The practices have concluded, the stakes are set, and a long-time high school football rivalry between Smethport and Coudersport will get turned up to a fever pitch tonight.
Both teams enter the contest unbeaten in league games, so the winner of tonight’s 7 p.m. tilt at Coudersport Football Stadium will be crowned District 9 Small School North champion outright.
For Smethport (8-0, 4-0) it’s also a chance to complete an undefeated regular season for the first time in nearly two decades. And for Coudersport (5-3, 4-0), they have a shot with a victory — and a lot of help — to host a first round district playoff game.
The Falcons (5-3, 4-0) have won the last three meetings between the two sides, including a 30-12 victory last season. Coudersport, however, comes into this one limping a bit as they’ve lost three of its last five games during a tough stretch of schedule.
Last week’s 41-27 loss to Redbank Valley was Coudy’s biggest margin of defeat and most points given up all season.
Still, Falcon head coach Tom Storey is confident that his team can rebound against the Hubbers.
“As we’ve done all year long, we’re going week-by-week,” he said. “Obviously it is the last game of the regular season, but a lot of it is on Smethport. That’s what we have been telling the kids: You have nothing to lose. Go out there and play them tough and hard”
The Hubbers, meanwhile, haven’t had any such issues over the second half of the season. Smethport has allowed just 13 points total over the last three games, that included a 20-7 victory over Redbank Valley three weeks ago.
And while there may be a bit of pressure for the Hubbers as they try to wrap up their first undefeated season since 2001, head coach Adam Jack says his team isn’t feeling it.
“The kids have been able to stay focused with the task at hand and they’ve done a good job so far,” the second-year Smethport coach said. “I think the kids know that it’s a big game, but as far as our routine and everything goes from the coaching perspective and the kids, we have just been business as usual all week.”
More than any other factor, the result of tonight’s contest will come down to which team is able to limit the other’s ground attack. Neither team has thrown the ball much this season, and the game will feature three of the better running backs in D-9.
For Coudersport, the show runs through Steve Kelly. The senior is coming off of a four touchdown, 170-yard performance last week, and will test the Hubber defense all night with his shifty running style and tackle-breaking ability. Kelly is just 55 yards shy of 1,000 yards on the season and has already found the end zone 16 times.
So, how does Smethport plan to try and at least contain Kelly?
“Well, that’s a great question,” Jack said. “They’ve got an experienced offensive line with some decent size and Steve is one of the best running backs in District 9 so we are going to have our hands full. We are just going to have to try and play our position and do our jobs up front to try and slow him down.”
Kelly ran for 50 yards on 10 carries in Coudy’s win over Smethport last year.
The Hubbers, meanwhile, pose a more unique challenge with their rushing attack. To illustrate how dominant Blake Kinner and Nate Hollowell are out of the backfield, you’d have to look no further than last Friday’s game against Keystone. Both players rushed for over 100 yards each with a touchdown on just 20 combined carries. Kinner (862 yards, 11 touchdowns) has a chance to eclipse 1,000 yards on the season tonight, while Hollowell sits at an impressive 571 rushing yards himself.
After allowing 300 rushing yards last week, Storey is confident his defense has made the necessary adjustments for a better showing this week.
“We are facing a good team, but we aren’t facing the combination of a passing attack like we did last week against Redbank that really hurt us,” he said. “We had RV on their heels with third-and-long and sometimes very long and they could somehow sneak a pass in. I don’t think we’re going to be facing that kind of offense this week so we are looking forward to it.”
For Smethport, which has won its eight games this season by an average of three touchdowns, Jack wants to see his senior-laden team get off to a fast start and play a full game.
“You want to start off every game strong and we’ve preached that all year,” he said. “I think we’ve been fairly successful getting out of the gate pretty quickly, it’s just about maintaining that for a full 48 minutes. Against a really good Coudersport team we are going to have to play with that high intensity for the full game.”
But as Storey points out anytime two rivals are facing each other this late in the year, it’s probably best to just toss everything else that’s happened out the window and
“It’s going to come down to the kids and how badly each team wants it,’ he said. “I’ve already told them — and I’m from the Naval Academy — I know how Army-Navy goes every year. Not comparing the game as a rivalry, but comparing that it doesn’t matter what the records are when you come into the game.”
“Anything can happen and I’ve felt good against playing Smethport and facing a team that we have played all in the time, every year, and coming into the season and finishing with this game. We are looking forward to it.”
