By Rich Rhoades and Chris Rossetti

This year has developed into one of the haves and have-nots. Half of District 9’s 26 football teams are either 4-0 or 0-4.

In the D9Sports.Com era (records dating back through 1999), the 13 teams with one of those records — eight 4-0 teams and five 0-4 teams specifically — is the most with the closest year with that amount being 12 in 2008 when five teams were 4-0 and seven teams were 0-4.

This year, Port Allegany, Brockway, Curwensville, Elk County Catholic, Clarion, Union, DuBois and Clearield are off to 4-0 starts. In 2010, seven teams started 4-0.

This week on the 14-game schedule with two games set for Saturday afternoon, only one matchup features two of those 4-0 teams in the same game. Clarion’s trip to Rimersburg to take on Union is easily the game of the week going into the weekend.

This game used to be one of the top rivalries in District 9 with Union holding a slight 12-11-1 lead over the Bobcats from 1953-85, the last year the legendary Rich Vidunas coached the Golden Knights.

But since 1986, the schools have met 24 times with Clarion winning 21 of them including 17 straight since Union’s last win, 22-13, in 1994.

A lot is on the line including first-place in the KSAC Small School Division (the KSAC Small School champion gets the No. 2 seed in the District 9 Class A playoffs).

 “Clarion is a championship game,” third-year Union head coach Dave Louder, who led the Golden Knights to their first winning season since 1997 last year, said. “We are approaching it like that. We have challenged our kids that if they don’t beat Clarion maybe they aren’t as good as we thought, and we still have work to do. Winning this game would be huge. It’s been a rivalry since before I was born. Clarion is a measuring stick in the KSAC.”

If Union beats Clarion it will do something no one has done since the KSAC spilt into two divisions in 2010, beat the Bobcats in a conference game. Clarion is 12-0 all-time in KSAC Small School games and carries a 14-game conference win streak into the game.

 “The sentiment, I am sure, outside of our players and parents, is going to be on the side of Union,” Clarion’s 24th year head coach Larry Wiser, who is 18-3 all-time vs. the Knights, said. “Heck, I’ve been a fan of Union until this week. The things they are doing are great for the community. I don’t need to remind our kids this is a big game. There is no question we are going to take them seriously. This game is going to make us a better team.”

Clarion has shown balance on offense this year rushing for 234 yards per game while passing for 136.5 yards per contest with 10 of the Bobcats 25 offensive touchdowns coming on the ground.

Damien Slike (270 yards rushing, 3 TDs), T.J. Armstrong (204 yards rushing, 6 TDs), Camron Kirkland (163 yards rushing, 2 TDs; 7 catches, 102 yards), Cody Hearst (9 catches, 235 yards, 4 TDs) and John Katis (21 of 33 passing, 465 yards, 8 TDs, 1 Ints) are the key players on offense for Clarion, while Armstrong (38 tackles, 11 ½ TFLs, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles), Slike (31 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 interception) and Ian Corbett  (24 tackles, 4 sacks) lead the defense.

On offense, Union has spread the ball around led by first-year starting quarterback Brody Shick, who is 23 of 49 for 435 yards, four touchdowns and one interception while also running for a touchdown.  Cody Kline (286 yards, 2 TDs), Keenan McGregor (144 yards, 3 TDs) and Keenan Rankin (128 yards, 1 TD) share the load rushing the ball. Aaron Graham is the top receiver with seven grabs for 137 yards and a touchdown, while Rankin has six catches for 158 yards and three scores. Defensively, the Golden Knights are led by Rankin (9.8 tackles per game) Travis Daugherty (9.5 tpg.), Tyler Wiser (9 tpg.) and Shick (7 tpg., 4 interceptions). The Golden Knights have seven interceptions as a team on the year.  

Last season, Clarion won 29-12 in a game they led just 14-12 at halftime before a pair of Armstrong second-half touchdown runs sealed the victory. Armstrong ran for 130 yards on the night helping the Bobcats rush for 296 yards, and the Clarion defense picked off a pair of Taylor Smith passes.

In other KSAC Small School Division games, Keystone (1-3) visits Clarion-Limestone (0-4) and A-C Valley (1-3) hosts Redbank Valley. The Bulldogs have beaten the Falcons 14 straight times dating back to their last loss to them in 1997.

KSAC Large School

Brookville (3-1) at Moniteau (0-4)

While the Warriors are struggling for their first win, the Raiders have won three in a row and will try to stay on top of the Class AA playoff standings as the season heads into the midway point. Without calculating the actual ratings, Brookville has a one-game edge on Karns City, Kane and St. Marys. A Moniteau loss would go a long way in eliminating them from a top-four playoff spot.

The Raiders also still have a shot in the divisional race and can ill-afford to lose another division game as Karns City and Punxsutawney are still unbeaten.

Zach Vroman (470 yards, 3 TDs), Brodie Zacherl (206 yards, 2 TDs) and quarterback Cameron Yard (297 yards rushing, 245 yards passing) lead the Raiders. Dustin Geagan has rushed for 261 yards and returned a kick 87 yards against Clarion last week.

