RIDGWAY — For the past few years, the unofficial beginning of high school football season has taken place at Aiello’s Cafe in Ridgway, which played host to the Allegheny Mountain League (AML) Media Day.
But with the AML no more and the new District 9 Football League set to begin its inaugural season, Aiello’s had a lot more people to serve on Wednesday morning.
In addition to the members of the old AML, the schools that once made up the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference (KSAC) were also in attendance for the 2018 edition of Media Day. Coaches, athletic directors, and players from all 22 District 9 programs were in attendance to give their thoughts on the upcoming season.
The main topic of conversation, of course, was the introduction of the new alignment in District 9 football, which now consists of a 10-team Large School Division and two six-team Small School Divisions (North and South).
The new format was met with unanimous praise from programs large and small.
“We are extremely happy about the new league,” Bradford head coach Jeff Puglio said. “When we were allowed to come back into District 9, we were under the impression that we would be joining a league that looked like what we have for this year. This will allow for more competitive top to bottom schedule.”
As a member of the new Large School Division, Bradford will be playing a very different schedule in 2018. While old standbys like Kane, Ridgway, and St. Marys are still around, the Owls will now have to face southern big schools like Brookville, Moniteau, Punxsutawney, and Karns City.
But where the new alignment’s impact will truly be felt is in the small school ranks. Members of the old AML North were thrilled to be rid of the season-opening stretch that became known as ‘survive the South’. This was in reference to the frequent lopsided contests between the smaller Northern schools and the bigger Southern programs.
“I feel there was a big need for the small schools to switch to this new league,” Coudersport coach Tom Storey said. “Some small school programs need to be playing like sized schools to help maintain a football program at their school.”
“It will be a nice change of pace for all the teams to be on a more level playing field,” new Otto-Eldred coach Troy Cook added. “It’s no secret that the AML South teams had a lot of success against the AML North teams. Now that things have been realigned, it gives the teams a chance to start the season off in a positive way instead of just trying to weather the storm and then sprint to the finish line in division play.”
This figures to be especially beneficial to programs like Cameron County and Sheffield, who have been dangerously close to having to co-op with other schools in recent years.
“A lot of these teams have 1,000-plus snaps together on us as a team,” Sheffield’s new head coach Chris Korbar said. “We can now counter that without those proverbial boulders of powerhouse teams weighing down our cart, now we can push it up the mountain.”
A poll was taken amongst the coaches to rank the top teams in each division. Brookville earned the preseason number one in the Large School Division, followed by Clarion and Bradford.
Smethport topped the Small School North, with Otto-Eldred and Coudersport placing second and third, respectively. Curwensville, meanwhile, was ranked number one in the Small School South, followed by Redbank Valley and Elk County Catholic.
