The River Valley Panthers handed the Marion Center Stingers their first loss in the marquee game of Week 9 of the Heritage Conference football season Friday night and set up the potential for a three-way champion tie between River Valley, Marion Center and Cambria Heights, which are all now 8-1 with one week left in the regular season.
The Panthers defeated the Stingers, 35-7, at John R. Malino Stadium on Cat Country 106.3 FM and Renda Digital TV. Jeff Cribbs has the recap.
If the three tied teams win next week – River Valley plays host to Northern Cambria, Cambria Heights visits West Shamokin and Marion Center travels to Penns Manor – then they will finish in a three-way tie for the conference championship.
The other team in the equation, Cambria Heights, found itself down a touchdown to Homer-Center (6-3) early on, but it was all Highlanders after that in a 42-7 romp that went into mercy rule in the third quarter. Mark Bertig has the recap from WCCS and Renda Digital TV.
The River Valley win also sets up an interesting situation in District 6AA. Cambria Heights moved into third place with 1080 ranking points, followed by Rivder Valley at 1070. Marion Center’s loss drop it to fifth place at 1030. The top four teams get a home game in the first round. In District 6A, Homer-Center is holding onto to fourth place with 790 points.
United Valley (6-3) has won six of its last seven games since starting the season with a pair of losses. The Lions beat Penns Manor, 44-14, on the U92.5 FM Heritage Conference Game of the Week. The Comets dropped to 3-6. Todd Marino has the recap.
The most scoring in the conference took place at Northern Cambria (4-5), where the Colts lost to Conemaugh Township (5-4) in a slugfest, 49-35. And Purchase Line (3-6) snapped a three-game skid, beating Portage (2-7) by a score of 33-6.