Alle-Kiski Valley high school football notebook: Burrell runs to 1st victory of season

By: Michael Love
Saturday, September 28, 2024 | 5:54 PM

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Burrell is well-known as a run-first football team.

On Friday against East Allegheny, the Bucs were a run-only team, and it worked well for them as they broke into the win column for the first time this season.

Burrell, now 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the Allegheny 7 Conference, ran the ball 63 times and didn’t attempt a pass in its 22-14 victory over the Wildcats (0-6, 0-2).

Sophomore Trey Coury was the definition of a workhorse with 51 tough carries for 239 yards and two touchdowns. Only three of the 51 rushes went for negative yardage.

Coury ran for 200-plus yards for the first time in his varsity career. He tallied 173 yards two weeks ago against Derry and 132 against Shady Side Academy in Week 1.

He now owns 768 yards and four touchdowns on 164 carries through six games.

Burrell will attempt to make it two wins in a row Friday at rival Valley (0-6, 0-2) in the Battle for the Bypass. The Bucs have won five straight against the Vikings dating to 2019.

Another record falls

Kiski Area senior quarterback Carson Heinle completed 16 of 27 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns and added 91 yards and a TD on nine rushing attempts in Friday’s 35-30 loss at Franklin Regional.

With the 209 passing yards, Heinle set a Cavaliers program record for career passing yards with 3,753 and counting. He surpassed previous record holder and 2008 graduate Josh Vick, who finished with 3,565 yards.

Vick played collegiately at New Hampshire and Cornell.

Heinle holds nearly every Kiski Area passing record, including passing attempts (479), completions (278) and touchdowns (39).

Through six games, Heinle has completed 63 of 108 passes for 892 yards and eight touchdowns.

Leechburg rolls

The Blue Devils improved to 6-0 overall with a 54-0 shutout of Springdale on Friday.

They are one win away from equaling the start of the 1980 Leechburg team that began its season 7-0 before tying Jeannette in its eighth game.

The Blue Devils qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs that year and finished 8-2-1.

This year’s Leechburg group visits Frazier (1-5, 0-3) on Friday with a clash against Clairton (6-0, 3-0) looming in two weeks.

Leechburg had no trouble getting past Springdale as senior quarterback Jayden Floyd continued his standout season by completing 10 of 14 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns.

Junior Tim Andrasy carried the ball just five times, but three of those carries went for touchdowns. Senior Jake Cummings caught nine of Floyd’s passes for 130 yards and two scores.

Highlands seeks to rebound

The Golden Rams (2-3, 1-2) are still in the thick of the playoff race in the Class 3A Allegheny Conference, and they will seek to get back on track Friday against a surging Freeport team that has won two in a row and three of its past four.

Highlands has lost two in a row in conference including Friday’s 27-26 setback that saw Deer Lakes rally from deficits of 20-7 at halftime and 26-14 in the third quarter.

Golden Rams quarterback Menage Lucas, questionable to play after suffering an injury in last week’s 12-10 loss to Imani, completed 7 of 11 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns. He has nine passing TDs through six games.

Freeport shines

The Yellowjackets, who won three games all of last year, captured victory No. 4 Friday with a 48-20 rout of Valley at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium.

Amos Glenn had a monster game running the football as he finished with 244 yards and a school-record six touchdowns on 25 carries.

Freeport is averaging 41 points in its four wins, and its Allegheny 7 Conference game against Deer Lakes two weeks ago went down to the wire before the Lancers made a defensive stop late to preserve a seven-point victory.

Freeport will pay a visit to Highlands on Friday. It is the first meeting between the teams since 2015. Freeport won that year 14-0, handing the Golden Rams their first loss after a 5-0 start.

The Yellowjackets and Golden Rams will meet for the fifth time overall with the teams splitting the previous four contests. Highlands won the 2014 game en route to a perfect regular season.

Mullen is masterful

Senior Codi Mullen is rather versatile in the Knoch offense. He has proven he is proficient throwing, running and catching the football.

Again filling in at quarterback for injured starter Colt Sprankle, Mullen completed 13 of 21 passes for 182 yards and touchdowns to Keaton Oprosky (10 yards) and Kaden Spencer (5 yards). He also ran 10 times for 103 yards and TDs of 41, 29 and 1 yards in the Knights’ 42-13 conference-opening victory over Indiana.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak and put the Knights at 2-3 overall.

Knoch will remain at home Friday to take on a Mars (2-4, 1-0) team that also got on track with a 42-14 win over West Mifflin to end a four-game losing skid.

Reese recovers

Plum football coach Matt Morgan said senior tight end/linebacker Trent Reese was in good spirits with his teammates Saturday morning after suffering an injury with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter of Friday’s 34-10 nonconference loss at Penn-Trafford.

Reese was attended to for several minutes before being transported by ambulance to a hospital for tests.

Game officials decided to call the game at that point.

Those tests, Morgan said, all came back negative, and Reese could be cleared to get back on the field as early as Monday.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski Area, Knoch, Leechburg, Plum