A Look at District #9 Class (A) Football
Posted: November 15th, 2006, 4:06 pm
DISTRICT #9 CLASS (A) SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW: Curwensville (9-2) vs. Redbank Valley (8-3)
Just looking at the Curwensville-Redbank match-up is slightly wierd.
How does a 9-2 team have to travel to the 8-3 team's home field? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Well, District #9 does things a little bit differently for their Class (A) playoff tournament than do other districts using a power point format or formula.
In the Class (A) bracket, the AML Champion and the top KSAC team get the top "2" seeds. Coudersport won the AML Title game over Curwensville, and therefore got the #1 seed. But Redbank Valley didn't win the KSAC. The Bulldogs finished second to Karns City with a 7-3 record.
Here's the twist: Karns City is (AA), so that made Redbank the highest-finishing KSAC Class (A) team, and thus the Bulldogs earned the #2 spot, just ahead of #3-seeded Curwensville who finished the regular season at 8-2.
I told you it was confusing. And that's the shortened version of it.
When the Curwensville Golden Tide (9-2) travel to New Bethlehem to take on the Redbank Valley Bulldogs (8-3), both teams will be playing for the right to advance to the Class (A) Championship game next weekend. The winner of this D#9 Semi-final gets the winner of the Coudersport-Johnsonburg semi-final, being played Friday evening in Coudersport. Kickoff time from Redbank Valley High School is slated for 7 pm. Saturday evening.
Both teams have gotten this far with dynamic 1-2 offensive punches. Curwensville's 1-2 punch may have the edge in playoff experience, but don't even think about counting RV's 1-2 punch out of it at all.
Beginning with Curwensville's dynamic offensive duo starts at the running back position. Senior Nick Sipes has been nothing short of super-spectacular this season. Sipes has run for 1,740 yards and 28 TDs on 292 carries for the 2006 campaign. But it doesn't stop there. Sipes has himself the title of being D9's all-time leading rusher with 5,716 yards. He also is D9's all-time touchdown scorer. His 81 trips to the end zone surpassed Clearfield's Dave Richards' record of 80. And, in 2004, when the Golden Tide met face-to-face with the mighty Rochester Rams in the Class (A) Western Final, there was Nick Sipes, only a sophomore, but still reaking havoc. Sipes would score on runs of 99 and 72 yards, but Curwensville lost 20-12, and finished the season as Western Runners-up.
But while Sipes has been getting all the headlines, Shawn Sopic has just been doing what he does best, and that's being one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in all of District #9. Sopic has totalled 1,443 yards (718 pass, 725 rush) and 11 total TDs. For his career, Sopic has passed for 2,200 yards and run for another 1,300. His 32-8 career record as a starter is nothing to sneeze at, either. Sopic directs a Golden Tide offense that averages nearly 30 points per game.
And in last week's 35-12 drubbing of Ridgway, Sipes and Sopic combined for 365 yards of offense and all 5 Tide touchdowns. It's obvious who to focus on for Curwensville if you're the Redbank Valley defense, which allows an average of 14.2 points per game this season.
For the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, their 1-2 combination of Jake Smith and Alex Bladel has been nearly unstoppable this season. Smith and Bladel combine for nearly 99% of the Bulldog offensive output, which averages 26.4 points per game.
Smith is just as much a dual threat quarterback as Curwensville's Sopic. Smith has totalled 1,631 yards (1,092 pass, 539 rush) and 24 TDs, nearly double the total of touchdowns that Sopic has put up. Smith had himself a game last week in the Bulldogs' 34-0 rout of Keystone, running for 140 yards and 3 TDs and passing for 119 yards and 2 TDs. All told, Smith had 259 total yards.
Alex Bladel didn't fare nearly as well as Jake Smith did last week. Keystone contained Bladel to just 71 yards on 15 carries. But Bladel, who has run for 1,315 yards and 14 TDs, caught one of Smith's TD passes, so even though he didn't record a rushing touchdown, he was still a driving force behind Smith's solid night.
Redbank's tandem combined for 330 yards of offense in the Keystone game, just 35 fewer yards than Sipes and Sopic put up. But Curwensville's defense may be one of the toughest the Bulldogs have faced all season. The Golden Tide defense allows just 11.2 points per game.
With two dynamic offenses, it could come down to who has the ball last in this one. Or, it could be a defensive war.
But regardless of what happens, it will be a treat to see two quarterbacks and two dynamic, game-changing running backs take the same field with the same goal in mind.
