Here they come: three in a row at CARP!

Coudersport Area Recreation Park will be the hot spot for high school football competition over the next couple of weeks, as the drama of the 2006 season intensifies. The Falcons of veteran coach Paul Simcoe were heavily favored to polish off yet another 9- 0 regular season Friday night at CARP against Kane.

Next Saturday (7:00), they'll host the Allegheny Mountain League championship game against Curwensville (8-1). The following weekend, the Falcons will be back at CARP as home team for the first round of the PIAA District 9 playoffs.

'Mud Bowl' ends 22-0

Even with the mud as a potential equalizer, Smethport didn't put up much of a challenge last Friday night.

As the soggy turf of the Smethport field turned into a mud pit, the game took on vaudevillelike qualities. Coudersport slipped and slid its way to a 22-0 win.

"Those were the worst playing conditions I've seen in 34 years of coaching," said Simcoe, moments after he sloshed his way along the sidelines.

Players at times lined up for towels, squirts of water or any other help they could find to remove mud from their eyes, hands and cleats.

Slippery footing slowed the Falcon running game, but the team still managed 179 yards on the ground. Winless Smethport was held to just 106 total yards.

Chris Cavallari opened the scoring on a 32-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, moments after quarterback Justen Kinder hit Logan Hathaway on a key third down pass.

Kinder scored on a one-yard keeper to close out a second quarter drive. Cavallari carried for the two-point conversion, making the score 14-0. In the third quarter, Cavallari scored on a sixyard run, then tacked on the PAT.

The 22-0 lead was safe, considering the muddy conditions and the steady play of a Coudersport defense that's been scored on just twice in the past six games.