Clearfield battles St. Marys for the District 9 Class AAA title in a repeat matchup from Week 10. Meanwhile, Curwensville hooks up with Elk County Catholic in a District 9 Class A quarterfinal tilt.

In District 6 Class A, Moshannon Valley travels to Bellwood-Antis, while Purchase Line plays host to Homer-Center in quarterfinal action.

Here is a closer look at each postseason contest:

District 9 Class AAA

Championship

Clearfield (8-2)

vs. St. Marys (6-4)

BROCKWAY - One week after disposing of St. Marys, 29-6, in both teams' regular-season finale, Clearfield gets to battle the Flying Dutch again - this time with the District 9 Class AAA title on the line.

"It's not the best situation to be in, playing them in back-to-back weeks, but we both have to face the same challenge," Clearfield head coach Tim Janocko said.

"We have to go out and prepare the same way we do every week, only this time we're playing for the District 9 Championship."

The Bisons handled St. Marys last week at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, running 59 plays to the Dutch's 37 and outgaining them by 60 yards. But Janocko expects a tighter game the second time around.

"I think it's going to be a close game," he said. "The talent level between the teams isn't much different. They've seen everything we do, and we've seen what they do. It will come down to who makes the critical play(s)."

Janocko does feel the win last week gives Clearfield a bit of an advantage from a confidence standpoint, and that bouncing back from its Week 9 loss to Huntingdon was also a big boost.

"We responded well to the loss and picked up a little momentum," Janocko said.

"Obviously, we would rather be on the winning end of last week's outcome, but we're expecting a few new wrinkles from them. Although at this point in the season, you've seen about everything you can see. We just have to be smart and carry out our assignments."

While Clearfield has the momentum from last week's decisive win, it's the Flying Dutch who have a little bit of history on theirs.

After losing to the Bisons during the regular season last year, St. Marys rebounded to defeat Clearfield, 30-14, in the District 9 Class AAA semifinals.

"That is certainly something we've talked about this week, " Janocko said.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Brockway's Frank Varischetti Field.

Saturday

District 9 Class A

Quarterfinals

Elk County Catholic (6-3)

at Curwensville (7-2)

CURWENSVILLE - After a week off, the Curwensville Golden Tide begin their playoff push Saturday in a battle with Allegheny Mountain League foe Elk County Catholic.

"I think it (bye week) helped us," Curwensville head coach Andy Evanko said. "It gave us a chance to go back and work on fundamentals, and go back and strengthen what we want to do. We got healthy. With the schedule we played, it was a benefit."

Curwensville downed ECC in Week 7 in a hard-fought 22-12 victory.

"ECC played us very well. We can't make any mistakes in this game," Evanko said. "We have to play the perfect game - we can't have penalties and we can't have turnovers. You have to think they're going to come out and do the same things. They did a good job of moving the football, and we had trouble moving the ball.

"We've got to run better, block better, catch better and pass better but, above all, we have to tackle better. It's hard to play someone twice in the same season because it's hard to beat someone twice. Hopefully our kids are up to the challenge."

The Crusaders gained 203 yards on the ground in the first meeting, led by Ricky Pearsall's 176. Evanko says the Golden Tide must do a better job against the ECC ground attack to be successful this time around.

"We've got to play great defense," he said. "We absolutely, positively have to stop the run. We have to come up and make some big hits and stay physical.

"We always want to tackle well and tackle hard, but we had a whole week of fundamentals. It was like a week of preseason at the end of the season."

And what about the pressure of the postseason, and the win-or-go-home mentality of the playoffs?

"We're accustomed to that kind of atmosphere," Evanko said. "We played big game after big game this season, so we've been in must-win situations throughout most of the year.

"I think we'll be fine. I think the kids will handle the pressure of this magnitude."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Riverside Stadium.

District 6 Class A

Quarterfinals

Homer-Center (7-3)

at Purchase Line (10-0)

PURCHASE LINE - In Week 4 of the season Purchase Line and Homer-Center went head-to-head in a battle of the early season unbeatens. The Red Dragons pulled out a 29-20 victory and went on to win the Heritage Conference.

After dispatching another conference foe (Penns Manor) in round one of the playoffs,

Purchase Line will once again have to face the Wildcats in the District 6 Class A quarterfinals.

