WPIAL Big Game Hunting: The Football Four-Pack – 10/05/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 | 11:28 AM

Week six is here with a bullet and hey it looks like the weather man is jumping on the bandwagon, the night is slated to be full of beauty and the schedule is full of beautiful games. Let’s hope the only 80’s we see are on the thermometers, or in Mike Azadian’s music collection, this weekend.  It is an encore week in the four-pack as three teams from last weeks BGH find themselves right back in the hot seat.

Bust out the sun-block and let’s go Big Game Hunting.

WPIAL Class AAAA Foothills Conference
#7 McKeesport Tigers (4-1)(2-0) @ #4 Penn-Trafford Warriors (5-0)(3-0)
Friday October 7^th 7:30 pm @ Warrior Stadium
Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and WMNY 1360 AM by Paul Pattera and Dan Zangrilli

This shapes up to be the battle for the Foothills Conference Championship, or at least a piece of it. Penn-Trafford with a win here would only have to hold serve on games they will be expected to win to get the conference championship. But Mckeesport, if they were to win, could throw a serious monkey wrench into that plan and set up another exciting week nine game against Gateway, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

This game looks to be the power running game of Penn-Trafford against the aerial assault of the McKeepsort Tigers. Yes you read that correctly, well, however correctly I typed it. The Tigers junior quarterback Eddie Stockett is seriously turning heads around the WPIAL. Stockett has completed 57 of 96 passes on the year for 1055 yards and 11 touchdowns. Email us here at BGH if you know how many seasons worth of passing attempts 96 would have been during the great George Smith era at Weigle-Schaeffer Memorial.

Stockett has all the markings of a great one, tremendous vision, rocket arm and really idyllic size (6’4’’ 210 pounds), he can also run it if the need arises. Not only can he run it, but the Tigers as a team can as well, although; there is no surprise there. Senior Donte Patterson has carried it to the tune of 624 yards and five touchdowns on 55 attempts on the year, and that is a tune head coach Jim Ward loves. Patterson also has an 87 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to his credit.

Stockett’s favorite target to throw to is another great playmaker in senior wide out Jamar Clark. Clark has caught 18 passes for 362 yards and five scores on the year.

Penn-Trafford has nice balance as well, although their superstar certainly lines up at running back. Manny Simpson is nothing short of fantastic. Simpson a senior at 5’11’’ 210 pounds is one of the best combinations of speed, moves, and sheer brute force that you will ever see play football, if you have not seen him ….. make it a point to do so, he is that good. On the year he has carried it 87 times for 757 yards and nine touchdowns.

Warrior senior quarterback Zach Emerick is having a very good year as well and after McKeesport struggled against the Seneca Valley passing attack a couple weeks ago, Emerick might be featured tossing a little bit more for John Ruane’s club in this game. On the season Emerick has completed 37 of 53 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns and, he has only thrown a single pick. Recievers Tyler Dudek and Brian McDonough have combined for 16 catches and 291 yards for the Warriors, and their skills mean you cannot overplay too much to stop Simpson.

WPIAL Class AAA Big Eight Conference
#10 Chartiers Valley Colts (4-1)(3-0) @ Thomas Jefferson Jaguars (3-2)(3-0)
Friday October 7^th 7:30 pm @ Thomas Jefferson High School  
Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and KDKA FM 93.7 by Matt Vandriak and Bob Orkwis 

A battle of top ten teams brings our attention back to the Big Eight his week. For three years people have been saying the Colts have a chance to knock TJ from their perch atop the Big Eight thrown. They get another shot at it on the road in Jefferson Hills Friday night.

Who better to replace your starting quarterback after he is injured in the preseason than a guy you once had slated to be your….star quarterback. Wayne Capers has been what most thought he would be since replacing Christian Kuntz at quarterback to start the year. For the season Capers has completed 34 of 66 passes for 566 yards and 66 touchdowns, he has also rushed for nearly 400 yards and five touchdowns, oh and throw in a 79 yard punt return for a touchdown as well.

Junior running back Mike Boulus has 44 carries and 287 yards on the ground. Also in that Colts backfield is Juliano Coury who has 46 touches for 247 yards and has scored three touchdowns.  

On the edge Capers has a pair of favorite targets in Zach Chapman and Marco Schubert. The Colts have been rolling since a week one loss to Montour, they have rattled off four straight wins including a convincing 36-10 win last week against a very good Belle Vernon team. They have been looking up at the Jags for a long time, this game offers yet another chance to get that signature win they have been craving.

People say the Jags are down, we hear the talk at BGH, but we are not convinced that is true. Sure they have two losses, but they were hard fought losses to playoff caliber AAAA teams. Most importantly they were to non-conference teams. The Jags have won five straight conference titles and ten of the last eleven crowns. Some folks are saying that a fourteenth straight trip to the semi-finals might not be in the offing for Cherp’s club. At BGH we are going to take a wait and see attitude. Our faith is very strong in the boys from Jefferson Hills.

