Big Game Hunting for Week Six 2016

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, October 6, 2016 | 12:59 AM

The game we all circled back on our calendars when the 2016 WPIAL Football schedule came out is finally here. While normally I frown on even inter-conference games getting into Big Game Hunting, let alone an inter-classification game, this game is different. These two teams have long been the gold-standard for WPIAL football and their meeting this Friday at Neil Brown Stadium this week, cannot be denied as a big event for any fan of WPIAL football over the last two decades. I don’t imagine I will get emails complaining about my choices this week, but as a reminder, those should all now be directed to ChixPix1@msasports.net. For now let’s go Big Game Hunting!

6 A Northern Seven Conference
#2 North Allegheny Tigers (2-1)(4-2) vs #6 Penn Hills Indians (2-2)(3-3) Friday October 7^th @ 7:00 PM at Yuhas-McGinley Stadium on the campus of Penn Hills high school broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network and the MSA Sports Network by Randy Gore and Rick Meister

This game has huge playoff implications for the Indians. It appears that it will take three conference wins to get into the playoffs out of the Northern Seven at a minimum. After this game the Indians will only have one conference game remaining on their schedule, that being against Central Catholic in week nine. That would be you imagine a tough get for Penn Hills. This will be a tough get as well but maybe not as tough as that week nine game. So Penn Hills needs to pull out all the stops this week.

Indians quarterback Cam Tarrant has been electric all season completing 112 of 169 passing attempts for 1763 yards and 23 touchdowns, while only throwing six interceptions.

Six Indians have reached at least 12 catches on the year, leading the way is Julian major with 27 catches for 396 yards, he has scored seven touchdowns as well. Ricky Squires has 18 catches for 282 yards on the year.

Tarrant is also the leading rusher for Penn Hills with 349 yards on the ground. Tarrant will hand it off occasionally and that will be to Terry Smith who has 64 carries for 319 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns.

The key for Penn Hills in this game will be their defense getting the ball back from North Allegheny without giving up any points.

Tiger quarterback Ethan Maenza has completed 29 of 49 passes for 500 yards and five scores while throwing just one pick, he has also rushed for a team-high 584 yards and nine touchdowns.

When Maenza throws he almost exclusively to Niko Mermigas who has caught 23 of the 29 completions Maenza has for the season, and 392 of the 500 passing yards.

Mike Pope will get some work rushing the ball as well for the Tigers, he has 66 carries for 324 yards on the year.

5 A Allegheny Nine Conference
#1 West Allegheny Indians (4-0)(5-0) vs #2 Upper Saint Clair Panthers (5-0)(5-0) Friday October 7^th @ 7:00 PM at Upper Saint Clair high school broadcast on WJAS AM 1320 and the MSA Sports Network by Lanny Frattare and Bob Orkwis

Woody High will want to have a say in this over the next couple weeks as they get both West Allegheny and USC coming to the Wolvarena in weeks eight and nine respectively, but the winner here has a leg up on the Allegheny Nine title and will be the only unbeaten team in the conference.

Two of the all-time great WPIAL coaches meet in this game as Bob Palko brings his West Allegheny Indians to the south hills from Imperial to face Jim Renders Panthers.

West A has gotten solid quarterback play from Nick Ross who is 56 of 82 for 859 yards and four scores throwing the ball.

Joey Diven and Brandon Lipford have each caught 13 passes for a total of 369 yards on the year.

On the ground for the Indians Kenny White (47 carries 350 yards and six touchdowns), and kamren Cornell (30 carries 149 yards) will get the bulk of the work running against a stiff USC defense led by nose guard Dom Folino who more often draws more than just a double-team and still has been making teams run away from him for the last couple years.

Jack Hansberry will do the throwing for the Panthers but they don’t do a lot of throwing. Hansberry is 29 of 58 for 421 yards and six scores, he has thrown a pair of interceptions.

Dom Cepullio is the only Panther to have reached double digits in catches with 10 for 164 yards on the season. Khalil Jackson and Jackson Geisler are big play threats in the passing game for Jim Render.

On the ground Tom Vissman has been nicked up all season for USC, the senior has just 24 carries for 190 yards and four touchdowns. As his health continues to improve the Panthers are only going to get better.

Blake Kadar has taken over the bulk of the rushing with 75 carries for 407 yards and three scores, Kadar gets some help Colin McLinden who has 37 carries for 278 yards on the year.

4 A Big Nine Conference
#3 Belle Vernon Leopards (5-0)(5-0) vs Trinity Hillers (2-2)(2-3) Friday October 7^th @ 7:30 PM @ Hiller Stadium on the campus of Trinity Middle School broadcast on WJPA AM 1450 and the MSA Sports Network by Sam Hall and Rob McKinney

This is another game that features a team grasping and fighting for their playoff lives. Trinity fancies themselves a playoff caliber football team, but they need to knock off one of the big four (TJ, West Mifflin, Belle Vernon, or Ringgold) to get into the post-season. So far they are 0-2 against those teams with losses to both West Mifflin and Thomas Jefferson already in their rearview mirror. The Hillers final crack comes against Ringgold in week nine, but that game is on the road.

Belle Vernon has been absolutely dominant all season long outscoring teams by a 31 point margin. But they cannot get caught looking past the Hillers to a huge week seven game at Thomas Jefferson because this Trinity team has got some serious skills.

Dylan Kern is the signal-caller for Trinity, he has completed 21 of 50 passing attempts for 375 yards and five touchdowns. Kern will run it as well.

