When Smethport and Coudersport met for the first time earlier this season, it was an instant classic that featured a 13-point fourth quarter comeback, several big-play passing touchdowns, and a final result that secured a perfect regular season for the Hubbers.
The two long-time rivals will do battle again Saturday — this time with a district title on the line.
The Hubbers and Falcons will meet for the second time this season on Saturday at DuBois’ Mansell Stadium at 1 p.m. in the District 9 Class A championship and the chance to advance to the PIAA quarterfinals.
The title game was originally scheduled for this evening at Bradford High School, but a heavy dose of winter weather, combined with a newly installed turf surface at Parkway Field, led to a sudden change in the date and location.
“The manufacturer of our new turf strongly advised that we not plow the surface due to the infill not having enough time to settle,” the Bradford School District said in a statement. “With the amount of snow predicted overnight and into tomorrow, we did not feel it would be possible to have the field prepared in a safe manner that would be suitable for a championship game.”
Both coaches said that while the change of scenery is unfortunate, it’ll give coaches and players another day to prepare with so much on the line.
“A lot of it is out of our control, so we just need to worry about what we can control,” Smethport coach Adam Jack said. “Some of it is mental toughness, as well, as I don’t think anybody really enjoys a Saturday game rather than a Friday night game, but that is what it’s going to be and we are just going to have to deal with it and make the best of it.”
Coudersport’s Tom Storey said that his team didn’t find out about the postponement until after Thursday’s practice, but will also take advantage of another day of preparation.
Saturday’s game is another in a long line of high stakes matchups between the two schools separated by just 25 miles.
The most recent meeting, that 21-20 Smethport win over Coudersport in the regular season finale, is still fresh in both team’s minds.
The Falcons dominated play for the first three quarters and jumped out to a 20-7 lead over Smethport, only to watch it fall apart over the last six minutes following a costly fumble and a 41-yard Hubber touchdown pass.
“We let it slip away, but the guys have been looking forward to having another chance,” Storey said. “We talked about having a chance to beat all of these teams that we lost to and ultimately get back to that Smethport-Coudersport game that we let slip away. It’s all coming true, the guys have been working hard to do that, and here we are.”
If Coudersport was sulking after that heartbreaking loss, they certainly haven’t shown it on the field. The Falcons routed Redbank Valley 52-7 and then scored 22 unanswered points to stun Clarion-Limestone last week in the semifinal, in the process beating two teams that they lost to in the regular season.
Just how was Coudersport able to put that tough loss behind them so quickly?
“Basically just talking to them and telling them flat-out that our team is very good,” Storey said. “In all honestly, I think that Smethport game was a prover for them. It proved to them that they could play with unbeaten Smethport. We dominated them for 98 percent of the game except for three plays. You learn from adversity and learn from those losses.”
“Not trying to sound cocky or anything like that, but we proved that we could move the ball against them last game.”
The Hubbers, meanwhile, have continued on a roll of their own since beating Coudersport. Smethport shut out both Union/A-C Valley and Curwensville in the first two rounds, and the top-seeded Hubbers have not allowed a touchdown in nine quarters — since a 56-yard run for Coudy’s Steve Kelly run in the third quarter on Oct. 19.
Even though his team has won 11 straight games, Jack has noticed a renewed sense of focus with the rematch looming.
“They have had more energy this week than I’ve seen the last couple of weeks,” Jack said. “They are really excited to get the game going; they are as focused as they usually are, but there seems to be more drive and motivation as we prepare for this game.”
Jack knows that he will have to get his two biggest weapons (Nate Hollowell and Blake Kinner) going for his team to earn a state playoff berth for the first time in 20 years. Smethport was held to just 72 yards on the ground in the first meeting, while Coudersport scampered to 231 yards rushing.
“We just need to execute our gameplan a little better this time around,” Jack said. “I’m sure that (Storey) would tell you the same thing, but we need to run the ball better and we need to do a better job of stopping the run. We struggled with those through three quarters in the last game and we have to do better right out of the gate this week.”
Saturday will be the third all-time meeting between the two schools, but the first since 1994. Coudersport triumphed in that game, but in 1990 it was a Adam Jack-led Hubbers team that beat the Falcons in the title game.
While Jack insists that he hasn’t even thought about that game from 28 years ago, perhaps nobody is better suited to talk about what’s at stake on Saturday than he is.
“I guess that is a unique coincidence and that’s special, “ he said. “I am not surprised that Coudersport is here, they were an excellent team right out of the gate and when we saw them in the tri-scrimmage at Kane, so I’m not surprised that they worked their way back to the title game. We will both be ready to go Saturday.”
