The theme of District 9 football for Week 3 was consistency.
The top teams in the area took care of business, and the top playmakers showed up for their schools with big performances.
Two small schools (Smethport and Redbank Valley) remain undefeated, while Brockway, Clarion and Ridgway have also all posted 4-0 starts to the season in the large school division.
Conversely, It was another long weekend for D-9’s five winless teams (Kane, St. Marys, Cameron County, Sheffield and Port Allegany) which with the exception of the Dutch, all lost by at least 20 points.
Here are some of the other major storylines from Week 4:
Hubbers look legit
It certainly appears that area coaches got it right when they made their predictions heading into the season. Smethport was chosen as the preseason D-9 Small School favorites before the year and have thus far lived up to the hype — and then some. The Hubbers handled a tough Curwensville (2-2) team on the road, 20-7, to win their fourth game of the year. Smethport, which had just three wins last year and nine wins combined over the past three seasons, plays a bruising brand of football on both sides of the ball. Two of the most dominant running backs in the district, Blake Kinner and Nate Hollowell, both play for the Hubbers. Hollowell did not suit up against the Golden Tide on Friday, but Kinner made sure he wasn’t too badly missed with 171 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Defensively, the Hubbers have allowed just seven points over their last two games. Smethport doesn’t get any help from the schedule-makers over the next two games as they host Otto-Eldred and Redbank Valley in each of the next two Fridays.
Coudy, Otto keeping pace
They’ve certainly taken different paths through this point, but both the Terrors and Falcons now sit just behind Smethport tied for second in the Small School North at 3-1 and 2-0 in league games. The Terrors romped Union/A-C Valley 47-25 to win their second straight game. Otto quarterback Cole Sebastian continues to tear through opposing secondaries, posting 198 yards and three touchdowns against the Falcon-Knights. The Terrors also continue to force turnovers on defenses, taking two interceptions back for touchdowns on Friday. If Cole Sebastian, his brother Chase, and Cameron Magee continue to make plays on offense, the Terrors will continue to be one of the tougher offenses to face in the district. It will be fascinating to watch that offense go against Smethport’s defense on Friday.
Further south, Coudersport had a Week 3 performance that it would like to soon forget. The Falcons fell behind 28-6 at halftime to Clarion-Limestone, and despite scoring a couple of touchdowns late, never really had a chance for a comeback. Coudy outscored its opponents 160-12 over the first three weeks of the season, so they were certainly in unfamiliar territory against the Lions. C-L rushed for over 200 yards on offense, and held Coudy running back Stephen Kelly to just 18 yards — the perfect recipe for shutting down the potent Coudersport offense. The Falcons get Port A this weekend, but then face critical games against Curwensville and Otto-Eldred that will go a long way in determining where they finish this season.
Bradford’s turnover struggles continue
It was another frustrating night of football for the Owls. Knowing they had to play nearly perfect football to come away with a win against Ridgway, Bradford coughed up five fumbles in the game and overshadowed a fine performance from the defense. The mistakes that Bradford was able to get away with in wins against St. Marys and Kane finally came back to bite the Owls.
Bradford now sits at 2-2 with plenty of football left to be played, but with games on the horizon against Moniteau and Brockway, the Owls will need to clean up their offense quickly. The good news for Bradford is that its defense has really rebounded from that 69-point drilling against Brookville in Week 0. Since then, the Owls have allowed 2, 14 and 28 points. With the offense turning it over 10 times in the last two games, those numbers should be much higher.
The Elkers, meanwhile, continue to do in 2018 what they’ve done in winning back-to-back District 9 titles over the past two seasons. Despite losing plenty of starters from those teams, Ridgway head coach Mark Heindl has gotten his group to continue the the Elker tradition of dominant defense. Ridgway has held teams to under 10 points in three of its four games, and have put up 134 points on offense, as well. Paul Gresco (six passing touchdowns), Gabe Watts (281 yards rushing) and Jake Wickett (six rushing TDs) have provided most of the firepower for Ridgway.
Winless woes
The new football alignment was designed to help some of the smaller schools compete during the first few weeks of the season. Unfortunately for several rebuilding teams, it hasn’t made any difference. The three aforementioned small school winless teams all lost by at least 45 points and failed to register a single point in Week 3. Injuries have derailed Port Allegany’s season with quarterback Jared Mahon and running back Josh Rees both likely lost for the season in consecutive weeks. Both Cameron County and Sheffield just don’t have the numbers or talent to compete with some other schools, and have felt the effects of injuries, as well. The good news is that the Wolverines and the Red Raiders play each other this Friday, meaning that one of the three schools will finally post a tally in the win column. In the large school division, kudos to St. Marys for hanging tough with Punxsutawney (2-2) and losing by just a field goal. Kane, meanwhile, continues to be plagued by an anemic offense. Through four games, the Wolves have scored over 10 points in a game just once. Kane and St. Marys face each other in Week 8.
