2024 District 9 Review – 11th Week Action and Playoff Preview Week 2

Tagged under: District 9, News, pfn, Playoffs

Phil Myers | November 6, 2024

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Even though Protime did extensive travelling this football season, he had the privilege of seeing over half the D9 football teams play this year, and some, more than once. Protime has seen every D9 team remaining in the playoffs except one.

Here are the top performers of the week, along with a couple other tidbits:

Quarterbacks:

Jase Ferguson, Central Clarion, threw 3 touchdown passes and for 272 yards in CC’s 2A championship game victory over Karns City last Friday. He now has 9,803 career passing yards and 141 touchdown throws. For the 2024 season, he is currently 5^th in PA in pass yards and 1^st in TD tosses with 44. He also ran for 2 scores against the Gremlins.
Trey Wingard, DuBois, threw for 201 yards and 3 TDs plus ran for another in DuBois’ upset win over Erie Cathedral Prep. Wingard is second in the state in pass yardage (2,877) and is 3rd in TD passes with 36.
Aiden Patton, Brockway, pitched the pigskin for 251 yards and 3 TDs in Brockway’s 3A title game triumph over St. Marys. Patton is 4^th in PA in pass yardage with 2,826 and tied for 5^th in TD passes with 33.
Owen Bish, Union-AC Valley, accounted for 5 TDs, 3 passing, 2 rushing in his team’s big playoff win over Otto-Eldred.
Braylon Wagner, Redbank Valley, threw for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns to help the Bulldogs to a playoff win over Cameron County. Wagner also ran for a score and had a pick six on defense. Wagner is now 6^th in the state in passing yards and 7^th in TD passes with 32.
Dom Corcetti, Keystone, passed AND rushed for over 200 yards in the Panthers’ playoff win against Ridgway on Friday. He threw for 204 yards and rushed for 203 yards on 14 carries. He accounted for 4 touchdowns, three via the run.
Shane Magee, Otto-Eldred, passed for 246 yards and 3 scores in a losing effort against Union-AC Valley.
Ben Paul, St. Marys, accounted for 3 touchdowns, two of them passing.
Cole Johnston, Karns City, ran 87 yards for a score against Central Clarion.

Running Backs:

Max Gallagher, Union-AC Valley, ran for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 totes. He added another 3 touchdowns on 4 pass receptions accounting for 112 yards.
Eli Nellis, Keystone rushed for 102 yards and a couple of scores, plus he caught 3 passes for 101 yards and another touchdown.

Receivers/Athletes:

Mason Burford, Central Clarion, caught 5 passes for 164 yards and 3 TDs.
Rylan Rupp, Redbank Valley, caught 5 passes that totaled 131 yards.
Blake Pisarcik, Brockway, grabbed 4 passes for 88 yards and a score, but he also ran the agate 12 times for 110 yards and a pair of TDs. Pisarcik is 6^th in the PA in receiving yardage and tied for first in touchdown catches with 16.
Caleb Daugherty, Brockway, snagged 4 passes for 140 yards and two scores.
David Schenfield, Otto-Eldred, hauled in 9 passes for 100 yards.

Defense and Special Teams:

Braylon Wagner, Redbank Valley, returned an interception 66 yards for a TD.
Tyler Hanzely, DuBois, returned a fumble 6 yards for a score.
Maddox Hetrick, Punxsutawney, had a 29-yard pick six.
Owen Roken, Punxsutawney, kicked 2 field goals and 2 extra points in a losing effort against University Prep from Pittsburgh. Roken finishes his freshman season with 52 kick points which is an all-time single season Punxsy Chuck record!
Ray’Shene Thomas, Otto-Eldred, had an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Max Gallagher, Union/AC Valley, had 10 tackles.

Playoff Tidbits:

There are 8 D9 teams left in the playoff picture. Here’s a quick preview of each game:

Keystone, the #4 seed in Class 1A, will play Port Allegany who is the top seed in a semifinal game. Port beat Keystone in the first game of the season 35-18. Other than the Gators’ game with Ridgway, it was the smallest margin of victory by Port Allegany all year. The PA Gators are led by one of top running backs in PA this year in Aiden Bliss, who has raced around the field for over 2,000 yards. Tristan Kiser has over 1,000 yards rushing. The Keystone Panthers are led by a couple of very good athletes, Dom Corcetti and Eli Nellis.
Union/AC Valley, the #3 seed tangles with Redbank Valley, the two seed in the other 1A semifinal. Redbank knocked off UACV, also in the first game of the year, by a score of 49-13. The RBV Bulldogs are led by one of the top ten QBs in PA, Braylon Wagner. Union/AC Valley’s Falcon Knights are led by QB Owen Bish and RB Max Gallagher.
Brockway, who won their first D9 football title since 2010, will take on the D5 representative, Somerset. It is the first time the two teams have met. The Rovers are led by quarterback Aiden Patton and all-state receiver Blake Pisarcik. Patton ranks as one of the top five QBs in the state this year. Pisarcik has over 1,100 yards receiving, but has also been used as a running back the past few weeks. The Eagles of Somerset are more of a running team with over 2,000 yards running the ball. Rowan Holmes is Somerset’s leading ground gainer. This is the District 5-9 Class 3A subregional title contest.
Clearfield led by Brady Collins, one of the best backs in PA this season, will take on University Prep (USO) who last week defeated Punxsy by scoring a pair of TDs in the last two minutes. The Clearfield Bison and the USO Wildcats have met before in the playoffs. Back in 2012 University Prep beat Clearfield 36-22 at Clarion University. University Prep are led by two superb athletes in University of Buffalo commit Xair Stevenson and Zion Hauser. This is the Class 4A District 8-9 subregional championship game
DuBois will go on the road again this week to play Hollidaysburg, the team who beat the Beavers in the last game of the regular season 49-28. This is the Class 5A D6-8-9-10 subregional title game. In fact, DuBois as a rule doesn’t do well against the Golden Tigers. The last time DuBois beat Hollidaysburg was 2009. But this could be different as DuBois has the 2^nd best QB in the state statistically in Trey Wingard. Danny Dixon has shown his prowess at RB the past few weeks for the Beavers. QB Maddox Bainey, RB Mitchell Baronner, and WR Gavin Bell lead the Tiger’s potent offense.

THIS WEEK’S DISTRICT 9 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

CLASS 1A SEMIFINALS

Keystone (5-5) vs, Port Allegany (10-0) at Kane – Friday Nov. 8 @ 7:00

Union/AC Valley (8-3) vs. Redbank Valley (8-3) at Brookville – Friday Nov. 8 @ 7:00

CLASS 2A

Central Clarion (11-0) bye week

CLASS 3A DISTRICT 5-9 SUBREGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Somerset (3-7) vs. Brockway (7-4) at Karns City – Friday Nov. 8 @ 7:00

CLASS 4A DISTRICT 8-9 SUBREGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

USO (4-5) vs. Clearfield (10-0) at Brookville – Saturday Nov. 9 @ 1:00

CLASS 5A DISTRICT 6-8-9-10 SUBREGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

DuBois (8-3) at Hollidaysburg (10-1) – Friday Nov. 8 @ 7:00