A pair of non-division home games dot the schedule for the Brookville and Central Clarion football teams for Week 3 — already — as the Raiders host St. Marys and Wildcats host powerful Port Allegany Friday night.

It’s a new division format this year in the District 9 League with the Raiders in Division 2 with Port Allegany, Brockway, Redbank Valley and Bradford while the Wildcats reside in Division 1 with St. Marys, DuBois, Karns City and Punxsutawney.

For the 0-2 Raiders, it’s a matchup with their former head coach Chris Dworek and the Dutch, who are also looking for their first win. The Wildcats have to deal with the Gators in a rare D9 matchup of returning state runners-up in Class 2A and 1A respectively.

Both games kick off at 7 p.m.

Here’s a closer look at both games:

St. Marys (0-2) at

Brookville (0-2)

Both teams gun for their first win of the season as former Raiders coach Chris Dworek brings his Flying Dutchmen to town.

Dworek, the Raiders’ all-time leading leader in coaching wins for the program with a 107-98 record in 19 seasons, is 2-3 against the Raiders in his seventh season with the Dutch. St. Marys, like Brookville last week, was blasted by Karns City 61-6 in its season-opener before last week’s 20-13 loss at Brockway.

The Raiders lost 62-14 at Karns City after a season-opening 55-6 loss to Keystone.

The Dutch gave the Rovers a run, taking a 13-12 lead early in the second quarter before the Rovers scored the go-ahead score before halftime.

Andrew Field, who rushed for 826 yards and nine TDs last year to lead the Dutch running game, ran for 48 yards on 12 carries and caught a 7-yard TD pass from quarterback Brody Wehler. A first-year starter, Wehler completed 9 of 28 passes for 137 yards and was intercepted three times. Frankie Smith caught four passes for 73 yards.

Raiders quarterback Trenton Colgan has thrown for 313 yards and two TDs, completing 30 of 52 passes with two interceptions. His top receiving targets are Sam Krug (10-152) and Hayden Freeman (7-86, 2 TDs).

The Raiders’ running game has managed 11 yards in two games. Colgan ran for a touchdown late against the Gremlins.

This is the 31st meeting between the Raiders and Dutch with the Raiders holding an 18-12 edge.

Port Allegany (2-0) at Central Clarion (1-1)

The Aiden Bliss-led Gators head to Clarion’s Wiser Field in a matchup of two state runners-up. Considering that only three times prior to last year from District 9 made it to the state championship game, this type of matchup has never happened. Not even close.

So it’s the Gators, who have piled up big numbers in two easy wins over Bradford (70-33) and Moniteau (66-14) to start the season, amassing 856 yards of offense with Bliss leading the way.

The senior bruising back has gained 285 yards on just 19 carries with four TDs while throwing and catching TDs. After rushing for over 3,430 yards and 56 TDs last year, Bliss is now at 5,353 yards and he passed Clearfield’s Brady Collins for the No. 4 spot on D9’s all-time rushing list.

Sophomore quarterback Brennan Fillhart (16-for-21, 277 yards, 4 TDs, 1 Int.) is off to a good start as well with senior Nick Wilfong (7-108, 2 TDs) his top receiving target.

The Wildcats needed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away from Keystone for a 30-12 win last week as Ethan Rex led the run-heavy offense with 168 yards on 25 carries after going for 12 yards on four carries in the loss to Kirtland.

Quarterback Carter Hindman was 4-for-9 for 73 yards in the win over the Panthers and he’s 11-for-26 for 183 yards overall. Mason Burford (5-81) is the top receiver.

It’s the third meeting between the Wildcats and Gators with the Wildcats winning 57-6 in 2023 at home and 29-24 at Port Allegany in 2022.