RIMERSBURG, Pa. – Forcing nine turnovers and scoring two defensive touchdowns, Redbank Valley played the spoiler’s role and beat Union/A-C Valley in an offensively challenged game, 28-6.
Also see: Keystone wins D9 League Small School South • St. Marys Wins D9 League Large School • District 10 Recaps
The Bulldogs’ win gave the Small School South title to Keystone, which sealed its crown with a win over Elk County Catholic. Keystone beat Redbank Valley in the season-opener but lost to Union/A-C Valley two weeks ago. A Falcon Knights win would’ve netted them the division.
But Redbank Valley (8-1 overall, 4-1 D9 League Small School South), whose win gives it the inside track for the top seed in the D9 1A playoffs, limited Union/A-C Valley (6-2, 3-2) to just 95 yards of offense while intercepting quarterback Bailey Crissman five times while recovering three fumbles.
Two turnovers led directly to Bulldogs touchdowns, Ray Shreckengost’s fumble recovery in the end zone for the only points in the first half that put Redbank Valley 8-0 and the second coming early in the fourth quarter when Aiden Ortz returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 22-6.
Ashton Kahle picked off three Crissman passes while Ortz and Marquese Gardlock had the other two interceptions. Ortz also had a fumble recovery.
Coincidentally, the only Falcon Knights points came off a Bulldogs turnover when Mikey Card disrupted an attempted lateral on a punt return between Chris Marshall and Gardlock and returned the ball 18 yards to get the Falcon Knights within 8-6 midway through the third quarter.
But that was Redbank Valley’s only giveaway as it struggled to move the ball against the Falcon Knights’ defense that limited the Bulldogs to just 149 yards of offense. Quarterback Bryson Bain completed 11 of 26 passes for 117 yards with a 33-yard TD pass to Gardlock in the second half. He was also sacked five times.
Shreckengost ran for 69 yards on 19 carries with a 1-yard TD run in the second half. Much of his yards came on a 48-yard gallop that set up his score late in the fourth quarter.
Redbank Valley closes out the regular season at Punxsutawney next week with a chance to wrap up the top seed in the District 9 Class 1A playoffs, while Union/A-C Valley hosts Coudersport at Union.
COUDERSPORT 6, SMETHPORT 0
COUDERSPORT, Pa. – Gavyn Ayers connected on a 60-yard touchdown pass with just over seven minutes to play, as Coudersport stunned Noah Lent-less Smethport, 6-0.
Gavyn Ayers of Coudersport. Photo by Paul Burdick
The Falcons (4-4 overall, 3-2 D9 League Small School North) took advantage of the D9 League Small School North champion Hubbers (7-2, 4-1) being without Lent, the do-everything quarterback who leads District 9 in rushing.
Without Lent, who was hurt in last week’s win over Keystone, Smethport managed just 53 total yards of offense including just 19 yards rushing on 26 carries.
Coudersport wasn’t much better gaining just 174 with 60 coming on the game’s lone scoring play.
Ayers was 4 of 10 passing for 68 yards, the touchdown, and an interception while rushing nine times for 27 yards.
Culvey caught two passes, the other one went backward, for 56 yards, while Dylan Kelly ran 17 times for 66 yards.
Smethport, which managed just four first downs in the game, was paced by Ryan Pelchy who ran 15 times for 41 yards.
Alex Ognen, who himself was injured in last week’s game vs. Keystone, took over for Lent behind center and was 2 of 9 for 34 yards while losing 12 yards rushing. Aiden McKean had one catch for 32 yards.
Smethport is off next week but possibly lost a chance at a bye in the District 9 Class 1A playoffs with the loss. Prior to the game, Hubbers head coach Adam Lent expressed optimism that Lent would be able to return for the postseason.
Coudersport closes out the regular season with a trip to Union/A-C Valley at Union next week.
RIDGWAY 14, BROOKVILLE 13
BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Logan Oakes’ extra-point with 40 seconds left was blocked, and Ridgway held off a late Brookville rally to secure a 14-13 road win.
Noah Peterson had just caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Krug to get the Raiders (6-3 overall, 6-3 D9 League Large School Division) to within a point after they had trailed 14-0 with just under seven minutes to play.
Brookville head coach Scott Park decided to go for the tie with his reliable kicker, Oakes, who was 25 of 30 on the season after hitting an extra point about six minutes prior to the Peterson touchdown.
