2024 District 9 Review – 12th Week Action, Playoff Review and Preview

Tagged under: District 9, News, pfn

Phil Myers | November 12, 2024

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Protime has seen 38 high school football games to date this year and 15 of those games involved at least one District 9 team. Protime has enjoyed seeing some talented D9 players this year. In fact, some of those players are among the best in the state statistically. Protime apologizes if he misses a couple, but he’d like to mention a few of the better players he has seen in D9 this year: Jase Ferguson, Mason Burford, Thomas Uckert, Jimmy Kerr, Hayden Hindman, Braylon Wagner, Rylan Rupp, Trey Wingard, Talan Reese, Aiden Bliss, Juuso Young, Carson Neely, Owen Roken, Beau Thomas, Tony Ceriaini, Aiden Patton, Blake Pisarcik, Johnny Varischetti, Ben Yale, and Brady Collins.

Here are the playoff recaps of games involving D9 teams last week:

Port Allegany 57 Keystone 14 – Keystone and Port were actually tied at the end of the first quarter at 14, but the Gators put the pedal to the metal and scored 43 unanswered points to win going away. Aiden Bliss once again had himself a game, rushing for 287 yards and 4 touchdowns. Tristan Kiser scored 3 TDs. Port Allegheny, as a team, ran for 435 yards. Keystone finishes the year 5-6 after starting out 1-4. Port Allegany, ranked #5 in the state by PFN, remains unbeaten at 11-0. They made the championship game last year but lost to Redbank.

Redbank Valley 31 Union/A-C Valley 13 – Redbank’s dynamic quarterback, Braylon Wagner, and the Bulldog defense paved the path to victory. Although UACV got to within four points at 17-13 early in the second half, Redbank was in control thereafter. Wagner threw for 231 yards and a couple of touchdowns. He also scored twice with his feet, once on a nifty 19-yard run. The RV defense held the Falcon-Knights to 180 total yards. The Bulldogs, under Coach Blane Gold, have reached the D9 title game in five of the past six years. Union/A-C Valley finishes the season 8-4. Redbank Valley is now 9-3.

Somerset 40 Brockway 34 – Some things just aren’t meant to be. The Rovers were definitely favored and outgained the Somerset Eagles 520 yards to 250, but five turnovers and a tendency to give up big plays will doom almost any football team. Brockway led 14-7 after one, but trailed 28-21 at halftime. From there the game got away from them and their two late scores just made the score close. Aiden Patton passed the pigskin for 450 yards and 5 touchdowns, but unfortunately, he had four passes picked off, two were returned for touchdowns. Caleb Daugherty had a nice game catching 13 balls for 223 yards and 4 TDs. Blake Pisarcik grabbed 4 throws for 129 yards. Brockway finishes as D9 champs for the first time since 2010 and ends the year with a 7-5 record.

Clearfield 34 University Prep (USO) 24 – The Bison persevered a stupendous passing attack by the team from Pittsburgh and an injury to their star player, Brady Collins, to remain unbeaten. Clearfield is now ranked 6^th in the state by PFN in the 4A classification. USO led 6-0 and 12-7 in the first quarter. Clearfield scored twice in the second stanza to go up 21-12 at the intermission. The University Prep Wildcats twice cut the Bison lead to one score in the second half, but Clearfield answered on both occasions. Brady Collins returned a kickoff 85 yards to the house in the first quarter but was injured shortly thereafter. He came back in the second half and was used enough to produce 117 yards rushing including a 41-yard TD jaunt. Carter Freeland put the game away with a 51-yard TD run late in the 4th quarter.

Hollidaysburg 28 DuBois 23 – The Beavers, fresh off of their upset over Cathedral Prep came within five points of ending Hollidaysburg’s perfect season. (Their loss on the field to Fort Hill, MD is now officially a FF win as Fort Hill used an ineligible player.) DuBois got behind 14-0 in the opening quarter and eventually cut Golden Tiger leads to 14-10 and 21-17 but never got closer. Trey Wingard threw for over 200 yards and two scores. He also ran for a touchdown. DuBois finished with 8 wins for the first time in ten years. Watch out for the Beavers next year as they have some players coming and Wingard returns.

Here are the top performers of the week:

Quarterbacks:

Trey Wingard, DuBois, threw for 212 yards and 2 TDs plus ran for another.
Aiden Patton, Brockway, pitched the pigskin for 450 yards and 5 TDs.
Braylon Wagner, Redbank Valley, threw for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran for a pair of scores.