The Hillers want to one thing almost exclusively on offense and that is get the ball as quickly as possible into the hands of Joey Koroly. He is their leading receiver with six catches for 91 yards and their leading rusher with 106 carries for 1004 yards, nearly 10 yards per carry and he has a team-high 13 touchdowns on the season.

Leps fans have been enjoying the Mike Fine show here in 2016. Fine has completed 43 of 64 passes (67%) for 646 yards and nine scores, Fine has also rushed for 279 yards and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Fine looks to Tim Labuda and Logan Pfrogner a lot, the duo has combined for 34 catches and 423 yards and 10 total touchdowns on the season.

Nick Hall is the leading rusher for Belle Vernon with 43 carries for 455 yards and seven touchdowns.

3 A Interstate Conference
#8 Mount Pleasant Vikings (3-1)(5-1)  vs #6 Derry Trojans (4-0)(6-0) Friday October 7^th  @ 7:00 PM at Derry high school broadcast on WLSW 103.9 FM and the MSA Sports Network by T.J. DiStefano and Aaron Willis

This is Derry’s chance to quiet the whispers about their early season schedule, a lot of “Yes they are unbeaten, but…” talk has been bandied about as the Trojans have slowly climbed through the MSA Sports Top 10.

The Vikings are right behind the Trojans in the section with just a week three stumble at McGuffey as the only blemish on their record.

Johnny Yester has completed 44 of 69 passes for 1023 yards and 10 touchdowns to go along with just one interception for the Vikes. Yester’s favorite target is Keith Kelp who has 20 catches for 516 yards and five touchdowns. Jake Newill has 10 catches for 250 yards, both he and Kelp are averaging 25 yards a catch or better.

On the ground Chris Wagner leads Mt. Pleasant with 70 carries for 608 yards and Newill has chipped in another 308 yards rushing.

The Mount Pleasant defense is allowing a second best in the conference 15.5 points per game.

Derry quarterback Ryan Polinsky has  35 completions for 542 yards and five scores. He has spread the ball around as no one receiver has more than eight catches on the season. Josh Bauer and Kerik Hoffman have eight each and Bauer has scored three touchdowns receiving.

Tyler Balega carries the rock in the rush game for the Trojans with 686 yards rushing an 10 touchdowns on the year.

Derry’s defense has been their signature so far this year allowing a best in the conference 13.2 points per game.

2 A Midwestern Conference
#3 Riverside Panthers (4-0)(4-1) vs #4 Neshannock Lancers (3-0)(5-1) Friday October 7^th 7:00 PM at Neshannock high school broadcast on WJST AM 1280 and the MSA Sports Network by Mark Schaas and Lee Mohn

Still some games left after this week and Cardinal Wuerl might get involved here as well but this could be a game that decides the Midwestern title.

Riverside has rattled off four wins in a row since falling in week one to Steel Valley. The Lancers have only a week two 25-25 nail-biter loss to Quaker Valley in the “L” column on their side of the ledger.

The Panthers Ben Hughes has completed 27 of 54 passes for 426 yards and no interceptions and he is also yet to throw for a score.

Austin Dambac and Ricky Wass have combined for 24 catches and 402 yards in the passing game. Wass contributes in the running game as well with 369 yards and four scores on the ground.

Lance Fisher is the leading rusher for Riverside with 67 carries for 443 yards and a team-high six touchdowns.

Frank Antuono has completed 56 of 107 passes for 933 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 464 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Danny Welker has 21 catches for 450 yards and seven touchdowns, he is complemented in the passing attack by Tyler Sear who has 14 catches for 221 yards and a score.

On the ground Sean Doran adds 411 yards and three scores to the Lancers stat sheet.

The Lancer defense has amassed 14 sacks led by Doran’s 5.5 on the season.

1 A and 3A Non-Conference, Non-Classification
AAA #3 Aliquippa Quips (5-1) vs A #1 Clairton Bears (5-0) Friday October 7^th @ 7:00 PM at Neil Brown Stadium in Clairton, Pa. broadcast on WMBA AM 1460 and the MSA Sports Network by Bob Barrickman and Jason Colangelo

These teams have combined to win 11 WPIAL football championships….since 2008!!!!!!! That staggering fact alone makes Neil Brown the place to be this Friday night for football fans in southwestern Pa.

Clairton has been very Clairton like here in 2016 allowing just five points per game on the year.

Offensively Noah Hamlin has hooked up on 19 of 35 passing attempts for 463 yards and six touchdowns.

Tre Howard is the leading receiver for the Bears with nine catches but they don’t want to pass they want to and have run the ball right at opposing defenses all season long.

Lamont Wade has 756 rushing yards and has scored eight touchdowns.

Hamlin has rushed for 287 and nine scores, Howard 212 yards on the ground and five scores. The Bears are outscoring their opponents by more than 52 points per game. They will get the test they are looking for Friday against the Quips.

The Quips have made a change at quarterback with Eli Kosanovich getting the nod in weeks four and five and he has been impressive. Kosanovich has completed 11 of 17 passes for 128 three touchdowns and a an interception.

Kosanovich has completed seven of those passes to the guy who used to throw the passes for the Quips, Kwantell Raines. Raines joins Bobby Cashaw in that receiving core, Cashaw also has five catches for the season the duo has combined to score eight touchdowns.

The Quips like to run the ball as well and have a dynamic 1-2 punch rushing the football, with Avante McKenzie (97 carries 630 yards seven touchdowns) and Davion Jones (98 carries 531 yards and seven scores).

The battle in the trenches will have a huge impact on this football game, and this is a huge football game.

Tags: Aliquippa, Belle Vernon, Clairton, Derry Area, Upper St. Clair, Woodland Hills