A showdown featuring the reigning District 9 Class 1A and 2A champions highlights Friday night’s 11-game schedule.
Port Allegany travels to Clarion High School’s Wiser Field to face the Central Clarion Wildcats, who are naming the old Bobcats home field at the school after former longtime Bobcats/Wildcats head coach Larry Wiser.
It’s a non-region heavy schedule that has just two region matchups, both of them coming in Region 3 with Sheffield (0-1) visiting Otto-Eldred (1-0) and Smethport (0-1) traveling to Cameron County (1-0).
Two non-region games were scheduled for Thursday night — St. Marys at Ridgway in Johnsonburg and Moniteau at Elk County Catholic — leaving eight more non-region games for Friday night.
While the Gators and Wildcats both won their season-opening games last week, the only other game featuring two 1-0 teams is DuBois at Brockway.
Elsewhere, it’s Bradford (0-1) at Coudersport (1-0), Redbank Valley (1-0) at Karns City (0-1), Union/A-C Valley (0-1) at Keystone (0-1) and Kane (0-1) at Punxsutawney (1-0). Brookville (0-1) makes a trip over the border to face Struthers, Ohio (1-1) while Region 3’s Bucktail (1-0) out of District 4 has a non-region game at home against District 6’s West Branch (0-1).
The last time a varsity football game was played at Clarion High School was 2003 and since then it’s been at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium and/or the C-L Sports Complex since the co-operative setup got going. However, the newly named Wiser Field has served as a junior high football venue as well as soccer.
Last year’s Week 2 matchup in Port Allegany had the Wildcats rally from a quick 16-0 deficit with 29 straight points before holding off the Gators late for a 29-24 win. Both went on to win district titles.
The Wildcats got started this year with a 49-27 win at Brookville as junior Jase Ferguson passed for 161 yards and rushed for 168. He went over the 4,500-yard mark for career passing yardage and into the No. 22 spot on D9’s all-time leaderboard.
Check the list with numbers going into the season right here.
Wildcats Running backs Noah Naser and Noah Harrison combined for five touchdowns as the Wildcats ran for 297 yards.
The Gators routed Ridgway, 40-0, as senior Peyton Stiles ran for four touchdowns and 73 yards on 14 carries and sophomore Aiden Bliss finished with 92 yards and a TD on the ground. The Gators, other than Stiles, lost most of their skill position players to graduation but have their lines back led by Miska Young and Carson Neely. Quarterbacks Nick Wilfong, the starter, and Kellen Veilleux teamed up to complete 6 of 7 passes for 69 yards.
In other games:
Region 3
Sheffield (0-1) at Otto-Eldred (1-0)
The Terrors host the Wolverines looking to start the year 2-0. They racked up 470 yards of offense in last week’s 35-22 win over Elk County Catholic while the Wolverines fell 46-26 in a shootout loss at home last Saturday to Bucktail.
Otto quarterback Shane Magee threw for 199 yards and two TDs while Hunter App rushed for 172 yards on 30 carries and four TDs. Manning Splain caught eight passes for 145 yards and two TDs.
The Wolverines got a big game from Colby Barr, who threw for three TDs and ran for another as he threw for 294 yards. Dylan Harwick caught two TD pass and finished with five catches for 130 years.
Smethport (0-1) at Cameron County (1-0)
While the Red Raiders were holding off Union/A-C Valley for a 20-19 win, the Hubbers were blown out 71-7 by Redbank Valley.
The Red Raiders were led by quarterback Maddox Baughman, who threw for 148 yards and a touchdown while running for a TD. Malakai Zucal rushed for 51 yards on 17 carries.
The Hubbers were limited to 86 yards of offense in the loss to the Bulldogs. The lone TD came from Owen Rounsville’s 93-yard interception return.
Non-Region
DuBois (1-0) at Brockway (1-0)
The Beavers and Rovers met on the gridiron in DuBois and it’ll be hard to top last year’s dramatics Friday night at Varischetti Field. The Beavers’ goal-line stand as time ran out gave them a 27-26 win over the Rovers.
Both teams are coming off a wins, the Beavers a come-from-behind 41-36 shootout win at Karns City and the Rovers an easy 42-0 rout at Kane last Saturday afternoon.
DuBois quarterback Tray Wingard earned the first Jim Kelly Player of the Week award after tossing the winning TD pass to Carter Vos late in the fourth quarter. He threw for 324 yards, completing 21 of 36 passes with four TDs. Kaden Clark, Nathan Kougher and Isaiah Korney also caught TD passes.
The Rovers racked up big numbers against the Wolves. Quarterback Brayden Fox threw for 239 yards and two TD passes — Fox moved into 13th place on the D9 passing list at 5,418 yards — while Jendy Cuello ran for 143 yards and 19 carries and two TDs. Receiver Caleb Daugherty caught three passes for 100 yards.
