OFF. LINEMEN OF THE YEAR

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

CO- SPECIAL TEAMS POY

Steve Butler - Bradford

Adam Cousins - Moniteau

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

GAME OF THE YEAR

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Matt Endlish - Karns City

Karns City-Moniteau - Nov. 18

Ray Reckner - Bradford

Coudersport’s Chris Cavallari and Curwensville’s Nick Sipes each received 51 points in voting by District 9 media members and are the 2006 Co-Players of the Year.

But they are far from alone in receiving postseason honors.

Justin Switzer of Karns City is the District 9 Defensive Player of the Year, Alex Bladel of Redbank Valley is the Rookie of the Year, Eli Morres of Brookville is the Offensive Linemen of the Year, Ed Conto of Karns City is the Coach of the Year, Adam Cousins of Moniteau and Steve Butler of Bradford are the co-Special Teams Performers of the Year, Matt Endlish of Karns City earns the Performance of the Year, the Nov. 18 Karns City-Moniteau game is the Game of the Year and retiring Brockway head coach Ray Reckner gets the Special Contributor award.

For the first time since 2000, there are Co-Players of the Year. Then it was Brockway’s Aaron Cantafio and Clarion’s Kyle Cathcart. Now its Coudersport’s Chris Cavallari and Curwensville’s Nick Sipes.

For Cavallari, he is the second consecutive Falcon to earn the award joining fellow running back David Babcock, who won the award last season.

Sipes, also a running back, makes it a family affair. His brother Nate was the Player of the Year in 2004 and Cathcart, his cousin was a two-time Player of the Year winning in both 2000 and 2001.

Cavallari, who wasn’t even the starting running back coming out of training camp but took over because of an injury early in Week One, had a huge season while leading Coudersport to a 13-1 record, its second straight District 9 Class A title and its second consecutive AML Title. He ran 295 times for 1,805 yards (128.9 per game) and 21 touchdowns. He also caught 18 catches for 250 yards and three touchdowns while totaling 149.8 yards per offense per game. Chris ranked second in District 9 in rushing and 26^th in receiving.

Sipes finishes his career as the all-time leading rusher in District 9 history with 5,963 yards and the all-time touchdown king with 83. This season, he ran 336 times for a District 9 leading 1,987 yards (165.6 per game) and 31 touchdowns, which also led the District. He added two catches for 28 yards and averaged 155 yards of total offensive were game while helping Curwensville to a 10-3 record, a second-place finish in both District 9 Class A and the AML and the AML South Title.

Switzer led District 9 in tackles this season with 122 while adding six sacks and two defensive touchdowns – both fumble returns – while leading a Karns City defense that allowed 16.8 ppg, which ranked 12^th in District 9. That defense was the key reason why the Gremlins went 10-2 overall, won the KSAC Title and finished second in District 9 Class AA.

Bladel came out of nowhere to lead the KSAC in rushing with 200 carries for 1,373 yards (114.4 per game) and 14 touchdowns. He ranked first among sophomores and fourth in District 9 in rushing, while also ranking 25^th in D9 in receiving with 17 catches for 255 yards and three touchdowns. He had 135.7 yards per game of total offense and was the Co-KSAC Player of the Year. His running helped Redbank Valley to an 8-4 record, a second-place finish in the KSAC, the No. 2 seed in the D9 Class A playoffs and a Class A semifinal finish.

Morres was a near unanimous choice in the media voting for Linemen of the Year. And well he should have been. He anchored a Brookville line that helped the Raiders offense led District 9 with 381.7 yards per game. Brookville was third in D9 in rushing (266.3 yards per game) and fifth in passing (115.3 per game) while finishing third in D9 in total points per game (28.7). Morres’ blocking helped open holes for two 1,000-yard rushers (Max Kutz and Joe Galbraith) who finished fourth and eighth respectively in D9 in rushing as well as the No. 3 rushing quarterback in District 9 (Shane Heschke). He also helped protect Heschke, who ranked fifth in D9 in passing. Brookville went 11-2 overall and won the D9 Class AA Title while being Tri-Champions of the D9 League.

This is the second straight Co-Special Teams Player of the Year award for Cousins, who shared the award with Coudersport’s Caleb Morris last year. He becomes the second two-time winner of the award joining Bradford kicker Kyle Macfarlane.

Cousins earned the award both with his kicking and his return abilities. Despite missing three weeks with an injury, he was 6-for-7 on field goals while hitting two over 30 yards including a season-long 32 yarder. He also made 19 of 25 PAT’s, while averaging30.3 yards per punt. He was the top kick returner on the teams as well averaging 14.0 yards per punt return with a touchdown and 37.0 yards per kickoff return with a score.

Butler, who is the second Owls kicker to win the award joining Macfarlane, did almost all of the punting and kicking for Bradford. He was 4-for-8 on field goals with a season-long 35 yarder. He also booted the game-tying field goal in the first overtime vs. Clearfield in the D9 Class AAA title game forcing a second overtime in which Bradford won the title. Steve was nearly automatic on extra point making 42 of 46 on the year, while he booted 11 kickoffs for touchbacks. Butler was also an excellent punter averaging 34.6 yards per punt with seven of his 25 landing inside the 20-yard line.

