HYDE — The Clearfield Area High School boys basketball team will be seeking a fourth consecutive District 9 championship in the Class AAAA title game against No. 1 seed Bradford Wednesday night.
The former District 9 League rivals will match near-identical records on the DuBois Area High School hardwood at 7:30.
The Bison, seeded No. 2 because of one more loss than the Owls, are 14-9 after eliminating No. 3 seed St. Marys 60-57 last Wednesday, the same night Bradford (14-8) ousted Punxsutawney 37-30 for its sixth consecutive win.
The Owls defeated DuBois, Brookville, co-champ Elk County Catholic and Punxsutawney down the stretch to share the District 9 League title for the first time since 2010. Four of their losses came against teams outside of the district.
“They’re a good team,” Clearfield coach Nate Glunt said. “They’ve come on strong, and they’re well-coached, so they don’t make many mistakes.
“We’re going to have to play well to win.”
Leading scorers for the Owls are 5-9 senior Deondre Terwilliger and 5-10 sophomore Tyler Gigliotti, both averaging around 15 points.
Though none average more than seven points, seniors Dan Manion (6-2) and Adam Boyer (5-10), junior Donny Pattison (6-1) and sophomore Steven Knowlton (5-9) all have hit double figures in recent games.
“They have two excellent guards in Terwilliger and Gigliotti, and we’ve got to contain them,” Glunt said. “And Manion is a force down low. We’re gonna have to neutralize him. We’ve gotta make it hard for him to get second-chance points.”
Bradford is 8-1 and Clearfield is 2-2 against their four common opponents.
The Owls lost only to St. Marys 66-46 but also beat the Flying Dutch 74-63 while sweeping DuBois 65-34 and 58-45, Brookville 46-30 and 60-55 and Punxsutawney 55-52 and 69-44 in addition to the playoff win over the Chucks.
The Bison beat DuBois 69-60 in overtime and lost to Punxsy 68-45 and Brookville 40-38.
Not much separates the teams in scoring, the Owls at 54.0 and the Bison at 52.4, nor defensively, the Bison at 49.3 and the Owls at 51.1 in points given up per game.
Clearfield’s senior-oriented lineup includes Reese Wilson (11.9 ppg), Jon Gates (8.7 ppg), Ryan Chew (7.5 ppg) and Wyatt Porter (5.1 ppg) with Cade Walker (9.3), a sophomore.
Coming off the bench early will be juniors Taye Lynch (5.4 ppg) and Keagan Hess (2.0 ppg), with freshmen Jake Lezzer and Karson Rumsky giving the starters a break, too.
“We have to get good shots, we can’t turn the ball over and we need second-chance opportunities,” Glunt said.
The District 9 champion will play the No. 5 team out of District 7 (WPIAL) in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament on Friday, March 9.