Redbank Valley (1-0) at Karns City (0-1)
The Bulldogs travel to Butler County to face a Gremlins team coming off their last-minute setback to DuBois. Redbank Valley beat Karns City last year in New Bethlehem, 25-15, in the teams’ first meeting since 2017.
Last week’s 71-7 win at Smethport was indeed the most points ever scored by the Bulldogs in program history. The Bulldogs racked up 477 yards of offense in a game where the starters were out by halftime. Quarterback Braylon Wagner completed 14 of 19 passes for 273 yards and four TDs. Mason Clouse caught five passes for 104 yards with a TD reception. He and Jaxon Huffman also returned interceptions for scores.
While the Gremlins had their hands full with the passing of Beavers quarterback Trey Wingard, they ran for 246 yards as quarterback Mason Martin ran for 83 yards on 14 carries and completed 10 of 17 passes for 98 yards. Luke Cramer ran for 39 yards on 14 carries and Hunter Scherer ran for 80 yards on seven carries.
Union/A-C Valley (0-1) at Keystone (0-1)
Both teams look to bounce back from losses, the Falcon Knights a 20-19 loss at Cameron County and the Panthers a surprising 36-0 shutout loss at Coudersport.
The Falcon Knights, coached by former 12-year Panthers head coach Dan Reed, will try to reverse last year’s two losses to the Panthers, 43-7 in the regular season and then 35-15 in the playoffs. Last week, the Falcon Knights were outgained, 262-203. Quarterback Brody Dittman completed 14 of 18 passes for 93 yards, Owen Bish ran for 53 yards and Trey Fleming caught seven passes for 40 yards.
The Panthers were limited to 89 yards of offense with six turnovers. Quarterback Rayce Weaver ran for 48 yards on 11 carries, completing 2 of 9 passes for 16 yards.
Kane (0-1) at Punxsutawney (1-0)
The Chucks look to go 2-0 against the Wolves in their home debut after last week’s 44-0 rout at Bradford.
Punxsutawney amassed 519 yards of offense as Landon Martz (19-169, 3 TDs) and Griffin White (9-129, 1 TD) both went over 100 rushing yards and sophomore quarterback Maddox Hetrick completed 11 of 12 passes for 165 yards and a TD. Beau Thomas (6-67) and Zach Presloid (5-98) caught Hetrick’s passes.
The Wolves were shut out 42-0 last Saturday against Brockway, gaining 154 yards as quarterback Kyle Zook threw for 128 yards. Dane Anderson caught eight passes for 96 yards.
Bradford (0-1) at Coudersport (1-0)
The Falcons were impressive in their opening 36-0 shutout win over Keystone, forcing six turnovers while limiting the Panthers under 100 yards. Coudersport ran for 192 yards as quarterback Gavyn Ayers (14-87, 2 TDs) and Ethan Ott (17-62, 2 TDs) led the running game.
The Owls, who lost their 30th straight game, managed 108 yards in their 44-0 loss to Punxsutawney. Quarterback Talan Reese completed 7 of 12 passes for 60 yards.
Other
Brookville (0-1) at Struthers, Ohio (1-1)
The Raiders play out of state for the first time ever when they head to the Youngstown area to face Struthers, which heads into its third week. The Wildcats are a Division IV team in Ohio, which is roughly the equivalent to a Class 3A team in Pennsylvania.
Struthers opened with a 37-20 win over Beaver, Ohio, then lost 31-22 at Geneva last week. The Wildcats were 7-5 last year, their first winning season since 2019. Their top players are Na’Jier Howard, Jason Dukes and Devin Braham.
The Raiders got a nice debut from senior quarterback Charlie Krug, who missed almost the entire 2022 season with a knee injury. He threw for 148 yards and two TDs while rushing for 70 yards and another TD. Senior Jack Pete made his varsity debut with a kick return for a score and a TD pass from Krug.
Clearfield (1-0) at Forest Hills (1-0)
It’s the other matchup with two 1-0 teams on the schedule as the Bison travel to the Johnstown area to take on the Rangers, who routed Johnstown 47-0. The Bison rallied for a 29-21 win over Tyrone.
Bison quarterback passed for 228 yards and a touchdown while Brady Collins rushed for 125 yards on 10 carries. Carter Chamberlain nearly got to the century mark with 94 yards on 12 carries and two TDs.
Forest Hills quarterback Nate Cornell threw for 183 yards and three TDs against the Trojans, two TDs going to sophomore Xander Richardson.
It’s the first-ever meeting between the Bison and Rangers.
Windber (1-0) at Curwensville (0-1)
The Golden Tide host the Ramblers from the Johnstown area in a non-conference matchup. Windber is coming off a 51-6 rout of Glendale while the Tide lost 39-20 at Meyersdale.
The Tide gave up 233 rushing yards to Meyersdale while Tide senior Braden Holland ran for 81 yards and a touchdown. The Ramblers got a huge game from junior running back Luke Hostetler, who ran for 320 yards and four TDs.
