It’s time for Week 6. 

The calendar has flipped to October, the leaves are turning and the air is getting colder. 

All is right with the world. 

Some tremendous football was played in Week 5, leading with the AML South. It’s truly incredible the balance these five teams — Ridgway, Elk County Catholic, Kane and Brockway have. 

The two head-to-head games were decided by a total of eight points and Brockway also went toe-to-toe with Class AAA power Clearfield. 

Elsewhere, Bradford’s offense broke out against Central Tech, but the ultra-athletic Falcon offense proved to be too much. Nevertheless, that is the best the Owls have moved the ball this year and, quite honestly, longer than that. 

In the AML North, Cameron County and Coudersport picked up their first wins, while Smethport won for the second-straight week. 

Let’s get at it!

— — — 

I filed a record of 21-6 for Week 5, with Ron posting a 19-8 mark. On the season, I hold a four-game edge at 107-30, while Ron is 103-34.

Friday

District 10 Region 5

Bradford (0-5) at Franklin (1-4)

Bradford moved the ball on offense as well as they have in quite some time on offense last week, and that bodes well against a Franklin team that doesn’t possess the overall athleticism of Central Tech. 

If Bradford’s offensive line — Rob Rice, Steve Zawatski, Kyle Whitmer, Brandon Hughes and Taylor Brautigam, as well as tight end John Pantuso can play as well as they did last week, Bradford’s first win could be in the cards. 

Kyle Langdon has been a workhorse at fullback and a healthy Justin Fishkin at halfback gives the Owls another dimension to their offense.

The Knights, who like to go to the air, are led by quarterback Porter Rembold and wide receivers Kahlil West and Rayquan Gray-Law.

I expect the Owls to control the line of scrimmage and pick up their first win tonight … BRADFORD by 3

Oil City at DuBois … OIL CITY by 1 

Meadville at Conneaut … CONNEAUT by 7

AML North

Port Allegany (0-5) at Coudersport (1-4)

I appeared to have underestimated the Falcons last week. They were impressive, especially on the ground, in a 23-12 win over Otto-Eldred. 

Brock Wilson rushed for over 100 yards and Aaron Wolfinger seems to be settling into the quarterback position. 

Port Allegany has struggled through the first five weeks, but rest assured they will be ready for this game … COUDERSPORT by 7

Smethport (2-3) at Otto-Eldred (0-5)

The Hubbers look to make it three wins in a row when they travel to Duke Center on Friday. 

Each of their first two wins have come down to the wire, including last week’s when Dustin Zetwick connected with Justin Elder on the game-winning score on fourth down with just one minute remaining. 

This game could very well follow a similar path, as the Terrors are hungry for their first win … SMETHPORT by 3

AML South

Brockway (4-1) at Kane (4-1)

Two teams that suffered their first loss last Friday meet in a game that is critical to the highly competitive AML South. 

Brockway certainly hasn’t forgotten last season’s game in which Kane mounted a big second-half rally for a dramatic win. 

To get revenge, they will need a big game from do-it-all playmaker Anthony Benson, who has 310 yards receiving, 284 yards rushing and is also a big threat in the return game. 

No doubt the Rovers will look to get the ball in his hands as much as possible and it will be up the a Kane defense that has allowed just 51 points in five games to slow him and the rest of the Brockway offense down. 

This should be a great game … BROCKWAY by 1

Ridgway (5-0) at Elk County Catholic (5-0)

The two teams that survived the first week of the AML South gauntlet meet and, by night’s end, there will only be one unbeaten remaining. 

Admittedly, most, myself included didn’t see BOTH of these teams at 5-0 at this point in the season, but here they are.

Each has gotten it done with productive ground games and dominant defense. The Crusaders have given up just 42 points this season and Ridgway one less at 41. 

If you like good, old-fashioned, smash-mouth football, this is the game for you. Once again, and I seem to be saying this a lot, but this should be another great game … RIDGWAY by 1

KSAC Crossover

Moniteau at Clarion … CLARION by 28

A-C Valley at Punxsutawney … PUNXSUTAWNEY by 21

Union at Karns City … KARNS CITY by 28

Keystone at Brookville … KEYSTONE by 8

St. Marys at Clarion-Limestone … ST. MARYS by 21

Mountain League

Bellefonte at Clearfield … CLEARFIELD by 28

Non-League

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy at Curwensville … CURWENSVILLE by 20

Other Games

Salamanca at Allegany-Limestone … SALAMANCA by 10

Cuba-Rushford at Geneseo … GENESEO by 14

Portville at Cattaraugus/Little Valley … C-LV by 7

Ellicottville/Franklinville at Randolph … RANDOLPH by 21

Olean at East Aurora/Holland … EA/H by 1

Southwestern at Pioneer … SOUTHWESTERN by 14

Bolivar-Richburg at Caledonia-Mumford … C-M by 24

Livonia at Wellsville … LIVONIA By 28

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley at Gowanda … GOWANDA by 6

Frewsburg at Westfield/Brocton … FREWSBURG by 7

Eisenhower at Union City … EISENHOWER by 14

Youngsville at Iroquois … IROQUOIS by 21

Slippery Rock at Warren … SLIPERRY ROCK by 21

Saturday’s Game

AML North

Cameron County (1-4) at Sheffield (0-5)

Cameron County was impressive in picking up its first win against Port Allegany last week, and must put together a similar performance against one of District 9’s leading passing combination in QB Adam Higby and WR Marquis Clark. 

I think they do … CAMERON COUNTY by 7

RON’S PICKS

Tonight’s Games

Bradford at Franklin … BRADFORD by 8

Oil City at DuBois …DUBOIS by 16

Meadville at Conneaut … CONNEAUT by 10

Port Allegany at Coudersport … COUDERSPORT by 16

Smethport at Otto-Eldred … SMETHPORT by 6

Brockway at Kane … BROCKWAY by 8

Ridgway at Elk County Catholic … RIDGWAY by 2

Moniteau at Clarion … CLARION by 6

A-C Valley at Punxsutawnwey …PUNXSY by 21

Union at Karns City … KARNS CITY by 18

Keystone at Brookville … BROOKVILLE  by  6

St. Marys at Clarion-Limestone … ST. MARYS by 21

Bellefonte at Clearfield … CLEARFIELD by 14 

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy at Curwensville …CURWENSVILLE by 4

Salamanca at Allegany-Limestone … SALAMANCA by 20

Cuba-Rushford at Geneseo … GENESEO by 4

Portville at Cattaraugus/Little Valley … CATT-LV by 8

Ellicottville/Franklinville at Randolph …ELLICOTT/FRANK by 4

Olean at East Aurora/Holland …OLEAN by 7

Southwestern at Pioneer … SOUTHWESTERN by 12

Bolivar-Richburg at Caledonia-Mumford … CAL-MUMFORD by 16

Livonia at Wellsville …LIVONIA by 2

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley at Gowanda … GOWANDA by 3

Frewsburg at Westfield/Brocton …WESTFIELD/BROCTON by 12

Eisenhower at Union City … EISENHOWER by 10

Youngsville at Iroquois … IROQUOIS by 18

Slippery Rock at Warren …SLIPPERY ROCK by 16

Saturday’s Game

Cameron County at Sheffield … CAMERON COUNTY by 18