Conto guided an extremely young Karns City team that had just five seniors (4 of whom finished the season on the team) and six juniors to a 10-2 overall record including a 7-0 KSAC mark that gave the Gremlins the title. Karns City was the D9 Class AA runners up despite playing an offensive line that was entirely sophomores. Conto was also forced to start five different running backs during the season, yet Karns City ended up 11^th in District 9 in rushing.

Endlish waited for the best time to have his best game leading Karns City to a come-from-behind win over Moniteau in the District 9 Class AA semifinals by taking the Gremlins on a 70-yard drive in the final 1:02 that was capped by his 11-yard touchdown pass to Josh Callender. The Gremlins trailed 19-7 at halftime and 29-26 when they got the ball back with 1:02 to play at their own 30-yard line. In the game, Endlish 13-for-23 for a career-high 269 yards, three touchdowns and one interception while also running for a 1-yard touchdown.

In the semifinals, Moniteau led Karns City, who it lost to 20-18 in Week 7, 19-7 at halftime, but the Gremlins rallied to take a 26-22 lead on a 30-yard pass from Matt Endlish to Justin Switzer with 9:51 left to play. But Moniteau came back and went ahead 29-26 on a 9-yard pass from Tyler Armagost to Cruz Eshenbaugh with 6:25 to play. The Warriors then looked to seal the game when they picked off an Endlish pass and returned it to the Karns City 11-yard line. But the Gremlins defense and a penalty forced Moniteau to give the ball back on downs at the Karns City 30 with 1:02 to play. Enter Endlish who guided the Gremlins the 70 yards connecting on the game-winning touchdown pass to Josh Callender with 24 seconds left to play.

The Contributor Award is a special award that is only being given for the third time in the seven years of the award. It goes to an individual (not a player) who has dedicated himself or herself to high school football over a long period of time.

This year’s Contributor Award goes to Ray Reckner, the retiring head coach at Brockway High School.

Reckner concluded one of the outstanding coaching careers in District 9 history this year by taking the Rovers to the D9 Class AA semifinals. He finished his career with a mark of 131-90-3 including four District 9 Class AA titles, the last coming in 2005.

But more than the record or the longevity, it was the respect Reckner earned with his fellow coaches that gets him the award. A minimum of four different opposing coaches nominated him for the honor this season.

Chris Cavallari – Coudersport 51 points

Nick Sipes – Curwensville 51 points

Shane Heschke – Brookville 18.5 points

Jake Smith – Redbank Valley 18 points

Max Kutz – Brookville 12 points

Andrew Janocko – Clearfield 12 points

Adam Jury – Clearfield 8.5 points

Alex Bladel – Redbank Valley 7 points

Jerico Weitzel – Ridgway 7 points

Shawn Sopic – Curwensville 6 points

Taylor O’Brien – Bradford 2 points

Adam Bevevino – Clarion 2 points (Write-in)

Cameron Turner – Karns City 1 point (Write-in)

Justin Switzer – Karns City 39 points

Drew Levavasseur – Coudersport 32 points

Nick Sipes – Curwensville 20.5 points

Levi Singleton – Brookville 19.6 points

Ross Nicholson – Kane 12 points

Rob Pire – Bradford 7 points

Tyler Kirkwood – Clearfield 6 points

Zane Zelehoski – Johnsonburg 3 points

Aaron Randall – Moniteau 3 points

Alex Bladel – Redbank Valley 37 points

Tyler Armagost – Moniteau 24 points

Isiah Morgan – Clearfield 15 points

Ross Nicholson – Kane 13.5 points

Mark Myers – Johnsonburg 6.5 points

Dave Kalgren – Curwensville 1 point

Ed Conto – Karns City 41 points

Paul Simcoe – Coudersport 35.5 points

Chris Dworek – Brookville 22.5 points

Andy Evanko – Curwensville 9 points

Tom Launer – Johnsonburg 9 points

Jason Nellis – Keystone 6 points

Tony Defilipi – Cameron County 5 points

Ed Wasilowski – Redbank Valley 3 points

Steve Ackerman – Bradford 2 points

Steve Butler – Bradford 16 points

Adam Cousins – Moniteau 16 points

Matt McConnell – Karns City 11.5 points

Calvin Grumley – Johnsonburg 7.5 points

Kyle Kline – Clearfield 7 points

Paul McGinley – Clarion 3.5 points

Eli Morres – Brookville 40 points

Dan Jordan – Redbank Valley 19 points

Isaac Cary – Coudersport 13.5 points

Sam Kephart – Curwensville 10 points

Steven Reinhardt – Bradford 7.5 points

Jeff Wiant – Clarion 7 points

Matt Endlish – Karns City vs. Moniteau (Playoffs) 28 points

Max Kutz – Brookville vs. St. Marys 20.5 points

Jake Smith – Redbank Valley vs. Keystone 16.5 points

Chris Cavallari – Coudersport vs. Johnsonburg (Regular Season) 11 points

Jerico Weitzel – Ridgway vs. Otto-Eldred 9 points

Brian Tamburlin – St. Marys vs. Youngsville 4 points

Shane Heschke – Brookville vs. Brockway 2 points

Karns City vs. Moniteau - Nov. 18 16.5 points

Bradford vs. Clearfield – Nov. 17 16 points

Coudersport vs. West Middlesex – Dec. 1 16 points

Brookville vs. Clarion – Nov. 3 8 points

Coudersport vs. Cameron County – Sept. 15 4 points (Write-in)

Clearfield vs. Brookville – Sept. 8 3.5 points