2024 District 9 Review – 5th Week Action and Mid-Year Synopsis

Tagged under: District 9, News, pfn

Phil Myers | September 23, 2024

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

Quarterbacks:

• Braylon Wagner, Redbank Valley, tied a school record with 7 touchdown tosses. He threw for 414 yards.  He also ran for a touchdown giving him 8 that he was responsible for last Friday.
• Jase Ferguson, Central Clarion, had 6 TD passes in throwing for 245 yards.
• Trey Wingard, DuBois, tossed 4 touchdowns and threw for 234 markers.
• Tyler Dunn, Curwensville, had 304 yards passing and 4 TDs.
• Aiden Patton, Brockway, passed for 3 touchdowns, as did Ben Paul of St. Marys. Zaden Gould, Punxsy, accounted for 3 scores filling in for Maddox Hetrick.  Two via the pass and the other was a rushing TD.
• Shane Magee, Otto-Eldred, was 22 of 26 for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Running Backs:

• Aiden Bliss, Port Allegany, probably broke a school record by scoring 7 touchdowns. He ran for 5, caught a touchdown pass, and ran a kickoff back 97 yards for his 7th TD of the night.        
• Brady Collins, Clearfield, rushed for over 300 yards this week as he raced around the field for 360 yards and 3 TDs. He also returned a kickoff 97 yards for a 4^th
• Hunter Scherer, Karns City, ran for 187 yards and 4 touchdowns.
• Tony Ceriani, Brookville, had 175 yards running the ball.
• Jonah Ganoe, Smethport, ran the ball for 154 yards and 3 scores.
• Ben Reynolds scored 3 touchdowns, one each running, pass reception, and a 66-yard pick six.
• Rocco Delhunty, Ridgway, rushed for 161 yards. He accounted for 3 TDs, 2 running and another on a pass reception.
• Owen Rounsville, scored 3 TDs. (1 pass, 1 pass reception, 1 on a 60-yard punt return.)

Receivers:

• Teammates Carson Gould and Jaxon Huffman of Redbank Valley each caught 3 touchdown passes. Huffman did it on 6 catches for 188 yards.
• Cael Butler, Curwensville, grabbed 6 passes for 185 yards and 3 TDs.
• Mason Burford, Central Clarion, caught 3 passes for 118 yards and 3 scores.
• Manning Splain, Otto-Eldred, had 143 receiving yards and 2 touchdown catches.

Defense and Special Teams:

• Nick Wilfong, Port Allegany, picked off 3 opposing team passes.
• Cody Thompson, St. Marys, had a 9-yard pick six.
• Colbin Elliott, Union-AC Valley, had a shorter INT touchdown, a 5 yarder.
• Charlie Hepfl and Ethan Rex, teammates on Central Clarion each scored a TD off a blocked punt. Hepfl recovered his in the end zone.  Rex ran 10 yards with his.

Game of the Week: Karns City was on the losing end of last week’s GOTW.  This week they beat Punxsutawney 35-27 to get on the winning side of our GOTW.  The Punxsy Chucks led 7-0 and 13-7 in the first half before falling behind 14-13 by halftime.  Punxsy regained the lead 20-14 in the third, but 2 Gremlin scores, one in the third and one in the early part of the fourth quarter, put KC up 28-20.  A fumble and penalties held the Chucks back on the next two possessions.  Then Karns City scored with less than two minutes left to increase their lead to 35-20, but Punxsy scored late to set the final at 35-27.

Other Notes: Believe it or not, the regular season is officially half over now.  In the coming weeks we will have some more interesting individual and team 2024 season stats.

Upcoming Game of the Week:

• Central Clarion 5-0 @ Karns City 3-1

Mid-Year Synopsis:

• In Region 1, Central Clarion is undefeated at 5-0 with DuBois second in the standings at 4-1. Karns City is third with a record of 3-1, and Punxsutawney is fourth at 3-2.  The only possible sleeper here who could make a move is St. Marys at 2-2.
• In Region 2, Port Allegany is dominating much like Central Clarion in Region 1. Port is 5-0 and leads the Region 2 standings.  Redbank Valley is the next best team record wise at 4-1.  Brockway and Union-AC Valley are tied for third with identical 3-2 records.  There are no sleepers in Region 2, although keep an eye on Keystone the second half of the year.  They could win 3 or 4 of their last 5 games.
• In Region 3, Otto-Eldred is the head of the class with a 4-1 record. Cameron County is 3-2 and Coudersport is 2-3.

Breakdown by PIAA Classes:

• 5A – DuBois is the only team here and they are having a good year. Led by junior quarterback Trey Wingard, they may be 8-1 when they face Hollidaysburg at the end of the season.
• 4A – Clearfield, Punxsutawney, and Bradford are the only 4A teams, with Clearfield (HM in PFN rankings) being the odds-on favorite to win the district title. The reason being is Brady Collins, one of the top running backs, statistic-wise, in Pennsylvania at this point.
• 3A – There are just two teams at this classification, Brockway and St. Marys. Neither one is a clear favorite come playoff time.  Brockway’s QB, Aiden Patton, is putting together a great year partly with the help of all-state receiver Blake Pisarcik.  Marys is being led by the two Bens especially the past couple weeks, Ben Reynolds and Ben Paul.
• 2A – This is Central Clarion’s class and it doesn’t appear they will be challenged. Afterall, they are the #2 team in the state.  Jase Ferguson is Clarion’s big-time record setting quarterback who can run and throw.  Karns City is good, but probably not really a threat and Brookville, at 1-4 right now, will win some games in the second half of the season.
• 1A – This class has the most teams, but after Port Allegany (#5 in PA) and Redbank Valley (HM), there are no other challengers for the district title, even though Otto-Eldred is 4-1, Cameron County is 3-2, and Union-AC Valley is 3-2. Port is led by Aiden Bliss who leads the state of Pennsylvania in touchdowns scored and scoring to this point.  He’s second in yardage.  Redbank is led by one of the top passing QBs in the state, Braylon Wagner.

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