Road to Chocolate Town Report September 25.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Little thing I may do each week to show what teams are doing outside of the area, and to showcase the teams our local teams will face first in the State Playoffs.

First off the Top 3 contenders for our District....
D6 A
Bishop McCort (4-0) Next up-Richland. Escaped a tight one against Bedford, but still the favorites in A to this point.
Bellwood-Antis (3-1) Next up-Southern Huntingdon. Reeled off 3 straight easy wins after a tough loss to Tyrone. Looks to be the top challenger.
Juniata Valley (4-0)Next up-@ Mt. Union The other undefeated team in the District, they are tough and they can give Bellwood a run for the ICC.

D5 A
North Star (4-0) Next up-Myersdale. They have been very impressive through 4 games. They should be 7-0 when they face Windber and Township to finish the season.
Conemaugh Township (4-0) Next up-Chestnut Ridge. The Indians have the most impressive win for any local A team so far. Dropping 54 on Windber was a statement.
Northern Bedford (3-1) Next up-@ Claysburg-Kimmel. After a tough opener, The Panthers are rolling.


D6 AA
Tyrone (3-1) Next up-Central. The Eagles are flying high, and quite frankly should roll right through the Mountain League.
Forest Hills (3-1) Next up-Cambria Heights. After the blowout week 1, things are back on tack. They have a great chance to repeat.
Richland (3-1)Next up-@Bishop McCort. They can play with anybody, proving that by only losing to Johnstown by 1 Touchdown.

D6 AAA
Johnstown (4-0) Next up-Somerset. Hand them the trophy. They are the D6 AAA Champions by default.


So from here the District Champion's road looks like this.
D6 A-First Round-D3. Second Round-D11/D12 or D4/D1. State Championship would see WPIAL/D5 or D10/D9
D5 A-First Round-WPIAL. Second Round-10-1/9-1. State Title-D6. D3. D4. D1/12. D11.
D6 AA-First Round-D10. Second Round-WPIAL or City League/D9. State Championship-D1/12. D2. D3. D4. D11
AAA-First up D9, than D4. From there, winner of D11/D2. Than the Philly winner(D12 or D1) State Title-WPIAL, District 3 or District 10.



So we will start with A.
District 6 will face District 3 right off the bat. McCort on '09, and Carroll in '10 won this first State Playoff game.
The top teams of District 3.....
--Millersburg is 2-2. Some size, they throw the ball alright. Nothing special though.
--Steelton-Highspire is 1-3. To put into perspective they beat Halifax 12-8, Bald Eagle of D6 beat Halifax 21-0. So I wouldn't say this the best Steamrollers team in recent memory.
--Holy Name was the defending champs, but they merged with another school to be Berks Catholic. They are 1-2 and play tomorrow night. 62 kids on the roster, but only 1 win to date.
--Columbia is 3-1. Can't find much on them but they have 2 wins against AAA teams, and one against a AA team. Maybe they are the team to beat.

Looking to the 2nd round, if you want....
Southern Columbia 4-0(D4) Pius X 4-0(D11) Dunmore 4-0(D2)


District 5 plays the WPIAL Champs first off, and not sure if they have or ever will get past this game.
--Clairton (4-0) is unbelievably good, led by Pitt recruit Trenton Coles, who is also the State sprinting champ. They are big strong, and reall fast.
--Sto Rox (4-0) They just won a shootout over A power, Rochester. They have a kid going to Syracuse, another player going to Pitt, and a Linebacker/Tight End that can go anywhere. Deaysean Rippey is a 4 star recruit that has offers from Alabama,Auburn,Florida,Ohio State, Nebraska ect....They are solid.
--Rochester (3-1) They get beat by Clairton every year in the Championship, but they always get there. Good team, not quite good enough.

If Pigs fly, and the second round is an option, Mercyhurst 4-0 (D10) Curwensville 3-1 (D9)

D6 AA will face the District 10 Champion. Forest Hills won the game last year, Central won it a few years ago.

