On the final week of Allegheny Mountain League crossover action, football fans around the area won’t have a shortage of storylines in Week 3 this weekend.
First off, there are two AML games that should be at least competitive – a word that hasn’t exactly been associated with games these first four weeks of the season over the last three years. A secondary storyline is that of the District 9 all-time rushing record which could fall tonight in Port Allegany.
As far as the matchups go, Bradford High makes the short trip over Looker Mountain Trail to Duke Center where a revitalized Terrors program is chomping at the bit to prove it’s the class of the AML North. The other tight matchup could be Saturday’s matchup as Elk Catholic (2-1) hosts Coudersport (0-3) for a 2 p.m. kickoff
Otto-Eldred, behind head coach Nick LaBella, has the Terrors at 1-2 on the season after knocking off the Elk Catholic last weekend.
The win marked just the third time in three years a North division team knocked off a squad from the South and was the first time in three years a team other than Coudersport achieved the feat, as the Terrors ran up an early lead and held on late for the win.
The going won’t be quite as easy this week, as the Owls are arguably playing their best football in years. Undefeated through the first three games for the first time since 2010, Bradford High is averaging about a foot shy of 400 yards per game of total offense behind a four-headed monster of a backfield comprising of fullback John Eakin, halfbacks Derek Sunafrank and Jaron Ambrose and quarterback Donny Pattison.
More impressively, however, is the Owls’ defense. It took until just over a minute left last week for the defense to give up a single point after pitching shutouts in Week 0 and 1 (Coudersport’s defense scored the team’s lone points on a fumble recovery in Week 1).
However, LaBella likes to spread out his offense, putting playmakers in space and also allowing running lanes out of the backfield. Quarterback Sawyer Drummond is a three-year starter and the reigning D9Sports.com Player of the Week and has over-the-top options receivers like senior Dylan Close, who’s just one of five Terrors with a long catch of 29 yards or more.
Keys for Otto-Eldred will be making Bradford High play defense in a way it hasn’t all season. That won’t matter much, however, if the team can’t figure out a way defensively to control Eakin and his bulldozing running style.
Individually, Curwensville’s Nick Stewart is poised to break D-9 rushing record. He enters tonight’s game at Smethport with 5,817 yards, second by 146 yards to former Golden Tide great Nick Sipes. Curwensville has the top three all-time rushers in D-9 history.
WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS
I don’t like Ohio State (even if their No. 1 fan and Bradford resident, Mrs. Jeannine Kloss, was one of my favorite teachers) and was happy to see them lose to Oklahoma on Saturday night.
However, it seemed the narrative after the game was that some people were upset Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield took a victory lap around Ohio Stadium with an OU flag and then “planted” the flag on the midfield Buckeye logo.
Everyone seemed to miss the fact Ohio Stadium isn’t a natural-grass surface. So while college football blowhards were hot-taking away at how unsportsmanlike Mayfield was, I was laughing at the fact he attempted to plant a flag into a synthetic grass surface.
THE PICKS
Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier. Ron’s out sick this week, so I’m filling in for him. Or at least that’s the story he told me, possibly not wanting to bring up the fact he picked Otto-Eldred to lose last week by 16 points at home. Get well soon, Ron!
Overall, Ron went 7-5, really being let down by games played in the southern half of District 9.
Tonight’s games
Bradford at Otto-Eldred
It’s homecoming night for the Terrors, but the Owls are out to prove they aren’t the same team that went 4-5 last year. Head coach Jeff Puglio said the team is treating every road game as a business trip and that’s what they plan to do tonight.
Mr. Kloss’s bold prediction: “Bradford is going to pound the ball at them. I think physically, they’re going to wear them down. I think they’ll try to get a comfortable lead at halftime and get those young kids some playing time in the second half.” BRADFORD BY 18
Cameron County at Kane, KANE BY 24
Curwensville at Port Allegany, CURWENSVILLE BY 20
Sheffield at Ridgway, RIDGWAY by 28
Brockway at Smethport, BROCKWAY by 22
Clarion-Limestone at Redbank Valley, CLARION-LIMESTONE BY 16
Union/A-C Valley at Moniteau, Moniteau by 6
Keystone at Clarion, CLARION BY 30
Brookville at Punxsutawney, PUNXSUTAWNEY BY 6
Karns City at St. Marys, ST. MARYS BY 10
DuBois at Oil City, OIL CITY BY 4
SATURDAY’S GAME
Coudersport at Elk Catholic
Many around the area might peg Elk Catholic to be on upset alert. Tony Gerg’s squad is young, but running back Alec Bittler has been putting up impressive numbers out of the backfield through three games.
Coudersport has played relatively close in its three losses. Might there be a breakthrough for the Falcons?
According to Kloss, “Coudersport has played pretty hard in these games against the South. I think they have a shot at it.”
COUDERSPORT BY 12
