All things considered, week two was a very successful one for the county football teams.
Friday night featured three wins in three games as Warren, Eisenhower and Youngsville combined to score 177 points on the evening. Warren's 83 points were the most scored by the Dragons since 1923 and Youngsville's 46 points were the "low" mark for the night.
Sheffield gave a valiant effort on in trying to make it a perfect week for the county. However, a strong defensive effort was foiled in Elk County Catholic's 18-0 triumph over the Wolverines.
Article Photos
Photo by Carl Leichtenberger
Homecoming parade
Youngsville football player Jaykup Durlin leads the Juniors float during the Youngsville Homecoming parade on Thursday in Youngsville. The Eagles host Cambridge Springs at 7 p.m. Friday in the county’s first Homecoming game.
Warren (2-0) at Bradford (2-0), Friday, 7 p.m., Parkway Field
Warren hasn't scored this many points in 90 years.
The Dragons can't expect to score 83 points this week when the team heads east to play Bradford - also 2-0 on the young season.
Fact Box
While the caption on page B-1 of Friday's Times Observer said Youngsville's Homecoming game on Friday was the "country's" first Homecoming game, it can be assumed it is the "county's" first Homecoming game of 2012.
While the 83-12 victory a week ago over a Class A team, Clarion-Limestone, provided an early-season highlight, it still counts for just one victory in the standings. Warren coach Brad Wright knows his team will have to leave that outing behind if it wants to improve to 3-0 and win its Region 5 opener.
"We enjoyed the win last week, but we also pointed out that is far below the level of competition we're going to be seeing in region play," said Wright. "Bradford is a well coached team and they are never out of a game. They were down 14 against Oil City last week and came back to win. We need to come out fighting and be ready to play if we're going to win."
The Owls have opened the season with back-to-back victories on their home surface of Parkway Field. In week one, the Owls topped Olean (NY) 20-7 and emerged with a 28-27 double-overtime win over Oil City last Friday.
Bradford quarterback Matt Yurkewicz is a dual-threat under center. He has been efficient throwing the ball through the first two weeks and also eclipsed 100 yards rushing in each of the first two games. Running backs Josh Corignani, Aaron Fishkin and Sean Siffrinn also factor heavily into the running game and could be called on at any time.
Last meeting: October 14, 2011- Bradford 21, Warren 6
2012 Dragons leaders: Passing- Austin Jerman 17 of 33 for 280, 5 TD, INT; Rushing- Austin Jerman 15 for 172, 2 TD; Receiving- Luke Wortman 7 for 141, 2 TD
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Eisenhower (1-1) at Iroquois (0-2), Friday, 7 p.m., Iroquois High School
Eisenhower will try to make it 2-for-2 in Region 2 play Friday when it visits Lawrence Park for a showdown with the Iroquois Braves.
The Knights opened Region 2 play on the road a week ago with a 48-19 thrashing of Maplewood. Things may not be so easy against the Braves, which showed a potent running game during last week's 46-41 loss to the Youngsville Eagles.
Eisenhower coach Jim Penley hopes his offense can break through with the impact plays they featured in the Maplewood win as well as slow down an Iroquois running game that chewed up nearly 300 yards on the ground against the Eagles.
"Iroquois has a lot of ability. They are never the biggest team, but have a ton of speed," said Penley. "The biggest thing for us is to play sound fundamental football. It's always a close game when we play Iroquois. They are the closest thing to a rivalry we have outside of Youngsville."
The Knights will again be without Trevor Spicer in week three and cornerback Jeb Fedorchuk will also be sidelined against the Braves.
After being shut out by Harbor Creek in week one, Iroquois found its stride in week two, scoring 41 points - albeit in a losing effort.
The Braves' Roda brothers do most of the ball carrying for the team from Lawrence Park. Quarterback Justyn has a team-high 116 yards and tailback Brandon is close behind with 111 yards. Teammate Alex Williams also has more than 100 yards rushing through the opening two weeks of the season.
Last meeting: September 16, 2011- Eisenhower 21, Iroquois 19
2012 Knights leaders: Passing- Aaron Lundmark 9 of 21 for 231, 2 TD, INT; Rushing- John Pascuzzi 30 for 209, 3 TD; Receiving- Nathan O'Brien 3 for 151, 2 TD
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Cambridge Springs (1-1) at Youngsville (1-1), Friday, 7 p.m., Mike Shine Field
In week one, Youngsville lost during the regular season for the first time since 2010.
Apparently, the Eagles didn't like that so much.
The Eagles rebounded nicely in week two with a 46-41 victory over Iroquois. While the win was nice, Youngsville coach Luke Alex may feel the game was a little closer than it needed to be. After all, the Eagles led their home opener by 23 points after three quarters and had to hold on for the win.
Alex also knows that while his offense has clicked early in the year, the defense will have to play better if the Eagles are to defend their Region 2 title from 2011.
"We have to more sound defensively," said Alex. "We've had several guys not carrying out their defensive responsibilities these first two weeks. We're a responsibility-based defense and one guy not doing his job can hurt our entire unit."
The Blue Devils' season has started out in exactly the opposite fashion as Youngsville's. Cambridge Springs' offense was stout in week one, rushing for over 357 yards in a 19-0 win over Saegertown. Last week, the team managed just over 100 total yards of offense in a blowout loss to Cochranton.
Blue Devils quarterback Devin Walker is 11-of-23 for 141 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions early in the season. Colton Noble provides the biggest roadblock in the backfield with nearly 200 rushing yards through the season's first two games. He also leads the team in receiving with four catches for 43 yards and a score.
Last meeting: October 14, 2011- Youngsville 41, Cambridge Springs 0
2012 Eagles leaders: Passing- Jake Lauffenburger 9 of 15 for 140, 2 TD, INT; Rushing- Rocco Gatta 19 for 205; Receiving- T.J. Hardy 5 for 118, 2 TD
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Sheffield (0-2) at Brockway (2-0), Friday, 7 p.m., Brockway Area High School
Sheffield may have the toughest early-season schedule of any of the four county high school football teams.
That tough schedule continues Friday when the Wolverines travel to Brockway for a District 9 contest with the Rovers.
After surrendering 35 points to Kane in week one, Sheffield's defense stepped up big in its home opener with Elk County Catholic a week ago. The Wolverines and Crusaders were involved in a scoreless tie until late in the second half when the Crusaders broke through for three late touchdowns.
Still, first-year Sheffield football coach Dave Fitch was pleased with the effort shown by his team against Elk County.
"Defensively we made tremendous strides between week one and week two," said Fitch. "That's typically what we see early in the year. It takes a little while longer for things to gel on offense. We did have some positives offensively last week, but had big plays and big drives end with penalties and turnovers. When you play tough teams, those things are magnified that much more and that was definitely the case last week."
Brockway has put up 42 points in each of its first two outings while jumping out to a 2-0 start. Its defense has also shown up, holding each of its first two opponents to only one touchdown.
The Rovers opened the year with a 42-8 win over Cameron County before defeating Otto-Eldred 42-6 last week.
Last meeting: September 3, 2011- Brockway 44, Sheffield 6
2012 Wolverines leaders: Passing- Shequan Wright 14 of 34 for 172, TD, 3 INT; Rushing- Brandon Johnston 10 for 43; Receiving- Dylan Smith 5 for 26