CURWENSVILLE – Defending District 9 Class ?A? champion Ridgway will battle Curwensville Friday night at Mansell Stadium in DuBois for a chance to win back-to-back titles.
Ridgway at 8-3, the number two seed, will battle the Golden Tide who defeated the Elkers in week seven of the regular season, in Curwensville, 14-11.
Curwensville, now with a 9-2 mark, is the top seed.
The Tide rolled into the finals by defeating Redbank Valley last Saturday 47-13 while Ridgway blasted Coudersport the same day, 47-6, to advance.
It will be the fourth straight year that two squads from the Allegheny Mountain League (AML) fight for the District 9 ?A? crown.
Ridgway has two District 9 championships, both in Class ?A?, last year and in 1989. The Elkers came in second in 1993.
Curwensville will be looking for its fourth D-9 title, having won for the first time in 2000 and then again in 2004 and 2010.
The Tide have been runners-up twice, 2001 and 2006.
In this year’s regular season meeting Ridgway jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one quarter on a safety.
Tide senior running back Nick Stewart gave Curwensville the lead early in the second quarter on a five yard touchdown run. Madison Weber?s extra point made it 7-2 in favor of the Tide.
The Elkers scored nine points in the last 28 seconds of the first half to take an 11-7 edge at the break.
With 28 seconds before intermission, Ridgway quarterback Johnny Mitchell found Neil MacDonald for a 10 yard touchdown pass. The two point conversion attempt failed.
Aaron Hinton was good on a 39 yard field goal attempt as the clock ran out, giving the Elkers an 11-7 lead with two quarters to play.
The only score in the second half, in the third quarter, was the winning score as Hinton attempted a 22 yard field goal, only to have it blocked by the Golden Tide?s Cole Bressler with Stewart picking up the loose ball and racing 88 yards to pay dirt. Once again Weber was perfect on the PAT and the Tide had the 14-11 victory.
Stewart rushed for 85 yards and scored two TD?s, while senor quarterback Bryce Timko was 7 of 17 for 75 yards in the passing attack.
Tide senior wide receiver Josh Terry hauled in four catches for 60 yards.
Ridgway?s MacDonald ran for 81 yards and Mitchell connected on 11 of 22 pass attempts for 113 yards, but had five interceptions against the Tide defense.
Listen to the Curwensville-Ridgway game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 pm.
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 08/25 | @ Cameron County | 38 – 8 | 1 – 0 |
| 09/01 | @ Smethport | 48 – 0 | 2 – 0 |
| 09/08 | SHEFFIELD | 56 – 8 | 3 – 0 |
| 09/15 | @ Port Allegany | 56 – 13 | 4 – 0 |
| 09/22 | @ Kane | 0 – 57 | 4 – 1 |
| 09/29 | BROCKWAY | 15 – 13 | 5 – 1 |
| 10/06 | RIDGWAY | 14 – 11 | 6 – 1 |
| 10/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | 43 – 12 | 7 – 1 |
| 10/20 | BRADFORD | 14 – 23 | 7 – 2 |
| 10/27 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 48 – 19 | 8 – 2 |
| 11/03 | District 9 A Playoffs | ||
| 11/03 | BYE | ||
| 11/11 | Redbank Valley @ DuBois, 6 pm | 47 – 13 | 9 – 2 |
| 11/17 | vs. Ridgway, @ DuBois, 7 pm |