Punxsutawney (2-2) at St. Marys (2-2)

Similar to the other Large School game, this matchup is an important one for both teams in not only the divisional race, but also in the playoff race as well. The Chucks are still unbeaten in the division, but are battling 4-0 Clearfield and 2-2 Bradford for one of two Class AAA playoff spots. As noted above, the Dutch need to win to stay in Class AA contention.

Both teams have run the ball a lot this year, especially the Dutch who have passed for just 71 yards. Alex Felbauer (99 carries, 618 yards, 8 TDs) has been a workhorse for the Dutch with Joe Luchini (333 yards) and Cody Baker (182 yards in two games) chipping in as well. Christian Falgout (381 yards, 4 TDs) and Jamie Bush (324 yards, 3 TDs) are the top rushers for the Chucks.

Franklin (1-3) at Karns City (2-2)

The Gremlins will try to shake off a loss to Union last week against a Franklin team that has given up 60 or more points twice this year, including 63 in last week’s loss to General McLane. Quarterback Tyler Kepple has passed for 404 yards and rushed for 186 yards. Wyatt Everetts leads the team with 209 yards on the ground. Glenn Toy, their 1,000-yard back from last year, returned to action for the first time last week following a preseason knee injury.

Allegheny Mountain League-North

Two of the three games are set for Saturday with Coudersport (1-3) traveling to Sheffield (1-3) and Port Allegany (4-0) hosting Otto-Eldred (0-4).

The Matt Bodamer express continues at Port Allegany. He threw for 413 yards and seven more touchdowns in last week’s 70-8 rout of Coudersport. He became the sixth player to go over 8,000 career passing yards (now at 8,264) and his 107 career TD passes now rank second behind Lancaster Catholic’s Kyle Smith’s 119.

Gators senior receiver Tyce Miller upped his career reception numbers to 126 catches for 2,165 yards. He’s 280 shy of Brockway’s Mike Vervoort’s record of 2,445 yards and he’s two TDs shy of tying Clarion-Limestone’s Brad Beggs’ mark of 30. Clearfield’s Wes Dahlem finished his career with 29 TD grabs.

Allegheny Mountain League-South

The schedule has teased us so far as all three 4-0 teams in the division avoided each other once again.

Brockway (4-0) at Ridgway (1-3)

Rovers quarterback Alec Shaffer-Doan has passed for 1,108 yards and 12 touchdowns. Chad Melillo leads the team with 409 yards rushing. Ridgway’s Zac McKnight has gained 441 yards rushing.

Elk County Catholic (4-0) at Johnsonburg (1-3)

The Crusaders’ scoreless streak of 13 quarters ended in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Ridgway. Brock McCullough leads the team with 436 yards rushing. Johnsonburg’s Mitchell Holmberg has five interceptions on defense in the past three weeks.

Kane (2-2) at Curwensville (4-0)

It could be an interesting matchup at Riverside Stadium Friday night as two teams with some big numbers clash. Kane is coming off a 52-40 shootout loss with Brockway. Kane quarterback Sean Jordan has passed for 734 yards and 12 touchdowns. Jed Greslick’s 538 yards rushing lead the Golden Tide.

District 10 Region 5

DuBois (4-0) at Bradford (2-2)

For the second straight year, the Beavers head to McKean County to take on the Owls. Last year, it was a non-conference matchup won by the Beavers, 52-21. This year, it’s a conference game and the Beavers will try to keep pace with other unbeaten leaders Warren and Slippery Rock, which handed the Owls a 25-3 setback last week.

The Beavers are scoring plenty of points, averaging 46.3 per game. Not surprisingly, there are more stats to back up the scoring punch as running back Garrett Brown leads the district with 707 yards rushing for a blistering average of 11.6 yards per carry to go along with 12 touchdowns. Quarterback Gabe French (48-of-76, 627 yards) has been solid as well and his top receiver Bryson Paulinellie (14 catches, 277 yards) is off to a strong start.

Bradford’s success revolves around quarterback Matt Yurkewicz, who’s rushed for 382 yards and passed for 251 yards.

Mountain League

Central Mountain (2-2) at Clearfield (4-0)

This could be one of the better matchups of the week as the Class AAAA Wildcats come to Clearfield County with one of the top athletes in the region with do-it-all senior Von Walker, who is also an all-state baseball player. Walker ran for 362 yards and five touchdowns and passed for 156 yards in last week’s 50-14 rout of Bellefonte. For the year, he’s rushed for 708 yards and passed for 214 yards and he’s had a hand in 10 of his team’s 13 offensive touchdowns.

The Wildcats have losses to State College (36-7) and Mifflin County (19-6), so the 2-2 record could be deceiving.

Clearfield quarterback Christian Lezzer (505 yards passing, 367 yards rushing) has posted some solid numbers as well. Tyler Stratton (441 yards, 5 TDs) leads the team in rushing and Trey Jordan (15 catches, 423 yards, 8 TDs) is a dangerous receiving threat.