But the snap was a little low, and Oakes’ kick was deflected by Eric Salberg in the middle of the Ridgway line setting off a wild celebration by the Elkers (6-3, 6-3), who snapped a two-game slide with the win.
Tyler Merritt then recovered the on-side kick to seal the win.
Ridgway look in complete control of the game up 14-0 with under seven minutes to play before Brookville rallied late.
First, Krug hit Peterson from 12 yards out with 6:41 to play to cut the lead in half, 14-7.
Brookville’s defense then forced a Ridgway punt with the Raiders taking over at their own 20-yard line with 1:49 to play.
Krug then engineered the most impressive drive of his young career.
On first down, he scrambled to his left before hitting Brayden Kunselman with a 20-yard pass to the Brookvilel 40-yard line.
On the next play, Ridgway looked like it had sealed the win by Domenic Allegretto intercepted a Krug pass at the Ridgway 32-yard line. But the Elkers were called for a defensive holding call on a receiver over the middle moving the ball to midfield.
With new life, Brookville took advantage.
Krug ran to the 45-yard line before hitting Cooper Shall with an 11-yard pass to the 34. Ridgway was then flagged for hitting Shall out of bounds putting the ball at the 21 after a 13-yard mark off of the 15-yard penalty. Then, after an incomplete pass, Krug threw a pass to Peterson in the front corner of the left end zone that Peterson out muscled Will Howard for to get the Raiders within the single point.
Ridgway led 14-0 after three quarters thanks to a 65-yard Allegretto touchdown run in the first quarter and a 25-yard Allegretto to Eric Hoffman touchdown pass with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
Brookville answered with a 16-play, 81-yard touchdown drive that led to Peterson’s first touchdown catch.
Ridgway limited Brookville to 220 yards of offense including just 97 on the ground on 38 carries.
Allegretto, playing quarterback, was 10 of 19 passing for 162 yards, the touchdown, and an interception while rushing 14 times for 83 yards and the touchdown.
Cam Marciniak had five catches for 74 yards for the Elkers and ran nine times for 21 yards.
Krug was 9 of 24 passing for 123 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception with Kunselman catching five passes for 76 yards and Peterson two for 34 and the touchdowns. Tate Lindermuth ran 21 times for 75 yards for Brookville.
Ridgway hosts Philipsburg-Osceola in Week 10, while Brookville is at Brockway.
KARNS CITY 55, BRADFORD 8
Karns City’s recap powered by the Karns City Quarterback Club
KARNS CITY, Pa. – Luke Garing and Luke Cramer each scored two first-half touchdowns, as Karns City rolled past visiting Bradford, 55-8.
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Garing, who ran six times for 92 yards while catching two passes for 28 yards, scored on runs of three and 64 yards, while Cramer, who rushed seven times for 41 yards, had touchdown runs of 11 and 8 yards.
Named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game, Garing talked about the win.
Karns City did whatever it wanted on offense racking up 494 yards of total offense while not punting in the game. The Gremlins (8-1 overall, 7-1 D9 League Large School Division) used 13 different ball carriers to rush for 382 yards and had 14 different skill players handle the ball on offense.
Backup quarterback Mason Martin added five carries for 83 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds to play, while Levi Hawk rushed three times for 41 yards with a 10-yard scoring run.
Callen Robinson also scored on an 11-yard run for the Gremlins, while Eric Booher hit Micah Rupp with a 53-yard scoring pass.
Booher was 5 of 7 passing for 112 yards while rushing once for 15 yards. Rupp had three catches for 84 yards.
Bradford’s lone touchdown came on a 9-yard Elijah Fitton to Jerid Wilmoth connection midway through the fourth quarter.
Fitton was 12 of 23 passing for 90 yards and the touchdown while rushing for a team-best 31 yards on 11 carries.
Karns City hosts DuBois next week, while Bradford’s season is over after its 18th consecutive loss. The Owls (0-9, 0-9) were scheduled to play Bald Eagle Area originally in Week 10 but canceled the game.
Luke Garing, Karns City
CLEARFIELD 47, BELLEFONTE 14
HYDE, Pa. – Clearfield’s shutout streak ended, but the Bison’s unbeaten season is still intact after a 47-14 non-conference win over visiting Bellefonte.
It was Clearfield’s second win of the year over the Raiders after beating them 48-0 Sept. 24.
That was the game that started the Bison’s streak of four straight shutouts, which came to an end when Bellefonte score a first-quarter touchdown Friday night.
