An old rival returns, a name change and a later start highlight the top storylines for the District 9 Large School football division in 2020.
Brockway, which finished 3-7 in large school play last season, was bumped down to the Small School South division to correspond to its decreasing enrollment.
Replacing the Rovers are the DuBois Beavers, a team that spent the last several years in District 10. DuBois hasn’t posted a winning record since 2016 and struggled mightily playing the likes of Erie, Meadville and Warren in D10. The school had asked to leave the current alignment — a move ultimately made possible with Brockway’s departure — and went 1-9 a season ago.
DuBois makes its return to District 9 on Friday, September 4 against Brookville. The Beavers begin the season a week earlier against longtime rival Clearfield, now the last of the 23 schools in D9 to play a non-league schedule.
The beginning of the fall sports season this year — affectionately called Week “0” in Pennsylvania begins a week later, Aug. 28, than normal although the move was made well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while that may mean cooler temperatures for the first couple weeks of practices and games, it pushes the regular season finales to Oct. 30. District playoffs begin the following week on Nov. 7 with championship games not taking place until the 21st. The first week of the state playoffs commences on Nov. 28.
In another change in the large school division, the three-team co-op between Clarion, Clarion-Limestone and North Clarion will now be known as Central Clarion. The schools will also ditch the Bobcats nickname and logo and instead be called the Wildcats for 2020. The Wildcats were a Civil War company with ties to Clarion.
As for the schedules, all 10 teams will once again play a nine-game slate against each other and then have the option to schedule a 10th game.
For Bradford, it replaces Oil City with Bald Eagle Area High School for its Week 9 game. Bald Eagle was the District 6 Class AAA champion last year and won its first two PIAA games before falling to Moon Township, 45-0, in the PIAA semifinals.
The Owls open the season as they’ve done for the last several years with a date against Brookville. Bradford then alternates home and road games for the remainder of the season, though the team will be spending plenty of time on the bus in 2020. The Owls have road trips to Moniteau (Sept. 25), Punxsutawney (Oct. 9) and Karns City (Oct. 23) — all at least two hours away.
Those lengthy bus trips do guarantee the Owls several marquee home games in 2020, including hosting rivals St. Marys (Sept. 4) and Ridgway (Sept. 18) as well as welcoming DuBois back to Parkway Field for the first time in nearly a decade on Oct. 2.
Ridgway, meanwhile, will begin its quest for a fifth straight D9 championship on the road against rival St. Marys. The Elkers will play six of their 10 games at home this season, including four in October. They close the season with a date against District 6’s Penns Valley.
Two other playoff teams from last year — Kane and St. Marys — begin the season at home against Moniteau and Ridgway, respectively. Kane currently has just nine games scheduled for 2020, and though they could add a 10th opponent, the Wolves only played nine games last year. The two rivals will face off on Oct. 23 in Elk County before St. Marys closes its season hosting District 7’s Tyrone.
The remaining non-league games for the large schools include: Brookville at Brockway, Central Clarion at Clearfield, Karns City at Girard (Week 0) and Redbank Valley at Punxsutawney. Moniteau joins Kane as schools with only nine scheduled games.
A look at each of the Big 30 teams’ complete schedules:
BRADFORD
August
28 — at Brookville
September
4 — St. Marys
11 — at Kane
18 — Ridgway
25 — at Moniteau
October
2 — DuBois
9 — at Punxsutawney
16 — Central Clarion
23 — at Karns City
30 — Bald Eagle
KANE
August
28 — Moniteau
September
4 — at Ridgway
11 — Bradford
18 — at DuBois
25 — Punxsutawney
October
2 — at Central Clarion
9 — at Karns City
16 — Brookville
23 — at St. Marys
RIDGWAY
August
28 — at St. Marys
September
4 — Kane
11 — Moniteau
18 — at Bradford
25 — at DuBois
October
2 — Punxsutawney
9 — Central Clarion
16 — Karns City
23 — at Brookville
30 — Penns Valley
ST. MARYS
August
28 — Ridgway
September
4 — at Bradford
11 — DuBois
18 — at Punxsutawney
25 — Central Clarion
October
2 — at Karns City
9 — Brookville
16 — at Moniteau
23 — Kane
30 — Tyrone
