Might Penn Hills try to ‘simulate’ winning strategy in matchup with Central Catholic?

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, October 12, 2023 | 12:34 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

Needless to say, Penn Hills was interested in watching game film from Central Catholic’s loss last week, since that was the first time the Vikings had looked vulnerable all season.

But that doesn’t mean the Indians will try to copy what they saw.

“It can be difficult on the high school level if you try to simulate what someone else does,” Penn Hills coach Charles Morris said. “You may not have the personnel other teams have, or that may not be the strength of your team. I think it’s beneficial to stay true to what you do well and maybe make some tweaks.”

What they saw on video was Pine-Richland using a run-heavy attack to control time of possession and keep Central Catholic’s offense on the sideline. Pine-Richland’s Ethan Pillar rushed for 300 yards on 56 carries, setting a WPIAL single-game record as the Rams won, 26-19.

“Pine-Richland did well mixing up some different offensive sets, and they played hard,” Morris said. “They had a good game plan, they executed it and ran the football really well.”

But the Penn Hills coach said he won’t ask senior Amir Key or any of his other running backs to replicate Pillar’s tireless workload. So, Penn Hills will maybe try other ways to hand Central Catholic a second loss when they meet at 7 p.m. Friday at West Mifflin.

This is a nonconference game, meaning there are no playoff implications, but it does match two of the WPIAL’s top big-school teams. Central Catholic (6-1) is ranked first in Class 6A and Penn Hills (6-1) is second in 5A.

Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier accepted the idea that opponents might try to learn from Pine-Richland’s success. But Lehmeier called last week’s game a learning experience for his Vikings too.

“I’ve got a great staff of guys who are tireless workers,” he said. “They’ll make sure we’re prepared for everything that gets thrown at us from here on out.”

Yes, Penn Hills is catching Central Catholic right after a loss, but is that good or bad for the Indians?

“I know for a fact those guys are going to be coming out motivated, fired up, chomping at the bit to get to another game,” Morris said. “I have no question Coach Lehmeier is going to have those guys ready to play.”

Central Catholic was averaging 50 points per game entering last week, but the offense produced only one touchdown and two field goals.

The Vikings ran just 43 offensive plays, a week after having 81.

“Straight up, they beat us,” Lehmeier said. “You’re not going to get sour grapes from me. But we just kept stubbing our toe. It was one of those nights. Everything I thought we could do right went wrong.”

Friday’s game includes two of the WPIAL’s top quarterbacks in Central Catholic’s Payton Wehner and Penn Hills’ Julian Dugger, a Pitt recruit. Wehner has thrown for 1,642 yards and 22 touchdowns. Dugger has thrown for 1,064 yards and 11 touchdowns and also rushed for six scores.

Key leads Penn Hills with seven touchdowns and 427 rushing yards.

Penn Hills is coming off a 61-0 victory over Fox Chapel. The Indians average 32 points per game and allow 11.

Central Catholic still has the highest-scoring offense among WPIAL 6A and 5A teams. The team averages 46 points per game, and running back Elijah Faulkner has 745 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Moving forward, Lehmeier said, Central Catholic “needs to keep Central Catholic off of our schedule,” meaning the Vikings can’t beat themselves.

The loss was surprising because they’d looked unbeatable at times this season. However, being a nonconference matchup, it didn’t hurt the Vikings’ season in any real way.

Lehmeier said the players were determined to not let the loss linger

“We’ve got a mature group,” he said. “They’ve done a good job of turning their wounds into wisdom and moving on.”

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: Penn Hills, Pine-Richland