Heritage Conference Title Race
Tagged under: District 5, District 6, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Josh Krise | October 9, 2024
We have already gone through seven weeks of high school football, it’s almost unbelievable how fast the time has gone. What is also almost unbelievable is how competitive the Heritage Conference has been again this year. In 2023, the Heritage Conference had 7 teams in Class 1A and Class 2A playoffs and they may do it again this year. Last year’s teams from the Heritage Conference were Northern Cambria, Marion Center, Cambria Heights, Penns Manor, Purchase Line, River Valley, and United Valley. There were some changes this year with Cambria Heights moving from 1A to 2A but they’re moving right along. Overall there are 6 teams that could possibly compete for the conference title and seven that could possibly make playoffs. Last year out of nineteen teams in the 1A through 3A playoffs, only four had five wins or below. For the sake of the article I am going to use six wins or more as clinching playoffs due to that low amount of teams with five wins or less making it last year.
Cambria Heights (7-0): Cambria Heights made a smooth transition from 1A to 2A this year, winning seven straight and finding themselves in alone in first place. Cambria Heights has secured themselves a spot in the playoffs and looks to wrap up a conference title for the first time since 2021, but with three weeks left to play they have to remain focused or chaos could ensue. The next three weeks their opponents are Homer Center (2-5), West Shamokin (0-7), and Penns Manor (5-2), a combined record of 7-14. Now looking at their schedule they have the easiest path of the six teams to wrap up the conference title and would need to go 0-3 in the next three weeks to open the door for the others to push through, but it is football and upsets can occur any time.
Northern Cambria (6-1): Northern Cambria suffered one big loss all season, and it came to Cambria Heights, which makes it a little more difficult for them to wrap up a conference title. Northern Cambria should have a spot in the playoffs, and they still have a chance to win a conference title, but they have a more difficult road ahead. Northern Cambria’s next three games are against Conemaugh Township (3-4), River Valley (6-1), and Portage (2-5), a combined record of 11-10, more difficult than Cambria Heights remaining record. Northern Cambria needs to win out the rest of the season and has to hope that Cambria Heights drops two games to have a chance at the title.
River Valley (6-1): River Valley is in a similar situation as Northern Cambria, River Valley’s next three games are Marion Center (5-2), Northern Cambria (6-1), and West Shamokin (0-7), the same combined record as Northern Cambria’s opponents, 11-10. River Valley should have a playoff spot, but they have to win out the year, or go 2-1, have Cambria Heights go 0-3, and have Northern Cambria proceed to go 1-2, with River Valley beating Northern Cambria, or have Northern Cambria lose the rest of the year to secure a conference title. River Valley has a chance, it may possibly a lower chance then Cambria Heights, and it depends on whether or not they can defeat Northern Cambria, but they have the third best chance based off of opponents combined record of any of the six teams.
Marion Center (5-2): Marion Center marks the first of three teams that have a chance at a conference title and currently sit under six wins. As I stated in the opening paragraph, it is possible that five wins earns them a playoff spot but it would be much better for them to get to six or seven wins. Marion Center stares ahead at a difficult next 3 weeks where they will play River Valley (6-1), Penns Manor (5-2), and United Valley (4-3), a combined record of 15-7. A lot would have to go right for Marion Center to claim the conference title, they need to win their next three games against three tough opponents. They also need a lot of help. Cambria Heights needs to lose out, they need Northern Cambria to either lose their next three or to go 1-2 the rest of the season, and they need to win this week’s game against River Valley and hope River Valley goes 1-1 after that or that River Valley loses all three weeks. So the probability of them winning the conference is low, but we’re discussing the possibilities.
Penns Manor (5-2): Penns Manor has the toughest remaining schedule of all of the teams we are discussing. They play United Valley (4-3), Marion Center (5-2), and Cambria Heights (7-0), all three teams combine to have a 16-5 record. Penns Manor, similar to Marion Center needs a lot to go right. Cambria Heights needs to either go 1-1 or 0-2 in the next two weeks, and Penns Manor needs to beat them to end the season, that’s if Penns Manor goes 2-0 in those two weeks leading up to the last game of the year. Penns Manor needs Northern Cambria to go 1-2 or 0-3, and for River Valley to do the same. Penns Manor needs to also beat Marion Center. If Cambria Heights ends the season 8-2 with a loss to Penns Manor, Northern Cambria ends at 7-3, River Valley ends at 7-3, and Marion Center at 6-4, or 7-3 then it is possible that Penns Manor could come away with a conference title.
United Valley (4-3): United Valley has an easier strength of schedule than Marion Center and Penns Manor, but they have a harder road to climb to get to playoffs, and a mountain to climb to win their second straight conference title. United Valley closes out the season with Penns Manor (5-2), Purchase Line (2-5), and Marion Center (5-2), a combined record of 12-9. United Valley needs at the minimum one win to have a shot at playoffs, preferably two to really secure a chance. As of right now in District 6 2A they would make it. To win the conference is a much harder road, they need Cambria Heights, Northern Cambria, and River Valley to completely fall apart and finish the season going, collectively, 0-9. United Valley would need to beat both Marion Center and Penns Manor to give all 3 teams 3 losses and United would need to win out.
Those are the six teams that could possibly have a chance at the Heritage Conference title, but there’s one other team that could make playoffs from District 5 and that is Conemaugh Township. Conemaugh Township currently sits at 3-4, so there’s not enough games for there to be a possibility of a conference title. They do have a chance at playoffs. Their last three games are Northern Cambria (6-1), Conemaugh Valley (0-7), and Homer Center (2-5). They need to squeak out at least 2 wins in their next three to stay within contention but they’re definitely not completely out of the race so far in the year.
It looks to be a fun next three weeks within the Heritage Conference and the PIAA.
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