To advance to the elite eight in Pennsylvania’s Class AA, Coudersport will face its toughest test of the season.
Undefeated Coudersport (25-0) takes on Greensburg Central Catholic (24-1) tonight at Clearfield High School at 6 p.m., a deceiving fourth-place team from District 7. The Centurions rolled through a 22-0 regular season and a first-round bye in the WPIAL playoffs before being upset in the semifinals by Seton LaSalle.
This game went through two scheduling changes after weather forced its postponement from the original Tuesday start. On Wednesday, the PIAA announced the game was moving from DuBois to Clearfield.
The Falcons, which run essentially a five-guard offense and doesn’t have a starter taller than six feet, know they’ll be facing a tall task today. For head coach Brian Furman, it’s just more of the same as the undersized Coudersport team has utilized outside shooting, a ball-hawking defense and a team-first approach all season.
“We’ve seen one game and they’re really good,” Furman said Saturday after his team’s victory in the PIAA first round. “Everyone is going to be good when you get into the state playoffs. You’re not going to have very many easy games, especially now that we’re down to the round of 16. They like to push the ball too. They’re a pretty fast-paced team. They have a little more size than we do, but everybody does.”
Despite having the better seed, the District-9 champion Falcons will need to have its top players perform on the same night. Aside from Saturday’s 85-40 blowout win, Coudersport hasn’t gotten consistent scoring efforts from all of its top-four leading scorers on the same night.
Sophomore Owen Chambers leads the team at 16.9 points per game just ahead of junior Jared Green (16.8). Seniors Aaron Wolfinger (9.7) and Zach Layag (9.2) nearly scored in double figures.
A win for Coudersport would move the Falcons to its first final eight appearance 2008. The winner of this game plays the winner of Sewickley Academy and Bishop Guilfoyle on Saturday.
Elk Catholic (27-0), ranked second in Pa. in Class A by PennLive, is vying for a shot to match up against top-ranked Kennedy Catholic, the defending state champions, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Standing in the way, however, is a 16-10 Williamsburg team that shocked Southern Fulton, 55-54, on a buzzer-beater in the first round.
The Crusaders are led by 1,000-point scorer Nate DaCanal, who leads the team at 15 points per game while Gabe Kraus and Ryan Newton add 14.6 and 11.1, respectively. The Crusaders tipoff in Clearfield after the Coudersport-Greensburg Central Catholic game.
Johnsonburg (13-13), also in Class A, faces a much stiffer test this week when the Rams play District 6 champion Saltsburg (25-1) after its 10-point win on Friday against sub-.500 Jamestown.
Ridgway (22-5), in Class AA, rounds out the area boys teams when coach Tony Allegreto’s Elkers travel to Altoona to play Berlin Brothersvalley for a 7:30 p.m.
