By CONNOR JACKSON
Era Sports Reporter
We’ve officially reached the midway point of the high school football regular season, which begs the question — what’s in store for the second half?
Can Port Allegany keep rolling? Which teams that have losing records now will rally? Who will claim the three District 9 region titles?
All that and so much more awaits as we approach Week 6. Here’s a look at the matchups.
PUNXSUTAWNEY (3-2) at BRADFORD (1-4)
Bradford is 1-4 after a 73-16 loss in Week 5 to Central Clarion. Punxsutawney comes to Bradford after a close 35-27 loss to Karns City.
Bradford has found tough sledding against some of Region 1’s more formidable foes to this point. Senior quarterback Talan Reese and junior receiver Logan Kohler are a strong duo on offense for Bradford, but the defense, outside of their Week 2 win against Moniteau, needs to be better in the second half for the Owls to make a run.
Punxsutawney has beat St. Marys and Brookville, two opponents Bradford lost to. Junior Jordan Rutan is the Chucks leading rusher with 355 yards and one touchdown on 6.1 yards per carry. Junior Beau Thomas is the guy they look to to score touchdowns as he accounts for eight on the season.
Junior quarterback Maddox Hetrick has 579 yards and 4-2 touchdown to interception ratio. The Chucks have run a pretty balanced offensive attack with 799 yards rushing and 824 yards passing this year.
If Bradford is going to compete in this game, it is going to be because they have improved from what they have shown. Punxsutawney is another quality opponent that will be difficult to handle.
PORT ALLEGANY (5-0) at RIDGWAY (2-3)
Port Allegany is rolling. They have dismantled everyone in their path on their way to 5-0. Ridgway, meanwhile, is 2-3 hoping to give the Gators some trouble.
Port Allegany junior running back Aiden Bliss is putting up crazy numbers this season. He is second in the nation (per MaxPreps) with 148 points scored. Bliss is 11th in the country with 1,123 rushing yards and is second in the nation in rushing touchdowns with 21. Bliss ran for 208 yards and had seven total touchdowns just in the first half against Cameron County Friday.
Junior Tristan Kiser is also a threat running the rock with 542 yards yards and seven touchdowns. These rushers have a strong offensive line that has been pushing teams around so far this season.
Juuso Young, one of the key members of that line, is also a factor on the defensive side of the ball with four sacks this year, while Bliss has four interceptions. Junior defensive back Nick Wilfong has three interceptions that all were caught in the first half on Friday against Cameron County.
Ridgway is playing perhaps its best football of the season, coming off a 45-16 win over Coudersport. Outside of a Week 4 loss to Redbank Valley, the Elkers’ defense has been strong.
SMETHPORT (1-3) at COUDERSPORT (2-3)
Smethport is looking to continue the momentum stemming from their first win of the season last week, 46-20 against Bucktail.
Coudersport went 8-4 last year with a district playoff win. The Falcons have a lot of work to do if they want to get back to that point. Last week, the Falcons gave up 38 points in the first half of a 45-16 loss to Ridgway.
Senior receiver Danny Vanvladricken is the Falcons’ best offensive weapon with 20 catches, 365 yards, and six touchdowns. Sophomore defensive back Caleb Wonderly is a threat with three interceptions. Senior running back Ethan Ott is the leading rusher with 482 yards rushing and six touchdowns, averaging eight yards per carry.
For the Hubbers, senior Owen Rounsville has been one of the biggest playmakers. He leads the team in total yards gained making an impact at wide receiver and running back. Rounsville also has contributed on defense with three interceptions. Jonah Ganoe is coming off a big game on the ground with 150-plus yards and three touchdowns in the win over Bucktail.
This is somewhat of an interesting matchup. Expect a close game going to the fourth quarter.
REDBANK VALLEY (4-1) at KANE (1-4)
Kane is 1-4 but have looked better than their record at points this season. Redbank Valley is 4-1 beating everyone but juggernaut Port Allegany.
Redbank Valley is the defending District 9 Class 1A champions. They are fighting to defend that title though with Port Allegany showing that they are the team to beat this year. Junior quarterback Braylan Wagner has been awesome with 1,664 yards passing and 21 touchdowns with only 4 interceptions. Wagner is 313 yards shy of breaking the program record of 5,845 set by Jake Daugherty.
His top receivers are junior Jaxson Huffman and senior Rylan Rupp. Huffman has 30 catches for 542 yards and six touchdowns, and Rupp has 30 catches for 475 yards and five touchdowns.
Senior defensive lineman Broc Monrean has 4.5 sacks while Huffman is also a factor at defensive end with five sacks. Junior Carson Gould is another capable receiver for the Bulldogs and he also leads the team with three interceptions at defensive back.
Kane gave Brockway a good battle last week, falling 27-14. The Wolves also defeated 4-1 Otto-Eldred 40-26 earlier this year. Matt Bodamer is in his first season taking over what was a winless team in 2023. There has been noticeable improvement.
ST. MARYS (2-2) at BROOKVILLE (1-4)
St. Marys had two tough opponents to start falling to 0-2, now they are 2-2 after beating up Bradford and Moniteau. Brookville has lost four straight since a Week 1 win over Bradford.
Junior running back Andrew Field leads the Flying Dutch rushing attack with 356 yards and six touchdowns on 9.1 yards per carry. Senior quarterback Ben Paul has 491 yards and seven touchdowns with only one interception. Overall, the St. Marys offense is pretty balanced, with 629 yards passing and 677 yards rushing.
Senior defensive lineman Grant Jin has nine tackles for loss. Field has been strong defensively as well with four sacks and nine tackles for loss at linebacker. Sophomore Matthew Gilmore is a problem for opposing quarterbacks with four interceptions.
Brookville relies heavily on senior running back Anthony Ceriani on offense. Ceriani has 784 yards and eight touchdowns on 6.2 yards per carry. Seniors Colton Griffin and Gavin Hannah are a strong defensive end duo for the Raiders. Griffin has six tackles for loss while Hannah has five.
Both of these teams seem evenly matched. It could be a really good game.
OTTO-ELDRED (4-1) at SHEFFIELD (1-2)
Otto-Eldred is 4-1 coming off of a big win against Cameron County. Sheffield is 1-2 with their only win being against winless Bucktail.
In their loss against Kane, they struggled defensively and never really developed a rhythm on offense. Getting big plays in the passing game is a big part of the Terror attack. They didn’t have to rely on a strong offensive performance to beat Cameron County last week though which was very encouraging for them.
Junior quarterback Shane Magee has 1,173 yards passing with 15 touchdowns and two interceptions. Senior wide receiver Manning Splain is his top target with 20 receptions, 423 yards, and six touchdowns.
Splain is also strong at defensive back with three interceptions. The Terrors have multiple guys on the defensive line and linebacker that help make life difficult for opposing offenses, including last week against Cameron County. Sheffield broke a 27-game losing streak earlier this season.
Otto-Eldred won this game 44-6 when they played in Week 2.