--Wilmington (4-0) They are the usual suspects up there, seem to be pretty good again.
--Hickory (4-0) They've been solid all year, they play Wilmington Friday.
--North East (4-0) Another contender up there. Might be a tight race the whole way through.

If the D6 teams wins, looking at the WPIAL Champ most likely. D9 AA is in that same boat as D5 A.
Aliquippa (4-0) Beaver Falls (3-1) GCC (4-0) Jeannette (4-0) Seton LaSalle (4-0)


Well Johnstown's road is interesting because of regionals, and subregionals and all that.
First Game is going to be against Clearfield most likely. They are 4-0 and eliminated Johnstown last year. They lost a lot, and the Trojans are capable of beating them.

Second game is against a D4 team. Of the the 7 AAA teams in that district, not 1 has a winning record. Selinsgrove is the traditional power and they are 1-3. My guess is Shikellamy. No powerhouse from here.

If Johnstown continues to survive..... The road gets harder. Likely a game against defending state champs Allentown Central Catholic, who features a QB going to South Carolina.



I was up early this morning and bored, so here's what i do when I'm bored.

[thebrigade]

crimson, when i looked out the window this am there were 2 pigs hovering outside..lol

[Ghost]

A couple of things:

Millersburg and Columbia are the teams to beat. Forget Steel-High. I sat in on a chat with Andy Shay and Eric Epler on PennLive and they stated that Columbia is the real deal out of D3. Millersburg is there, but they aren’t the same team that won the district in 2009 with Langraft, Roach, and Auman. Contenders, but I'm not sold on them.

Southern’s elite again. So is Dunmore. I don’t know about Pius X. An SCA vs Clairton state final would be worth the price of admission. They have a tough bunch of teams coming up though with Lewisburg, Bloomsburg, Danville, and Mount Carmel. The Heartland Conference is a helluva league.

I don’t believe District 5 in class A has ever gotten to the second round. They were in the sub region with D6 back in the day and when Windber won it they lost to Sharpsville big the next week. They have been close in recent years (Windber against Duquesne and Clairton, North Star against Serra) but haven’t gotten over the hump. Don’t count on them making it this season with the Bears juggernaut looming.

Curwensville is no longer the team to beat in D9 in my opinion. Port Allegheny is. Curwensville has a one dimensional offense, and I’m flabbergasted by the Tide’s loss considering all the talent they had coming back. I thought they could make a run to at least the semis, but I don’t think they can if they keep playing the way they are now.

Central didn’t win it a few years ago. I think you’re thinking of when Runk was a sophomore and they lost to Wilimington in 2008 21-19. Runk went out of the game with a leg injury and they ended up losing. Wilmington then beat the Quips and Burrs to win the title.

D7 goes to the title game against probably West Catholic. Best 0-3 school in the state. But look out for Mount Carmel or Lewisburg though out of D4 and Lancaster Catholic and Trinity in District 3.

Clearfield is still good, but definitely not as good as last year. D4 is wide open. ACC might not even make the playoffs from what I’m told. They came out and dropped their first two games. They could pull it off, but there’s a distinct possibility they don’t make it out of districts. A lot of things have to go right for them. Valley View is on my radar from D2, and wouldn’t be surprised if Johnstown saw them in the quarters.

Archbishop Wood is better than everyone though and barring any slip ups will win the championship.

[jack daniel]

Johnstown has no hope, neither does D5 A champion, D6 AA champion might win a game, and McCort or Bellwood could get to the Semis but won't beat Southern Columbia.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Wood should win AAA. Hope well isn't a very good team, but they have the best offensive player in the state. They will go as far as he takes them. Cnetral Valley is really good, capable of beating Wood? Probably not. Montour will still make some noise as well.

I think you are right, Columbia is going to be the team to beat out of D3. Southern Columbia will be right there. Honestly, the East has 5-6 teams that can play, I'd put McCort in the conversation, but I'd just assume Southern Columbia is better. But you never really know. D6 is on a two game winning streak against D3, so It'd be nice to keep that going.


