With the Beavers apparently prepared to play a District 10 schedule for 2010 and Clearfield playing a schedule primarily made up of District 6 opponents from the Mountain Athletic Conference, these two may not see each other for a few years.
The MAC is realigning, yet again, for next season and DuBois can compete in D-10 with a full schedule that will see the Beavers play the Class AAAA and larger AAA schools.
With the MAC, DuBois had four games in the Seven Mountains League, one game against Clearfield, which is in the Nittany League. It left DuBois working hard to try and find games wherever it could, traveling to Pittsburgh, Selinsgrove, Chestnut Ridge and other long-distance destinations.
The rivalry is historically one-sided in DuBois' favor with the Beavers holding a 68-29-5 advantage in 102 meetings. DuBois ran off 16 straight from 1966-81, but since then, the Beavers hold a slim, 14-13, edge. In the last 10 meetings, both teams have won five times.
Who could forget last year's thriller when the Beavers defense kept Bisons quarterback Jarrin Campman from the end zone four times in a 35-28 win? It was the third-highest scoring game in the series.
But don't expect that much offense again.
DuBois' strength probably is its defense, which returns several starters, and head coach Jason Shilala remarked most about.
Both teams lost some highly-skilled offensive players, so a much lower-scoring game wouldn't be a surprise. The average score in the series is in favor of DuBois, 19.5-10.2.
And with both teams featuring so few returning skill position players, a high-scoring affair isn't very likely.
Clearfield lost QB Jarrin Campman, running back Isiah Morgan and most of its top receivers and linemen.
But few teams have the ability to replace and reload the way Tim Janocko's Bison teams have in the past.
At quarterback will be sophomore Curtis Frye, but returning senior Trey Campman apparently saw time behind center in one of the scrimmages.
Campman is the leading returner at receiver after grabbing 49 passes for 661 yards and six touchdowns. Derek Danver is the next top returner at the position with 219 yards and one TD among 15 catches.
Derek Morgan, Isiah's younger brother, will look to carry more of the offensive load in 2009. He ran for 79 yards and caught four passes for 51 yards a year ago.
For the Beavers, they hope Josh Means can provide the spark in their spread offense that Ryan Liddle did in 2005.
Means will work behind an offensive line that has three returners and with a group of running backs that Shilala has a lot of faith in.
"I told them I don't think we'll have one or two kids carrying the entire load, we have a number of backs that can do the job," the fifth-year head coach said.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Bison Sports Complex.
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