Top-ranked Pine-Richland wastes no time in victory over No. 4 Upper St. Clair
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Saturday, September 19, 2020 | 12:05 AM
Pine-Richland’s Caden Schweiger scores during the second quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland head coach Eric Kasperowicz fist bumps Upper St. Clair head coach Mike Junko before their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Alex Gochis catches a touchdown pass next to Upper St. Clair’s Ethan Dahlem during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Alex Gochis catches a touchdown pass past Upper St. Clair’s Ethan Dahlem during the first quarter of their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland quarterback Cole Spencer carries past Upper St. Clair’s Joseph Houck during the third quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland quarterback Cole Spencer looks to pass during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Eli Jochem eludes Upper St. Clair’s Jaden Keating along the sideline during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Jeremiah Hasley eludes Upper St. Clair defenders down the sideline during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Charlie Mill celebrates his touchdown during the third quarter Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Charlie Mill celebrates his third quarter touchdown with Alex Gochis during their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Connor Lenz intercepts a tipped pass next to Upper St. Clair’s Timothy Pollock during the second quarter on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Sam Neill (3) celebrates his second quarter interception with Jeremiah Hasley next to Upper St. Clair’s Aidan Besselman during their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson sacks Upper St. Clair quarterback Ethan Dahlem during their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland’s Miguel Jackson celebrates a sack on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Upper St. Clair’s Jaden Keating intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Pine-Richland’s Charlie Mill during their game Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland quarterback Cole Spencer had the football in his hands so often Friday night that he felt like he’d left a half-dozen touchdowns on the field.
The five they scored were plenty.
Top-ranked Pine-Richland runs an up-tempo attack yet still dominated time of possession in a 34-13 win over No. 4 Upper St. Clair. Spencer threw three touchdowns, wide receiver Alex Gochis caught two and running back Caden Schweiger also scored twice in a nonconference win that matched WPIAL Class 5A contenders.
The Rams’ offense ran 32 more plays than USC and held possession for 30 minutes in a 48-minute game.
In a one-sided second quarter, USC’s offense had only 10 snaps, hurt by a pair of interceptions and an inability to run the football. Pine-Richland (2-0) took advantage and scored touchdowns on three consecutive possessions entering halftime to pull away.
The Rams’ lead grew from 7-6 to 27-6 in those 12 minutes.
“We ran 54 plays in the first half. That’s tempo,” Spencer said. “They got tired.”
Spencer completed 21 of 34 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns despite losing top receiver Eli Jochem to injury early. On the game’s opening possession, the senior quarterback led the Rams 77 yards in four plays, a touchdown drive that lasted exactly one minute.
Gochis finished the lightning-quick strike with a 6-yard touchdown catch.
“That first drive, that’s what it needs to be,” Spencer said. “That needs to be the bar. With how fast we were going, they were out of place. Four plays. Touchdown.”
Yet, the Rams also had three drives stall in the red zone. Those missed opportunities didn’t hurt them this time, but could be a problem on another night.
“We’ve got to be able to finish,” Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz said. “That’s our theme this year: Finish, finish, finish. Three dropped touchdowns. Three times inside the 20 and didn’t score. That’s not finishing. You aren’t going to win big ball games if we continue that.”
Upper St. Clair (1-1) also plays with tempo but never found its rhythm. The Panthers running backs combined for 23 yards on six carries. Quarterback Ethan Dahlem went 17 for 29 passing for 224 yards and two touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice and held to negative rushing yards.
A week ago, USC scored five rushing touchdowns.
“We lost the battle up front,” USC coach Mike Junko said. “We got physically pushed around and that made it difficult to stay ahead of the sticks. … Early on, our defense was playing pretty good, but you can’t hold up against a team like that making mistakes on the offensive side of the ball.”
Dahlem was sacked six times, including twice by defensive end Miguel Jackson.
“We had to be able to run the football more efficiently than we did,” Junko said. “We struggled. And then it became, pin your ears back and get a pass rush.”
Pine-Richland’s win sets up a matchup next week with No. 2 Gateway (2-0), the defending WPIAL Class 5A champion. It’s unclear whether they’ll have Jochem, a 1,000-yard receiver a year ago.
Gochis took on a larger role in the offense with Jochem injured. The junior had eight catches for 81 yards and added an 8-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Jeremiah Hasley added 79 yards on four receptions.
“Eli Jochem is one of our best players,” Gochis said. “When he came out, we did it for him. We started rolling.”
Schweiger also scored twice in the second quarter. The senior had a game-high 80 rushing yards with touchdowns of 1 and 2 yards. His second score came with 22 seconds left in the first half to lead 27-6.
Second-quarter interceptions by Sam Neill and Connor Lenz about 4 minutes apart also shifted momentum to Pine-Richland. Neill’s interception came on the first play of a possession. Lenz’s came on the third snap of USC’s next possession on a ball tipped by Jackson.
The turnovers gave the Rams great field position. The longest of their second-quarter touchdown drives was 55 yards. The others covered only 35 and 22 yards.
If not for Upper St. Clair’s defense, the score could’ve turned lopsided sooner. Pine-Richland had three first-half drives stall in the red zone. The Rams had failed fourth-down conversions at USC’s 6- and 19-yard lines. A penalty and an interception stalled another drive at the 3.
Those were some of the touchdowns Spencer counted as missing.
“Coaches were saying we left 42 points on the board,” Spencer said, “and I totally agree with that.”
USC scored twice on throws by Dahlem. He connected with David Pantelis for a 28-yarder in the first quarter and later added a 21-yarder to Aidan Besselman in the fourth.
Charlie Mill caught a 14-yard touchdown for Pine-Richland in the third quarter.
“Overall, I’m happy,” Kasperowicz said. “There are mistakes and there are always going to be mistakes. But when you have the opportunity to make a play, you’ve got to make it.”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair
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