Oliver Billotte, who recently announced his commitment to NCAA Division I Kent State, as a defensive player, put his offensive abilities on display Friday night throwing for 281 yards and four touchdowns. He was 11 of 15 passing while also throwing one interception.
All four of Billotte’s touchdown passes went to Karson Kline, who had a monster night with six grabs for 231 yards. Kline scored three first-quarter touchdowns to help Clearfield (9-0) to a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. He caught touchdown passes of 57, 50, 51, and 16 yards.
The big news in the quarter was a 22-yard Triston Heckman touchdown run for Bellefonte (2-7) late in the quarter, the first touchdown allowed by Clearfield since the fourth quarter of a 42-12 win at Tyrone Sept. 17.
Up 28-7 at halftime, Clearfield added three second-half scores including a 52-yard Jose Alban touchdown run.
Alban ran six times for 62 yards, while Mark McGonigal added seven carries for 63 yards with a touchdown.
Clearfield is slated to host Central Clarion County next week before playing St. Marys in the District 9 Class 3A title game in two weeks, while Bellefonte’s season comes to a close.
CENTRAL CLARION COUNTY 21, DUBOIS 10
STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – Central Clarion County continued its second half of the season surge with a 21-10 win over visiting DuBois at Clarion-Limestone.
The Wildcats (4-4 overall, 4-3 D9 League Large School Division) won their fourth straight game, this time on the strength of a defense that allowed DuBois (5-4, 5-3), which saw its five-game win streak halted, just 242 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers.
Central Clarion led 14-10 at halftime thanks to a pair of Jase Ferguson touchdown passes, including a 20-yard pass to Breckin Rex with just 12 seconds left before halftime.
That scoring toss ended a wild final three-and-half minutes of the first half.
First, Braxton Adams tied the game at seven for DuBois with a 32-yard scoring run with 3:31 left in the half. Then, Charlie Harman gave the Beavers a 10-7 lead when he hit a 26-yard field goal with 38 seconds left before halftime.
On Central Clarion’s ensuing drive, Ferguson took off on a scramble from his own 33-yard line and reached the DuBois’ 21-yard line before being pushed out of bounds with 21 seconds left.
On the ensuing play, Ferguson threw a swing pass to Rex, who did the rest to give Clarion the lead for good, 14-10, at halftime.
Clinging to the four-point lead into the early stages of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats got some breathing room when Ferguson hit Christian Simko with a 23-yard scoring pass with 9:10 to play to make it a two-score game.
The same duo hooked up for the game’s first touchdown when Simko caught a 20-yard scoring pass from Ferguson to put Central Clarion ahead 7-0.
Ferguson, only a freshman, had a strong night going 14 of 20 passing for 219 yards and the three touchdowns while adding 48 yards rushing on nine carries.
Simko had a monster night catching the football with seven grabs for 131 yards.
Rex led Clarion on the ground with 15 totes for 63 yards.
Cam-Ron Hays was picked off three times by the Central Clarion defense going 10 of 26 for 95 yards. He also ran 18 times for a game-best 72 yards. Adams added eight carries for 68 yards while catching three passes for 35 yards.
Ashton Rex, Ryan Hummell, and Brady Quinn each had interceptions for the Wildcats.
Central Clarion is back in action at Clearfield next week, while DuBois is at Karns City.
PORT ALLEGANY 34, CAMERON COUNTY 14
PORT ALLEGANY, Pa. – Blaine Moses and Noah Archer combined to rush for more than 250 yards and three touchdowns in Port Allegany’s 34-14 win over visiting Cameron County.
Moses had 132 yards and two touchdowns while Archer had 119 yards and a score on the ground. Archer added 87 yards and a touchdown receiving as well.
Moses got things started less than four minutes into the game with a 1-yard plunge. Archer added the conversion run to give the Gators (4-4 overall, 3-1 D9 League Small School South) an 8-0 lead.
Archer scored from 18 yards out early in the second quarter, but couldn’t punch in the conversion this time to make it 14-0.
Cameron County (4-4, 2-3) answered with a Lathan Reed 14-yard TD run. Dylan Reider ran in the conversion to close the gap to 14-8 with just under five minutes to go in the first half.
Port Allegany made it a two-score game again with less than two minutes to play in the half when Drew Evens connected with Peyton Stiles for a 33-yard TD pass to make it 20-8.
The Red Raiders needed just 46 seconds to respond.
Maddox Baughman hit Devin Fowler for a 50-yard scoring strike to cut the deficit to 20-14.
