The District 9 Small School South division is back to six teams and all 12 of the small schools will return to a nine-game inter-district schedule in 2020 with the option of scheduling a 10th contest.

Those are the big takeaways from the small school schedules heading into this fall, an alignment that once again features two divisions.

Two playoff teams from a year ago — Smethport and Coudersport — lead the North Division and are again joined by rivals Otto-Eldred, Cameron County, Port Allegany and Sheffield.

In the South, Elk County Catholic, Union/A-C Valley, Keystone, Redbank Valley and Curwensville will welcome a new divisional foe: Brockway. The Rovers, which finished 3-7 a year ago in the D9 Large School division, requested and were granted permission to make the change due to declining enrollment. Brockway takes the place of Clarion-Limestone, which joined a co-op with Clarion and North Clarion for football following the 2018 season and created a lopsided league alignment as its slot sat vacant last year. Some teams (Port Allegany) only played eight games a year ago, while others (Otto-Eldred) scheduled two non-District 9 games to get to 10 contests on the season.

But that problem is no more, as every school will now play each team in its division once as well as four crossover games against foes from the other division.

A few schools also took advantage of scheduling a 10th game in the final week of the regular season. Cameron County will travel to District 4’s Bucktail on October 30 and Otto-Eldred will make the trip to D4’s Cowanesque Valley on that date. Coudersport and Union/A-C Valley, though technically considered a crossover game if it was scheduled earlier in the year, will also play an “extra” 10th contest on the 30th.

All of the other local teams have just nine games on their schedule, though a game can be added at a later date.

Over in Warren County, all of Sheffield’s home games will once again be played on Saturday afternoons. The Wolverines have four home dates in 2020 with opening kick-offs scheduled for 1:30. Sheffield also has a Saturday afternoon game at Port Allegany slated for 1:30 p.m. on October 10.

Brockway, meanwhile, will begin all of its home games at 7:30 p.m., according to the school’s website. The Rovers will welcome Big 30 schools Coudersport, Elk County Catholic and Port Allegany to Varischetti Field — the only small school in District 9 to play on synthetic turf.

Speaking of Coudersport, the Falcons will begin their quest for a District 9 three-peat when they open the season by hosting Cameron County on the 28th. Other marquee games for Coudy include Redbank Valley (Oct. 16), which it beat in last year’s title game as well as rival Smethport (Oct. 23).

Some other rivalry games on the schedule include: Port Allegany at Otto-Eldred (Aug. 28), Port Allegany at Smethport (Sept. 11) and Cameron County at Elk Catholic (Oct. 2).

Other notes on the schedule:

– Big 30 schools will likely be seeing Curwensville on the football field for a final time this year. The Golden Tide announced at the end of last season that it would be leaving the D9 League and join the Inter-County Conference (ICC) as soon as the 2021 season to reduce travel. Curwensville last played in that league from 1987-1998, but has been in District 9 exclusively since then. It’s unknown if District 9 would attempt to find a school to take Curwensville’s place or play with just 11 small schools again.

– All seven Big 30 small schools will once again be classified as ‘A’ for the upcoming season. In the new classification cycle — in effect this year as well as the 2021 season — all 12 of the small schools except Brockway will play in Pennsylvania’s smallest class. The Rovers had just three male students (132) more than the PIAA requirement (129) for Class A and will instead spend the next two years as a AA school. Likewise, Ridgway and Johnsonburg’s combined male enrollment is 133 kids. Four less, and the Elkers’ D9 Large School co-op would have also fallen to Class A and the football powerhouse would have been playing the likes of Coudersport and Smethport in the playoffs.

A look at each of the Big 30 teams’ complete 2020 schedules:

CAMERON COUNTY

August

28 — at Coudersport

September

4 — Curwensville

11 — at Otto-Eldred

18 — Keystone

25 — Sheffield

October

2 — at Elk Catholic

9 — Smethport

16 — Union/A-C Valley

23 — at Port Allegany

30 — at Bucktail

COUDERSPORT

August

28 — Cameron County

September

4 — at Elk Catholic

11 — Sheffield

18 — at Brockway, 7:30 p.m.

25 — at Port Allegany

October

2 — Curwensville

9 — Otto-Eldred

16 — at Redbank Valley

23 — Smethport

30 — at Union/A-C Valley

ELK CO. CATHOLIC

August

28 — at Curwensville

September

4 — Coudersport

11 — at Redbank Valley

18 — Port Allegany

25 — at Union/A-C Valley

October

2 — Cameron County

9 — at Brockway, 7:30 p.m.

16 — Sheffield

23 — at Keystone

OTTO-ELDRED

August

28 — Port Allegany

September

4 — at Redbank Valley

11 — Cameron County

18 — Union/A-C Valley

25 — at Smethport

October

2 — Brockway

9 — at Coudersport

16 — Curwensville

24 — at Sheffield, 1:30 p.m.

30 — at Cowanesque Valley

PORT ALLEGANY

August

28 — at Otto-Eldred

September

4 — Keystone

11 — at Smethport

18 — at Elk Catholic

25 — Coudersport

October

2 — at Union/A-C Valley

10 — Sheffield, 1:30 p.m.

16 — at Brockway, 7:30 p.m.

23 — Cameron County

SHEFFIELD

August

29 — Smethport, 1:30 p.m.

September

4 — at Union/A-C Valley

11 — at Coudersport

19 — Redbank Valley, 1:30 p.m.

25 — at Cameron County

October

3 — Keystone, 1:30 p.m.

10 — at Port Allegany, 1:30 p.m.

16 — at Elk Catholic

24 — Otto-Eldred, 1:30 p.m.

SMETHPORT

August

29 — at Sheffield, 1:30 p.m.

September

4 — Brockway

11 — Port Allegany

18 — at Curwensville

25 — Otto-Eldred

October

2 — Redbank Valley

9 — at Cameron County

16 — Keystone

23 — at Coudersport