No D5 has no shot against Clairton. But at the same time, Sto Rox certainly has a chance against Clairton. Its not like Clairton runs away in the WPIAL Championship every season, Rochester gives them a hell of a game yearly, and Sto Rox just beat Rochester. I hope it works out that those two play down at Heinz Field.


I'll be honest, I know very little, next to nothing about District 9.

Yeah I knew Wilmington won states that year, got mixed up a bit, but Central was right there. Very impressive.


Johnstown's road is so weird because of all the games they have to go through, but I think Clearfield and Shikellemy will be the first two games. They can and should win those games. I did see Valley View in the top 10, nice call. I just assumed the defending state champ with and SEC recruit running the show would still be a force to be reckoned with. Still a lot of Football to be played, things will shape up as more games get in the books.

[thebrigade]

A couple of things:

Millersburg and Columbia are the teams to beat. Forget Steel-High. I sat in on a chat with Andy Shay and Eric Epler on PennLive and they stated that Columbia is the real deal out of D3. Millersburg is there, but they aren’t the same team that won the district in 2009 with Langraft, Roach, and Auman. Contenders, but I'm not sold on them.

Southern’s elite again. So is Dunmore. I don’t know about Pius X. An SCA vs Clairton state final would be worth the price of admission. They have a tough bunch of teams coming up though with Lewisburg, Bloomsburg, Danville, and Mount Carmel. The Heartland Conference is a helluva league.

I don’t believe District 5 in class A has ever gotten to the second round. They were in the sub region with D6 back in the day and when Windber won it they lost to Sharpsville big the next week. They have been close in recent years (Windber against Duquesne and Clairton, North Star against Serra) but haven’t gotten over the hump. Don’t count on them making it this season with the Bears juggernaut looming.

Curwensville is no longer the team to beat in D9 in my opinion. Port Allegheny is. Curwensville has a one dimensional offense, and I’m flabbergasted by the Tide’s loss considering all the talent they had coming back. I thought they could make a run to at least the semis, but I don’t think they can if they keep playing the way they are now.

Central didn’t win it a few years ago. I think you’re thinking of when Runk was a sophomore and they lost to Wilimington in 2008 21-19. Runk went out of the game with a leg injury and they ended up losing. Wilmington then beat the Quips and Burrs to win the title.

D7 goes to the title game against probably West Catholic. Best 0-3 school in the state. But look out for Mount Carmel or Lewisburg though out of D4 and Lancaster Catholic and Trinity in District 3.

Clearfield is still good, but definitely not as good as last year. D4 is wide open. ACC might not even make the playoffs from what I’m told. They came out and dropped their first two games. They could pull it off, but there’s a distinct possibility they don’t make it out of districts. A lot of things have to go right for them. Valley View is on my radar from D2, and wouldn’t be surprised if Johnstown saw them in the quarters.

Archbishop Wood is better than everyone though and barring any slip ups will win the championship.

n.s. vs. serra was when n.s. was in AA. no team has been past district 7 and probably will never.

[Ghost]

You're wrong. North Star vs Serra was in 2007 when North Star was single A. Serra played and lost for the class A title that year against Steel-High. North Star moved up to AA and beat Langley the following year, then lost to Karns City.

[Crimson's Ghost]

http://www.piaa.org/news/details.aspx?ID=651


This should make it easier, Ghost is right. They were never AA.

[Eaglealum]

You guys are speaking of D5 vs D7 correct? D6 teams have several wins vs the WPIAL champs. FH beat the Wpial champs in 94, Tyrone is 3-1 against the d7 reps(beat the Quips,Waynesburg,and Seton-LaSalle, lost to Burrell)

[Ghost]

We're talking about District 5 class A. D6 has a few wins. Obviously more than District 5.

Crimson, North Star was AA for a cycle after the Serra Catholic game. They dropped back down and have been A since.