AK Valley high school football notebook: Plum celebrates 800th game with victory

By: Michael Love
Saturday, August 26, 2023 | 4:01 PM

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Plum played the 800th game in program history Friday night, and the Mustangs celebrated with a win at rival Kiski Area.

The Mustangs mixed the pass and the run, scoring a pair of TDs each way in the 28-18 victory.

Junior Nick Odom doesn’t mind running against Kiski Area. In two games against the Cavaliers — Friday and last year in Week Zero — he rushed a combined 25 times for 354 yards and four touchdowns.

Darian Nelson caught a pass for a touchdown and ran for another. Senior Sean Franzi threw for two scores.

Junior Carson Heinle had a productive evening for Kiski as the junior quarterback accounted for all three scores. He rushed for 120 yards and two TDs and threw for 108 more and a score.

Plum and Kiski Area now have played 35 times, and you can’t get any closer than a 17-17-1 all-time series. The Mustangs have won the last three: Friday, 2022, and 2017.

A tale of two halves

The local rivalry between the variations of Apollo-Ridge and Leechburg dates to 1919.

There have been many close games in the series, and Friday night was no exception.

The game wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter. The teams traded touchdowns: Apollo-Ridge on a 2-yard keeper out of the shotgun from senior Karter Schrock, and Leechburg on a 42-yard catch and run from junior Jayden Floyd to senior Sebastian Mason.

The Blue Devils’ 2-point conversion attempt with 3 minutes, 30 seconds on a stopped clock was no good, and it kept the Vikings in the lead. Apollo-Ridge then got the ball and ran out the final minutes of the game to ice an 18-16 win.

Schrock and the Apollo-Ridge offense were limited in time of possession and yardage in the first half, but they controlled the ball with power running in the second half. Schrock finished with 34 carries for 152 yards and two second-half rushing scores. All but 18 of his total rush yards came in the second half.

Apollo-Ridge has won three in a row in the series.

Big differences

Springdale and Knoch made sizeable improvements from last year’s Week Zero matchups to Friday’s rematches with Ligonier Valley and Hampton, respectively.

The Dynamos, who were coming off a playoff season in 2021, had lost 16 seniors to graduation and still learning a new system with then-first-year coach Ryan Tempalski, lost 48-0 to Ligonier Valley in the 2022 opener.

On Friday, Springdale was tied with the Rams at halftime and trailed by a single score early in the fourth quarter before Ligonier Valley scored twice in the final quarter to seal a 28-14 win.

Senior Brayden Layhew carried the ball 17 times for 113 yards and a touchdown for the Dynamos, and junior Colton Gent added a rushing TD.

Knoch was roughed up by Hampton, 48-0, last year, but junior quarterback Codi Mullen and the rest of the Knights weren’t going to let that happen again

Mullen threw four touchdown passes Friday as Knoch outlasted Hampton, 45-38, on the new artificial turf surface at Knoch Knights Stadium.

The game between the Knights and Talbots also marked the start of the 42nd season for the WISR 680AM broadcast duo of Scott Briggs and Dave Bacon.

Golden Rams roll in opener

The second half of Highlands’ Week Zero matchup with Ambridge was dominant. On the strength of a 26-point third quarter, the Golden Rams turned a five-point advantage at halftime into a 45-8 road victory.

Senior Aaron Randolph carried over his breakout 2022 season and finished with 113 yards on nine carries, and fellow senior Luke Bombalski, who missed the final four games last year with a leg injury, was powerful in his return to competition. Senior Julius Saunders also ran strong.

Coach Matt Bonislawski praised the offensive line for controlling the trenches. He also was pleased with the defense which forced three turnovers, turning one directly into points.

The game action was called by the longtime broadcasting duo of Mike Choma and Mike Pavlik who returns to the both together for their 23rd season calling Highlands football games.

A broadcast of Friday’s matchup with Ambridge currently is available on YouTube by typing Highlands High Sports in the search bar. Each game this season can be viewed there starting Saturday morning.

Each week’s game also will be shown on Comcast Channel 190 the following Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Blue Devils’ dual threat

Floyd was strong with his feet and his arm Friday in a losing effort against Apollo-Ridge at Veterans Memorial Field.

He accounted for 314 yards of total offense and both Blue Devils’ touchdowns in the 18-16 setback.

Floyd threw for 198 yards and the fourth-quarter TD to Mason. He added 116 yards on 12 carries. His 22-yard scoring scamper late in the second quarter got the blue Devils on the scoreboard.

Floyd will look to lead Leechburg to its first win of the season as it host Summit Academy on Friday.

What a rush

Riverview seniors Carlo Buzzatto and Landon Johnson provided a 1-2 punch in the running game for the Raiders last year.

The duo picked up where they left off in their team’s 41-20 road win over Beth-Center on Friday.

Johnson had the highest yard total of any runner in the WPIAL with 259 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 25 carries. Buzzatto added 125 yards and two scores on 14 attempts.

The wing-T rush attack broke open a tie game in the second half with 21 unanswered points.

Riverview will play its first home game of the season Saturday at noon against Carlynton at Riverside Park in Oakmont.

Up next

Week Zero had two matchups featuring Alle-Kiski Valley teams going head-to-head.

Week 1 on Friday will have three.

Plum (1-0) hosts Fox Chapel (0-1), Deer Lakes welcomes Burrell to Lancers Stadium, and Apollo-Ridge visits Valley (0-1).

The Lancers or the Bucs will pick up their first win of the season. Both suffered close losses in Week Zero.

Burrell led Jeannette 13-7 in the fourth before the Jayhawks rallied and kicked a field goal with 43 seconds left to win 16-13.

Deer Lakes took a 6-0 lead over Keystone Oaks in the first quarter but was not able to add to its point total after that. The Golden Eagles scored to take a 7-6 lead in the third quarter, and that was the final.

Other games feature Kiski Area at Pine-Richland (0-1), Highlands at Blackhawk (0-1), South Allegheny (1-0) at Freeport (0-1), Indiana (1-0) at Knoch, and Northgate (0-1)) at Springdale.

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: Highlands