That goal: the quest for District Gold.
THE CHOPS
Just looking at the Curwensville-Redbank match-up is slightly wierd.
How does a 9-2 team have to travel to the 8-3 team's home field? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Well, District #9 does things a little bit differently for their Class (A) playoff tournament than do other districts using a power point format or formula.
In the Class (A) bracket, the AML Champion and the top KSAC team get the top "2" seeds. Coudersport won the AML Title game over Curwensville, and therefore got the #1 seed. But Redbank Valley didn't win the KSAC. The Bulldogs finished second to Karns City with a 7-3 record.
Here's the twist: Karns City is (AA), so that made Redbank the highest-finishing KSAC Class (A) team, and thus the Bulldogs earned the #2 spot, just ahead of #3-seeded Curwensville who finished the regular season at 8-2.
I told you it was confusing. And that's the shortened version of it.
When the Curwensville Golden Tide (9-2) travel to New Bethlehem to take on the Redbank Valley Bulldogs (8-3), both teams will be playing for the right to advance to the Class (A) Championship game next weekend. The winner of this D#9 Semi-final gets the winner of the Coudersport-Johnsonburg semi-final, being played Friday evening in Coudersport. Kickoff time from Redbank Valley High School is slated for 7 pm. Saturday evening.
Both teams have gotten this far with dynamic 1-2 offensive punches. Curwensville's 1-2 punch may have the edge in playoff experience, but don't even think about counting RV's 1-2 punch out of it at all.
Beginning with Curwensville's dynamic offensive duo starts at the running back position. Senior Nick Sipes has been nothing short of super-spectacular this season. Sipes has run for 1,740 yards and 28 TDs on 292 carries for the 2006 campaign. But it doesn't stop there. Sipes has himself the title of being D9's all-time leading rusher with 5,716 yards. He also is D9's all-time touchdown scorer. His 81 trips to the end zone surpassed Clearfield's Dave Richards' record of 80. And, in 2004, when the Golden Tide met face-to-face with the mighty Rochester Rams in the Class (A) Western Final, there was Nick Sipes, only a sophomore, but still reaking havoc. Sipes would score on runs of 99 and 72 yards, but Curwensville lost 20-12, and finished the season as Western Runners-up.
But while Sipes has been getting all the headlines, Shawn Sopic has just been doing what he does best, and that's being one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in all of District #9. Sopic has totalled 1,443 yards (718 pass, 725 rush) and 11 total TDs. For his career, Sopic has passed for 2,200 yards and run for another 1,300. His 32-8 career record as a starter is nothing to sneeze at, either. Sopic directs a Golden Tide offense that averages nearly 30 points per game.
And in last week's 35-12 drubbing of Ridgway, Sipes and Sopic combined for 365 yards of offense and all 5 Tide touchdowns. It's obvious who to focus on for Curwensville if you're the Redbank Valley defense, which allows an average of 14.2 points per game this season.
For the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, their 1-2 combination of Jake Smith and Alex Bladel has been nearly unstoppable this season. Smith and Bladel combine for nearly 99% of the Bulldog offensive output, which averages 26.4 points per game.
Smith is just as much a dual threat quarterback as Curwensville's Sopic. Smith has totalled 1,631 yards (1,092 pass, 539 rush) and 24 TDs, nearly double the total of touchdowns that Sopic has put up. Smith had himself a game last week in the Bulldogs' 34-0 rout of Keystone, running for 140 yards and 3 TDs and passing for 119 yards and 2 TDs. All told, Smith had 259 total yards.
Alex Bladel didn't fare nearly as well as Jake Smith did last week. Keystone contained Bladel to just 71 yards on 15 carries. But Bladel, who has run for 1,315 yards and 14 TDs, caught one of Smith's TD passes, so even though he didn't record a rushing touchdown, he was still a driving force behind Smith's solid night.
Redbank's tandem combined for 330 yards of offense in the Keystone game, just 35 fewer yards than Sipes and Sopic put up. But Curwensville's defense may be one of the toughest the Bulldogs have faced all season. The Golden Tide defense allows just 11.2 points per game.
With two dynamic offenses, it could come down to who has the ball last in this one. Or, it could be a defensive war.
But regardless of what happens, it will be a treat to see two quarterbacks and two dynamic, game-changing running backs take the same field with the same goal in mind.
That goal: the quest for District Gold.
THE CHOPS