Mountain League - Playoffs Week 3

[DragonsDoExist]

Last Week 3-0 (Overall 50-9)

Class 3A Inter-districts, Sunday 7pm @ Mansion Park

D5/8/9 Champ Bedford (6-5) vs D6 Champ Bald Eagle Area (10-2)...The Eagles come into this one following a tough 5 point win over Forest Hills in the D6 championship. Meanwhile the Bison took care of Westinghouse pretty easily 47-16 in the D5/8/9 sub-regional. Bald Eagle Area, currently ranked 8th in PFN 3A state rankings, continues to ride the arm and legs of junior QB Jaden Jones. Last week Jones threw for a modest 168 yards in the wet conditions at Mansion Park but was able to sustain several Eagle drives with his legs while rushing for 76 yards on just 10 carries and made several big throws down the stretch outside of the pocket. Defensively BEA held the FH passing game in check as Rangers QB Adam Cecere completed just 13 of 34 attempts. Jones spreads the ball around as 7 different receivers have caught TD passes from the junior QB. Bedford will provide a different style challenge than the Rangers in that it's highly unlikely Bedford will attempt 30+ passes. Last week Bison sophomore QB Steven Ressler attempted just 5 passes. On the season Ressler has thrown for just 467 yards and 3 TDs as the Bison prefer to pound you with their running game and tailback Dylan Arnold. The senior back has rushed for 1081 yards and 17 TDs on the season and last week against Westinghouse senior Zach Price added an additional 100 yards rushing on just 7 carries. Freshman Mercury Swaim leads the Bison receivers having caught all 3 of Ressler's scoring passes. Defensively I believe a Bison defense that's giving up 21 ppg will struggle to stop the BEA offense that is putting up 34 ppg. The Bald Eagle breakthrough season continues one more week. The winner of this game will the winner of the D10 champ game between Grove City & Sharon. Bald Eagle Area 34 Bedford 20

Class 4A Inter-districts, Saturday 7pm @ Clarion University

D6/9 Champ Clearfield (12-0) vs D10 Champ Cathedral Prep (9-3)...Just like they've done all year the Bison won easily last week by a score of 49-21 over Bellefonte in the D6-AAAA title game. Meanwhile CP was doing the same taking down D8 champ University Prep 52-8. Clearfield has won all but one of it's games this season by 3 TDs or more and has been held under 35 points just once. Offensively they are the best team I've seen in person this year. We all know about senior QB Isaac Rumery who has thrown for 2400 yards, 25 TDs and just 3 INTs with an impressive 70% completion rate but a pair of running backs have been leading the offense of late. Junior Brett Zattoni leads the team with 1015 yards and 13 TDs while senior Caleb Freeland has ran for 961 yards and 21 TDs! Rumery also contributes significantly to the run game with 555 yards and 12 TDs of his own. Sophomore WR Jake Leezer is in my opinion the best WR in the area and leads the Bison with 44 rec. for 1024 yards and 9 TDs. Senior Taye Lynch is also big in the passing game going for 887 yards and 12 TDs on 40 catches. Erie Cathedral Prep is your 2 time defending state champs and don't let the 3 losses confuse you, they are back to defend the title. Prep is averaging 41 ppg and while they can throw it they prefer to keep it on the ground where they average 282 yards per game. Leading the rushing attack is 3* senior tailback Billy Lucas who currently holds a D1 offer from Bowling Green. Lucas has missed a few games this year due to injury but has still managed to rack up over 1100 yards and 15 TDs. The Ramblers have 3 rushers with over 500 yards and run behind a big OL led by 6'5" Chris Oliver who just recently committed to Bowling Green. Junior QB Collin Johnson led the team early in the season and threw for 815 yards, 12 TDs and 1 INT but for the past month senior Regan Scheicher has been under center and has thrown for 912 yards to go along with 11 TDs and 3 INTs. While I don't think this year's CP team is nearly as dominate as the last 2 years they are still going to be the best team Clearfield has faced in a long time. I really like this years Bison team and their ability to beat you running or passing. Rumery is about as experienced as you can get and a very good leader/decision maker. The concern may be the fact that they haven't been in any close games and had to score points with the game on the line. The winner will get the winner of the D7 champ between Thomas Jefferson and South Fayette. I know this is a super long shot but I'm going out on that tiny limb. Clearfield 35 Cathedral Prep 34

Good luck to the Eagles and Bison!