WPIAL Big Game Hunting – State Semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 10, 2015 | 9:20 AM

The quarterfinals sliced the number of District-7 teams in half and, shocked the entire community of high school football in the state of Pennsylvania. Erie Cathedral Prep over Thomas Jefferson was tough, but we had a feeling something like that could happen, District – 7 has typically, especially lately had difficulty in that quarters round. The jaw-dropper was Berlin Brothersvalley knocking off our Clairton Bears. No one saw that coming, I don’t think even Berlin Brothersvalley fans thought that would happen. Five turnovers are tough to overcome, even for the best. So we move to the PIAA semis with AAAA and AA games involving WPIAL teams.

PIAA AAAA Semifinals:
Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings (13-1) vs Cumberland Valley Eagles (12-2) Saturday December 12^th @ 1:00 PM @ Mansion Park in Altoona, PA broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Bob Orkwis and Sean Meyers

The Vikings advance to the semifinals with a 19-3 win over State College. Vinny Emanuele and Troy Fisher scored on touchdown runs and Jacob Rocchi kicked a pair of field goals in the win. The Vikes defense held the powerful Little Lions offense to just 133 total yards in the game.

Cumberland Valley meanwhile played in the longest PIAA football game ever played knocking off Central Dauphin 62-61 in seven overtimes at Hersheypark Stadium. The Eagles won the game by stopping a Central Dauphin two-point conversion attempt, and in doing so became the District-3 AAAA champions.

The Eagles are a bit of an anomaly as they have reached the PIAA quarters and won 12 games without the benefit any of the following three things: a 1000 yard passer, a 1000 yard rusher, or a 1000 yard receiver.

Senior quarterback Josh Ferguson has completed 58 of 107 passes for the season for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has thrown five interceptions. The Eagles have only reached double digits in passing attempts five times on the year, the most being 17 in a week three loss to Bishop McDevitt.

Stands to reason then, that Cumberland Valley would like to run the football and they do. As a team they have rushed for 3283 yards on the year.

Seven different Eagles have rushed for more than 100 yards on the season, leading that group is senior Joey Heikel who has 202 carries for 956 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Senior Nick Rhodes is second on the team with 133 carries for 688 yards and eight scores.

Another senior, Connor Long has some great all-purpose numbers coming into this game with 480 rushing yards, 405 receiving yards, 221 kick-return yards, 215 punt-return yards and 106 interception return yards for a team-high total of 1427 all-purpose yards. Long has scored 14 touchdowns, three of those coming on interception returns.

Junior linebacker Josiah Quigley leads the Eagles with 106 total tackles on defense. The Eagles have only recorded seven sacks but if you want to throw you must be aware that they have recorded 23 interceptions on the season. Sophomore Charlie Katshir has a team-high 10 which is good enough to rank him tops in the entire state of Pennsylvania for interceptions on the season.

Central sophomore quarterback Troy Fisher has completed 93 of 170 passes for 1237 yards and 14 touchdowns, he has not thrown an interception all season long. So this game features a kid with the fewest interceptions thrown in the state, passing against a kid with the most interceptions caught in the state. Fisher has also rushed for 554 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season.

On the ground aside from Fisher look for Ronnie Jones and Vinny Emanuele to be the focus of Terry Totten’s rushing attack. Jones has 186 carries for 1504 yards and 18 scores. Emanuele has carried it 118 times for 847 yards and another 13 touchdowns.

Gunnar Frerotte leads the Vikings in receptions with 30 for 394 yards and he has reached paydirt five times. Keep an eye on Bricen Garner who Terry Totten will try to get the ball to from time-to-time as well. He is a big play waiting to happen.

Junior linebacker David Adams along with C.J. Thorpe and David Green on the defensive line will be important for Central as the Vikes try to shut down the run and get to Hershey for the State Championship game.

PIAA AA Semifinals:
Aliquippa Quips (14-0) vs Martinsburg Central Scarlet Dragons(13-1) Friday December 11^th @ 7:00 PM @ Hempfield high school broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and WBVP-AM 1230 and WMBA-AM 1460 by Bob Barrickman and Tom Hays

Both the Quips and the Scarlet Dragons got good battles in their quarterfinals wins last weekend. Aliquippa took advantage of four Karns City turnovers and got a touchdown run from Kaezon Pugh in knocking off the Gremlins 27-17. District-6 champions Martinsburg Central scored 10 points in the final 20 seconds to defeat Hickory 30-21, including a Justin Helsel 69 yard interception return for a touchdown.

Aliquippa quarterback Sheldon Jeter has completed 72 of 124 passes for 1473 yards and 18 touchdowns all without throwing an interception, he has also rushed for 276 yards on the year including scoring 12 touchdowns.

On the ground Kaezon Pugh will be the man for the Quips, Pugh now has 2185 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns on the year, but lest ye focus too much on Pugh fullback Kiyon Fooks can burn you on that quick-hitter up the gut or by catching the ball in the passing game.

Jassir Jordan continues to be a big time playmaker with 38 catches for 884 yards and 10 touchdowns. Jordan also has a touchdown pass throwing to his credit.

The Dragons have a good one calling their signals in senior Noah Benton who has completed 127 of 225 passes for 2086 yards and 23 touchdowns, he has tossed nine interceptions on the year and will need to be wary of a talented Quips secondary. Benton has also rushed for 958 yards and 11 scores.

Senior Justin Helsel has 55 catches for 932 yards and 10 scores in the passing game for the Dragons.

On the ground Martinsburg Central leans heavily on junior Alex Hoenstine who has carried 171 times for 1408 yards and 28 touchdowns. Hoenstine has amassed nearly 3000 all-purpose yards in the 2015 campaign. He is also the Martinsburg Central leader in tackles on the defensive side of the ball with 95.

The Dragons do a great job getting after the quarterback with an astounding 43 sacks on the season led by linebacker Cam Norris with 13.5, that number keeps him just two shy of the top-five in the state.

Tags: Aliquippa