"At least you've got some idea what they're coming at you with. ... It does help," Purchase Line head coach Dave Small said.

"On the other hand, we'd like to see some different teams. It's almost like it's not even playoffs. It's great we have that type of play in our conference, but we'd like to play someone different so it's more of a playoff type atmosphere."

The old adage is that it's always tougher to beat a team a second time, but the confidence born out of the first victory may help Purchase Line.

"I think it's hard, but it's also a plus for us too because our kids are confident we can beat them," Small said.

"We've beat them before and it's not a task they can't pass. It works both ways. We don't take it lightly, but we are definitely thinking we can beat them. ... I think we're going to be ready to play Saturday."

Once again the Red Dragons will have to be able to slow down two quality running backs for the Wildcats in Tim Kinter and Justin Fess. In the first battle Kinter rushed for 98 yards on only 13 carries.

When Homer-Center isn't letting its backs run wild, it puts the ball in the hands of quarterback Garrett Sisak. The dual-threat signal-caller ran for 24 yards in Week 4 and threw for 102 yards, but also tossed four interceptions.

"In our first matchup we really weren't playing as well defensively," Small said. "We didn't tackle well, and Kinter and Fess got some yards running.

"We hope we have that corrected and can focus on stopping Sisak, who is a tremendous runner as well as a throwing quarterback."

Not only does Small feel his defense has gotten better, but he thinks the offense is also much improved. Early season rust wore off and the Red Dragons rushed for at least 315 yards in four of their last five games following the Homer-Center matchup.

All bets are that Homer-Center is not the same team it was the first time around either, though, and all that will matter is who shows up to play this weekend.

"I said to them tonight ‘we've got to look at things as seniors this could be your last game you play,' " Small said. " ‘I know I don't want to end it (the season) and I sure hope you guys don't.'

"We've got to go out and play a good team, and playing a team for the second time is tough. We've got to be ready to play."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday at Barry T. Madill Field.

District 6 Class A

Quarterfinals

Moshannon Valley (9-1)

at Bellwood-Antis (9-1)

BELLWOOD - Moshannon Valley coach Murray Fetzer challenged his team to see how far they could come after a 44-0 loss at the hands of Bellwood-Antis on Oct. 3.

The Black Knights will get that opportunity, as they travel to face the Blue Devils in a District 6 Class A quarterfinal matchup.

In the first meeting, Bellwood benefited from six Mo Valley turnovers, and Fetzer believes eliminating those chances for the Devils will be key.

"I feel we match up in a lot of areas, we just have to eliminate our mistakes," said Fetzer.

"We made some mistakes we hope not to make again. ... We have to play the kind of football we know we can play - physical, tough football. It's what has gotten us to this point of the year."

Bellwood marched right through Bishop Guilfoyle in its opening round matchup to the tune of a 37-7 win, where it displayed one of its most balanced offensive games of the season. The Devils racked up 200 yards through the air and added 179 on the ground.

Running back Zach McCaulley was the workhorse, toting 30 carries for 134 yards and three scores, while quarterback Nate Gray completed 5 of 8 attempts for 173 yards and a touchdown.

"The first half of that game is going to be extremely important," Fetzer said. "The kids need to show themselves that they can play with Bellwood.

"The coaches know they can. We believed we could against Bishop Carroll, and we need to do the same thing against Bellwood."

The Knights will look to get their running game back on track after rushing for just 25 yards against the Huskies in last weekend's win, but it won't be easy against the Devils. Bellwood limited Mo Valley to just 37 in their first matchup.

Fetzer believes the confidence gained in the win over Bishop Carroll could carry over to this week and make a difference.

"I think it showed them they can play with that caliber of a football team," said Fetzer. "(Bishop Carroll) only played one single-A team other than us, but we stuck with them and the kids really grew in confidence in that game.

"We can play very well against a solid football team, and they proved that last week. It was a tremendous confidence-builder, and we needed that."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with the victor advancing to the semifinals to face the Bishop McCort-Laurel Valley winner.

"We reviewed the tapes and we feel they played their best game against us in Week 6," Fetzer said of Bellwood. "We didn't play our best game, so we're hoping to come out and execute better than the first time around.

"It really comes down to executing our gameplan, not turning the ball over and beating ourselves. We've got to capitalize on anything that comes our way."