingdon. Quarterback Christian Lezzer is coming off a strong
game and has passed for 369 yards and rushing for 260 yards this
year. Running back Tyler Stratton (277 yards, 3 TDs) and
receiver Trey Jordan (11 catches, 287 yards, 4 TDs) are off to
good starts as well. Jordan and Stratton each have two
interceptions on defense.
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