Running Backs:

Aiden Bliss, Port Allegany, ran for 287 yards and 5 touchdowns. He added.
Tristan Kiser, Port Allegany, scored 3 TDs.
Brady Collins, Clearfield, dug deep after an injury kept him on the sidelines for most of the first half and ran for 123 yards, 117 in the second half.

Receivers/Athletes:

Caleb Daugherty, Brockway, snagged 13 passes for 223 yards and 4 TDs.
Blake Pisarcik, Brockway, grabbed 4 passes for 129 yards and a score.
Drew Keth, Keystone, caught 9 passes for 121 yards.

Defense and Special Teams:

The Redbank Valley Bulldog defense held a pretty good Union/A-C Valley offense to a measly 180 total yards, 90 in each half.
Brady Collins, Clearfield, had an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown.

Playoff Tidbits:

There are four D9 teams left in the state playoff picture. Three of them are undefeated and highly ranked. Here’s a quick preview of each game:

Redbank Valley (9-3) vs. Port Allegany (11-0) – This game is for the D9 Class A title. Port is the top seed and beat Redbank, the two seed, in the regular season 66-38. The PA Gators are led by one of top running backs in PA this year in Aiden Bliss, who has rushed for 2,301 yards and 41 touchdowns. Bliss averages 11.4 yards a tote. Tristan Kiser has 1,108 yards running the football. He’s scored 18 TDs and averages 13.3 yards a crack. The Gators are 5^th in the state averaging 52.7 points a game. Redbank Valley has one of the top quarterbacks in the state. Braylon Wagner has thrown for 2,784 yards and tossed 34 TD passes. He has 4 quality receivers in Rylan Rupp (55 catches for 827 yards and 8 touchdowns), Jaxon Huffman (42 grabs for 686 yards and 7 TDs), Carson Gould (8 touchdowns), and Breckin Minich (7 TD catches). Look for this game to be much closer than the first time these two met.
Central Clarion (11-0) vs. Farrell (7-5) – Central Clarion is ranked #2 behind Troy by PFN, but they would be wise to not underestimate Farrell. Make no mistake, the Steelers are a good team. Four of Farrell’s five losses came to the likes of Cathedral Prep by seven, Sharon by seven, Hickory by four, and Ursuline, OH whose record is 11-1 and ranked 7th in all of Ohio. Having said that, this may be Central Clarion’s best team of the last three years. The past two years the Wildcats lost to Westinghouse who both times took state silver. Jase Ferguson, CC’s record setting QB, is what makes things go for the Wildcat offense. He has pitched the pigskin for 2,748 yards and 44 touchdowns. He has also run the ball for 987 yards and 11 scores. Mason Burford and Ethan Rex are his main targets. Burford has caught 36 passes for 869 yards and 15 touchdowns. Rex has 61 grabs for 684 yards and 13 TDs. Not only is Central Clarion the top scoring team in the state averaging 54.8 points a game, they are #5 in points allowed, giving up 6.7 a game. Farrell is pretty balanced on offense. Anthony Pegues is the Steeler quarterback and he’s thrown for 1,609 yards and 16 TDs. Their RB, Juelz Johnson has galloped for 1,607 yards and 23 touchdowns.
General McLane (8-2) vs. Clearfield (11-0) – Clearfield is led by Brady Collins, one of the best backs in PA this season. Collins has raced around the field to the tune of 2,390 yards and 34 touchdowns. He averages 10.6 yards a carry. Carter Freeland has 823 yards to his credit and has scored a dozen times. The Bison were scorched by the freshman quarterback from University Prep last week for 349 yards passing. This week they face one of the best in the state in Isaac Zietz. Zietz has tossed the football for 2,553 yards and 34 scores in only 10 games for the Lancers. His twin brother, Jacob, has 1,112 yards receiving and 15 touchdown catches. Jared Corwin has hauled in 41 passes and scored 6 TDs. Teige Berger has 8 rushing touchdowns and 7 more receiving. This game will be a contrast in styles, but actually may actually come down to who plays the better defense.

THIS WEEK’S DISTRICT 9 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

CLASS 1A DISTRICT FINALS

Redbank Valley (9-3) vs. Port Allegany (11-0) at Bradford – Friday Nov. 15 @ 7:00

CLASS 2A STATE PLAYOFF GAME

Central Clarion (11-0) at Farrell (7-5) – Friday Nov. 15 @ 7:00

CLASS 4A STATE PLAYOFF GAME

General McLane (8-2) at Clearfield (11-0) – Friday Nov. 15 @ 7:00

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