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Ligonier Valley is the top seed in this year’s District 6-AA playoffs, and appears to be a favorite to come home with this year’s tittle; however, there’s reason to believe the No. 2 Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils can reach the championship game and claim their sixth District crown.

The Rams are a perfect 10-0 on the season and should have no problem rolling through the 4-6 No. 8 seed Cambria Heights this week. Senior quarter back Colin Smith paces the rams’ offense and may be the best player in the bracket this year. Smith leads the team with 1,847 passing yards and 635 rushing yards.

There is no other team as hot as Bellwood-Antis right now. They have won nine straight games and have no signs of slowing down. With home field advantage throughout the first two rounds of playoffs B-A is poised for yet another run at a district title. Although a possible round two matchup with Bishop McCort could be the team’s biggest challenge, there’s every reason to believe the Devils will make it through that one unscathed. The Blue Devils are led by Senior Jarrett Taneyhill, who has thrown for 1,823 yards and 21 touchdowns so far.

Bishop Mccort, whose only losses come from undefeated two-time state champion Bishop Guilfoyle and the AAAA powerhouse that is Greater Johnstown, is definitely for real and a major threat to any team they play from this point out. Mccort loves to run the football with their stud junior Anthony Walters, who has ran for a team high 760 yards and 14 touchdowns throughout the year. If the Crushers can knock off Bellwood-Antis in the second round of the playoffs, Mccort should become the favorite to walk away as this year’s District Champions.

The 6-4 Westmont Hilltop Hilltoppers, who play in the very competitive Laurel Highlands Conference along with McCort, have a tough round one matchup with West Shamokin; expect the Hilltoppers to ride their dynamic running back duo of sophomore Camden Moors and senior Ian Valente to a decisive opening round victory. The two have totaled 1,924 yards and 21 touchdowns on 334 carries.

West Shamokin will come into the game against Westmont fresh off of two straight double overtime games, losing Week 8 12-6 against Northern Cambria, but winning Week 9 against Ferndale 36-30. West Shamokin will have its hands full with Westmont in the opening round, but if they can somehow upset the Hilltoppers they will most likely face a Ligonier Valley team that they lost to 60-6 five weeks ago.

Mount Union will look to pull off a massive upset of Bishop Mccort this week, but quite frankly this simply is just not going to happen. The Trojans are a meager 5-5 in the bad ICC conference. After starting the season 5-1, Mt. Union has dropped four straight games. Junior Daunte Martin is the only ray of hope for the Trojans. On the season Martin has been truly impressive; on 171 carries he has 1,367 yards and a whopping 16 touchdowns, and for good measure he has added 14 catches for 168 yards and a touchdown.

Southern Huntingdon will travel to Bellwood to take on the Blue Devils just like they did two Fridays ago. Although it was a good sign to see the team bounce back last week from the 42-6 loss that B-A handed to them with a nice 36-0 victory over Glendale, this hardly means anything. Southern Huntingdon has struggled all season long to pass the ball, as they have thrown for 100 yards once this season. This means the Rockets will lean heavily on sophomore Eric Patton, junior Nik Devlin, and junior Bryce Snyder to carry the load for the team. Throughout the season the trio has rushed for 2,040 yards on 415 carries and have tallied 24 touchdowns.

Cambria Heights will look to rebound from two straight losses by upsetting the top seed Ligonier Valley. Cambria Heights has virtually no passing attack. They are averaging 43.3 yards a game through the air this year and are not much better running the ball. The Highlanders will have to hope their defense can do enough to keep Ligonier Valley out of the end zone. The Highlanders are lead on defense by sophomore Cody Stockley, who has 88 tackles this year