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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
One of the biggest games in the Inter-County Conference and in all of District 6 Class 1A high school football will take place this week at ... Bulldog Stadium in Claysburg.
Claysburg-Kimmel hosts Moshannon Valley in a matchup of two 5-2 teams, both undefeated in the ICC North and both on five-game winning streaks that have propelled them near the top of the district playoff rankings with three weeks left in the regular season.
"If you look at our schedules, we actually mirror each other a lot," C-K coach Chuck Kassick said. "We both started 0-2, both found our rhythms here with five-game winning streaks. Both teams are playing at a really high level as the experts say at the right time of the year. We're in the back half of the season and both are playing well. I expect this to be extremely tough. They are physical and well coached. They get after it, and it's going to be a battle for four quarters. There's no doubt about it."
The Bulldogs are coming off perhaps their most complete win of the season, knocking off a solid Glendale team, 47-0.
"It's worrisome at times," Kassick said. "When you start playing really well, you can't forget what got you there. We have to keep pushing the little things, the fundamentals, and making sure we're taking care of the mental reps and recognition and not get satisfied with where we're at. We have to keep pushing forward and making sure we're taking steps forward."
One of those steps forward would be success against Friday's opponent. Moshannon Valley has won the last three meetings, including a 48-20 win last year. But Bulldogs quarterback Mason Campagna missed that game due to injury.
"They have an outstanding athlete at quarterback that we didn't face last year, because he was hurt by the time they got to us," Moshannon Valley coach Chris Davidson said. "They are very quick and aggressive. (Mark Lattieri) is a very good back. We're going to have our hands full. We have to focus on not beating ourselves and let the chips fall where they may."
During its two losses to open the season, Davidson felt the Black Knights did play a role in their own demise.
"We took each game and really tried to build upon the good things we did and also correct mental errors and clean up some early-season things," Davidson said. "There was improvement from North Star to Everett. Against Everett, we had some turnovers in the red zone and gave up a kick return for a touchdown, so there were some odd things that happened where we lost, but we saw the improvement."
Sophomore running back Rocco Reifer needs just 5 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season and is averaging 7.7 yards per carry and has seven touchdowns. Senior Landon Buck has 570 yards rushing and six touchdowns but an even better yards-per-carry average at 9.5 yards per touch.
"They aren't going to get back in the shotgun like we do with three or four receivers every play and run the ball," Kassick said. "They just line up and say they are coming at you. And they come at you hard. The formation that has given us problems the last couple of years with them is that double-tight, double-wing formation. They run counters, they run sweeps and they run traps right at you. It looks like they are really satisfied taking 3 yards at a time and nine minutes off the clock. We have to get stops on early down and force them into third and longs."
A lot of whether that happens will come down to the line of scrimmage.
"We said at the beginning of the year to anyone that would listen as our front five go, that's how we're going to go," Davidson said. "If they play particularly well and come prepared and ready to play, we can be pretty good. But if we don't show up or take teams lightly, who knows what's going to happen."
Moshannon Valley hasn't won more than five games since 2016 when the Knights went 7-4.
"This is a big game for our program," Davidson said. "We haven't been in this position for a long time. This will go a long way toward setting the program on the path of potentially winning the (ICC) North division."
Claysburg-Kimmel, which is currently No. 4 in the District 6 Class 1A rankings behind No. 3 Moshannon Valley, hasn't had this many wins since an 8-4 mark and playoff appearance in 2019.
Kassick is expecting a big crowd and great atmosphere.
"It's also our homecoming," Kassick said. "We have a parade and a lot of alumni that come in to help celebrate it. We have an alumni band, and there will be a lot of people there from the community. Plus with Mo Valley, where they are at right now, I can't see this not being one of those games where you want to be in Claysburg to watch two tough teams battle it out."