If you listen to some prognosticators, or just read a classmate’s Facebook timeline, the world is ending on Wednesday.

With that, I decided this column should shine a light on some of the positive things going on around the coverage area and stray from any political talk. But for the record, any notion that a sportswriter should “stick to sports” is just plain malarkey (and no, we’re not talking about the one-time Buffalo Bills coach. Did anyone catch the irony?).

First, Port Allegany takes on Seton LaSalle at 6 p.m. today at Bradford High’s Parkway Field in the first round of the boys soccer Class A state tournament. The Rebels, though only the third-place team from District 7 (Pittsburgh), are two-time state champions and will likely be favored against Port Allegany, which won its first-ever soccer district championship last week. After all, a state playoff draw against any team from District 7 in any sport is always a challenge for District 9 teams.

Seton LaSalle boasts two all-state players and seems to have all the accolades, while Port Allegany has hard-working, passionate players and a skipper who is apparently some people’s choice as a write-in candidate for the 67th Congressional District. Oh, sorry, no politics.

So how is this a positive story for probable-underdog Port Allegany? To better get a grasp of how far the the Gators’ have come, just take a walk across the team’s home field, complete with its uneven surface and rolling hills.

One player, in his comments to me on how his team will stack up against a Brockway squad that plays its home games on turf, last week described the Gators’ home ground as “the grassy plains of the midwest.”

Now that they’ve taken up residency at Parkway Field — the team will play its third game there in a week — the Gators finally have even footing with their opposition. And if Seton LaSalle gets over-confident or overlooks the Gators, watch out.

Brockway came out firing in Thursday’s District 9 title game looking for revenge for its only loss of the year earlier this season to Port Allegany. Instead, the Rovers missed wide-open opportunities, made mistakes and the Gators stayed patient looking for their chance.

The result? Brockway got sloppy marking on defense and allowed Port Allegany’s Payton Caden, the smallest player on the field, to score twice late in the game.

Fair warning to Seton LaSalle to take the Gators seriously.

50 AND COUNTING FOR SILFIES

It’s no secret Kane’s football program has been on a tear recently. And if by “recently,” you mean the last five seasons, you would be correct.

With the Wolves’ 55-7 win in Friday’s Class AA semifinals, head coach Todd Silfies brought his five-season career record to 50-10. He’s easily presided over the best stretch in school history.

So, what’s the secret?

“I would say it’s win No. 50 for us,” Silfies said after Friday night’s shellacking. “From the very beginning, [offensive coordinator Tyler] Smith and I have had this as a partnership, and it works just like that.”

To watch a Kane game from the sideline is to truly watch those two work in unison: Silfies takes care of the defense, while deferring to Smith when the Wolves are on offense. The sideline is also littered with unpaid volunteer assistants — like former Dartmouth College player Royce Novosel-Johnson or Jason Barner, Silfies’ former boss on the sidelines who led the Wolves to its best season in school history in 2007 — who know their place, but also have the coaching chops and knowledge to have the ear of their head coach.

The result has been five-straight trips to the district championship game, three Allegheny Mountain League titles, two state playoff appearances, two Class A titles and a chance to add a Class AA championship on Friday against Clarion.

“The other little wrinkle is [lineman coach Jim] Sirianni,” Silfies said. “The three of us had a meeting five years ago in my basement to kind of lay this plan out. I guess Tyler and I joke about it sometimes, what we kind of thought when we were young and dumb, we kind of thought this would happen. Now that it actually has and we’ve grown up a little bit and we’ve learned a lot, it’s just a special thing to be able to do it with my best friends.

“It’s an us thing, not a me thing.”

PANTHERS BENCH HAS LOCAL FLAVOR

It’s not often a player from The Era’s coverage area makes the leap to Division I athletics, and that’s especially true in the sport of basketball with only 15 or so roster spots available on a team.

Johnsonburg’s Cameron Grumley currently plays at Clarion, while Elk Catholic’s Jesse Bosnik recently competed on IUP’s team, both instances coming on the Division II level. St. Marys’ Kayla Hoohuli is the last area athlete to play Division I hoops, scoring more than one thousand points (1,190) at Canisius College from 2011 to 2015.

This season, the Pitt Panthers will have a bench comprised of 6-foot-3 Zach Smith, Smethport’s all-time leading scorer, and 6-foot-6 Elk Catholic graduate Ryan Seelye, who walked-on last season and appeared in eight games. Smith played two years at Pitt-Bradford before he transferred to main campus for his major, impressed former coach Jamie Dixon enough to land on the team and then spent last year practicing as a redshirt.

HOLD THE CURRY

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how great the atmosphere was inside the KOA Arena for Sunday’s Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference title game between Pitt-Bradford and Penn State Altoona. The students were out in full whiteout force, which was even more impressive for a Sunday afternoon first serve. A group of students appropriately brought brooms as the Lady Panthers swept their way to the title.

Also, did anyone catch ESPN’s late game on Friday night? The Lakers clobbered the mighty Golden State Warriors, with forward Julius Randle playing like Shaq. Meanwhile, Steph Curry looked a mere mortal, making as many 3-pointers I did that night. I fancy myself as more of a long-2s kind of person, anyway.