Port Allegany wasn’t done yet either.
Twenty-three seconds later Evens hooked up with Archer for a 68-yard TD pass to give the Gators a 26-14 halftime lead.
Moses tacked on a late touchdown with a 6-yard run and Evens connected with Archer for the conversion for the final score.
Evens finished 9-13 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Moses added 51 receiving yards as well.
Baughman was 5-9 for 81 yards and a score, while Reider led the CC ground game with 66 yards on nine carries.
Port Allegany hosts Kane next week, while Cameron County is at Bucktail for its second meeting of the season against the Bucks. The Red Raiders one the first one, 22-20, Sept. 3, in Emporium.
BROCKWAY 39, BUCKTAIL 0
FARWELL, Pa. – Freshman Brayden Fox threw for 218 yards and four touchdowns while going over the 2,000-yard passing mark in the season, as visiting Brockway beat Bucktail, 39-0.
Fox was 16 of 26 in the game and now has thrown for 2,211 yards on the season.
He tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Dylan Hanna (19 and 17 yards) and one each to Alex Carlson (44 yards) and Blake Pisarcik (11 yards).
Carter Hickman added touchdown runs of 2 and 29 yards for the Rovers (4-5 overall, 2-3 D9 League Small School South) while rushing 15 times for 105 yards.
Hanna had three catches for 76 yards with Carlson leading the way for Brockway with six grabs for 85 yards.
Brockway’s defense limited Bucktail (0-8, 0-4) to 127 yards of total offense.
Dylan Cross was 4 of 9 passing for 47 yards and an interception for the Bucks while rushing 11 times for 38 yards.
Brockway is slated to host Brookville next week, while
PUNXSUTAWNEY 42, MONITEAU 13
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. – Zeke Bennett ran for 207 yards and two touchdowns to help Punxsutawney to a 42-13 win over visiting Moniteau.
Both of Bennett’s scores came in the second half after the Chucks (2-6 overall, 2-6 D9 League Large School Division) took a 29-7 halftime lead but after Moniteau had made it 29-13.
He scored on a 5-yard run to make it 35-13 and then a 2-yard run to set the final score.
Three unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter by Punxsutawney broke a 7-all tie and gave the Chucks the 22-point halftime advantage.
Noah Weaver helped account for two of those scores with an 11-yard run and a 51-yard touchdown pass to Alex Phillips to put Punxsutawney ahead, 22-7.
The Phillips score came one play after Seth Moore had picked off a David Desicinno pass at the Punxsutawney 49-yard line.
Another big defensive play set the score at 29-7 at halftime, as Matthew Grusky returned a fumble about 35 yards for a score with around a minute to play in the half.
Weaver had given the Chucks a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run before Desiccino answered with a 1-yard run of his own early in the second quarter to tie the game at seven.
Moniteau (1-7, 1-7) opened the second-half scoring when Dessicino hit Hunter Stalker with a 41-yard scoring pass to make it 29-13.
Dessicino threw for 179 yards and the touchdown, while Stalker had 53 yards receiving and the score. Cooper Boozel added 79 yards receiving, and Matt Martino had 50 yards rushing.
Weaver threw for 115 yards and the touchdown and had 12 yards rushing and two scores. Phillips ended with 78 yards receiving and the score.
Punxsutawney hosts Redbank Valley next week, while Moniteau hosts Keystone.
CURWENSVILLE 43, MOSHANNON VALLEY 20
CURWENSVILLE, Pa. – Curwensville moved to 5-4 on the season with a 43-20 win over visiting Moshannon Valley.
The Golden Tide broke open a close game at halftime by scoring 21 straight points in the third quarter.
Curwensville led 22-14 at the intermission but got three third-quarter touchdown runs from Dan McGarry.
It was a big night for the Golden Tide quarterback, as McGarry ran 13 times for 88 yards on the night while adding a touchdown pass. He was 11 of 17 for 141 yards tossing a 54-yard touchdown pass to Jake Mullins.
Thad Butler, meanwhile, added a pair of early touchdown runs to stake Curwensville to an early 15-0 lead. Butler ran 15 times for 179 yards and the two scores while catching three passes for 13 yards.
Mullins had five catches for 92 yards in the win.
Collin Jacobson led the Golden Tide on defense with 11 tackles with Butler, McGarry, and Jarett Anderson each adding seven stops. Anderson had a sack as well, while McGarry and Butler each intercepted a pass.