They certainly have the skill guys, Dom Presto, a lefty (we celebrate the lefties here) has thrown it very well completing 28 of 61 passes for 482 yards and eight touchdowns, while only tossing a single pick. Wide receiver Zach Schademan has caught 14 passes for 262 yards and three scores. Schademan is also a monster on the secondary for the Jags with four interceptions on the season.

Ryan Ruffing can tote the rock with the best of them having carried 57 times for 569 yards and seven touchdowns.

The defense is solid they have a great linebacker in Bruno “Splatter” Natter with 20 solo tackles on the year and Austin Boyd has 23 total tackles. As conference play progresses and the season wears on look for the offensive and defensive lines to continue to improve for Cherp, and don’t be shocked if they reach semis #14 in a row, at BGH we won’t be.

WPIAL Class AA Century Conference   
South Fayette Lions (3-2)(2-1) @ Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles
Friday October 7^th 7:00 pm @ Dormont Stadium
Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and by Zac Szabo and Greg Kuntz

The Century Conference has a bottle neck of good teams up top with Keystone Oaks, South Fayette and Washington all still in the hunt for that second spot behind Seton. A home playoff game is a huge advantage in the first round and both of these clubs have a chance at that prize. Whoever loses this game though will be seriously behind the eight ball because they have both already lost to Wash High.

South Fayette rebounded from their loss to Washington with a come from behind 23-6 win over Burgettstown last week in which they scored all 23 of their points in the second half. They will need to play a full game to beat Keystone Oaks who will be looking to rebound from their own loss to Washington last week 41-16.

The Golden Eagles passing attack is a good one, Matt Buckley has completed 60 of 103 passes for 884 yards and 11 touchdowns. Buckley must work on throwing to the guys with wings on their helmets only though, on the season he has thrown seven interceptions. He will really be tested this week by a great South Fayette secondary which had five interceptions last week and has a serious ball-hawk back there in Zach Challingsworth. Buckley has two great receivers in Ricky Rogers (21 catches, 407 yards three tds) and Corey Sevacko (18 catches, 243 yards and four tds).  

On the ground Dale Klobichur gets the bulk of the work for K.O., he has 102 carries for 724 yards and eight scores.

The defense for Nick Kamberis’ team is led by a youngster, sophomore linebacker John Beveridge has 24 solos tackles on the season.

South Fayette has a very balanced offensive attack. Quarterback John Lerda has solid numbers on the year completing 49 of 97 passes for 682 yards and an impressive eleven touchdowns. His “go-to” guy is the aforementioned Challingsworth who has 20 catches and 362 yards receiving, and has caught five touchdowns. Challingsworth will also go from the shotgun for South Fayette and run it although they have struggled with that snap all season long.

Two very good running backs help out in the Lions’ backfield in Trevor Fiorentini (49 carries 286 yards and a dozen touchdowns)  and Derek Yanosik, both of whom approached the century mark in last week’s win. Yanosik is also a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield. Tight end Shane Girman is a great two-way player for the Lions and he and Dylan Nock are a serious defensive force for Joe Rossi’s Lions.

WPIAL Class A Black Hills Conference
#7 Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers (4-1)(2-1) @ #6 Brentwood Spartans (5-0)(3-0)
Friday October 7^th 7:30 pm @ Brentwood High School  
Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and Trib Live Radio by Ken Laird and Jonathan Whaley

Brentwood running back Justin Vickless has carried 60 times on the year and amassed 401 yards and nine touchdowns. We found out last week that the Spartans are the real deal in the Black Hills as they came up with a 20-19 overtime win on the road against Fort Cherry. Prior to that win the Spartans had not faced another opponent with a single victory all season long.

The competition remains tough for Kevin Kissel’s team as they head back home to face the Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers Friday night in a battle for that second spot in the Black Hills behind Clairton. Brentwood gets their crack at the Bears’ winning streak next week but they had better not find themselves looking forward against a tough Buccaneers club.

Junior quarterback Chris Shortley continues to be stellar for the Spartans throwing for three touchdowns in the win last week at Fort Cherry. On the season Shortley is 24 of 38 for 317 yards and six touchdowns. Bill Madeja has been helping out in the run game as well adding 149 yards on just 19 carries for an average of almost eight yards per touch, he and Vickless will need to be solid offensively as the Spartans get set to face a Chartiers-Houston defense that, if you throw out the Clairton game (and really for every team wouldn’t you like to throw out the Clairton game?) has only allowed nine points per game on the year.

Chartiers-Houston has a real monster up front in Nate Grandelis at 6’2’’ 260 pounds the MSA Kennywood pre-season all-star.

Senior quarterback Daniel Lis leads the Bucs on the ground and in the air. Lis has thrown for almost 300 yards and rushed for 397 and five touchdowns on the season.

Mykal Dorsey, Garrett Vulcano and Grant Foster have all eclipsed the century mark rushing for the Bucs this season with Foster being a big play threat any time he touches it, he is averaging over 15 yards per carry.

Keep an eye on wide receiver Miles Williamson who is a big-time playmaker for the Bucs averaging a very impressive 27.7 yards per catch on the year.

Tags: Brentwood, Chartiers Valley, Chartiers-Houston, Keystone Oaks, McKeesport