Saturday’s Scholastic Starz – 10/02/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, October 2, 2011 | 9:26 AM

During the first four weeks of Saturday high school football in the WPIAL, the schedule has been light and the top performances have been spread out like a modern day offense. However the busiest Saturday of the season to date with a total of eight WPIAL games produced more than a few stars of a gloomy, chilly, wet…and dare I say perfect day for football. Here are the top five performers who beat back both their opponents and the elements on Week 5 Saturday.
Chris Highsmith – Summit Academy

Last year, Deer Lakes was one of the great stories of the high school football season as they qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time in school history. Playing in the same Class AA Allegheny Conference, could this be the season of Good Knights? Summit Academy running back Chris Highsmith plodded for 148-yards on a wet and muddy natural surface in Herman and scored on two long runs and a 34-yard reception from Sean McCausland to lead the Knights to a 30-10 victory over the Deer Lakes Lancers and move The Academy into a tie with Burrell for the ‘Summit’ of the conference.
Bobby Gustine – Bishop Canevin

Remember that old children’s story about the Tortorice and the Hare? The theme was steady and slow, that is the way to go as the turtle ended up beating a rabbit in a race. Springdale has proven with their ground attack that steady and slow is nice, but Saturday night ended with Bishop Canevin flying to the finish line. Bobby Gustine had five receptions for 70 yards, including the game tying score late in the fourth quarter, plus he rushed for 65 yards, including a 7-yard jaunt around left end in overtime as the Crusaders remained undefeated and atop the Class A Eastern Conference with a thrilling 26-20 win in overtime over the visiting Dynamos.
B.J. Lipke – Cornell

Cornell was another great story in the 2010 high school football season, qualifying for the WPIAL postseason for the first time in a decade. But it didn’t look like history planned on repeating its self after The Raiders lost two of their first three, including their Class A Big 7 Conference opener in overtime at Western Beaver. However a trip to South Side beaver was much more gratifying thanks to B.J. Lipke, who rushed for 209 yards through Hookstown mud while scoring two touchdowns in leading his team to a 20-0 whitewash of the Rams.
Dustin Creel – Western Beaver

Losing your first two games, one in heartbreak shootout fashion and the other by 48 points is usually not a good recipe for success. However Western Beaver improved to a perfect 3-0 in Class A Big 7 Conference play thanks to a big game by running back Dustin Creel. Creel rushed for 207 yards and scored three touchdowns, including an 87-yard jaunt to open the scoring as the Golden Beavers remain tied for first place with a 22-6 thrashing of the visiting Neshannock Lancers.
John Girvin – Northgate

Nearly 24 hours of nothing but a steady rain and a football game being played on a natural grass…soon to be mud surface. Yeah, lets chuck the ball all over historic Graham Field in Wilkinsburg. That’s what the Northgate coaches decided to do Saturday afternoon and it worked to perfection. Quarterback John Girvin threw for over 100-yards and toss four touchdowns of 38, 12, 25 and 47-yards, including three scoring strikes to teammate Jake Abernathy as the Flames evened their Class A Eastern Conference record at 2-2 with a 31-0 blanking of the Tigers.

Tags: Bishop Canevin, Cornell, Western Beaver