Central Catholic, Pine-Richland renew rivalry with first-year starters at quarterback

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, September 27, 2018 | 11:39 PM

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Eric Kasperowicz has a simple message for his sophomore quarterback: Don’t worry about being Phil Jurkovec.

“We talked about it at the beginning of the year, all the time, almost daily,” said the Pine-Richland coach. “(The conversation) starts with: You don’t really replace Phil Jurkovec. You don’t replace a guy like that. Just go out and be yourself, be Cole Spencer.”

So far, that’s worked well for him.

With Jurkovec now at Notre Dame, Spencer has passed for 597 yards and seven touchdowns for the top-ranked Rams (4-1, 3-0), who host No. 3 Central Catholic (4-1, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday. He’s also has rushed for 203 yards and four touchdowns, and is coming off his season’s best performance.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Spencer had 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns against Norwin last week while also throwing for 192 yards and another score.

“He’s gotten better every week,” Kasperowicz said. “That’s all we can really expect from him. He’s going to get better as he gets more experience.”

Replacing a three-year starting quarterback isn’t exactly easy, as Central Catholic can attest. The Vikings graduated Troy Fisher, who’s now a freshman at Lafayette. Jurkovec and Fisher waged head-to-head battles over their three years. Their final matchup came last November at Heinz Field in the WPIAL Class 6A championship. Pine-Richland won 42-7.

Central starts junior Dominic Pieto in Fisher’s place.

Pieto (6-0, 180), who returned last Friday from injury, has passed for 291 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s got a very live arm,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said. “He’s accuracy has been getting better. I think there’s a lot of potential there.”

Central’s offense has struggled with consistency and averages only 16.4 points, but that doesn’t fall just on Pieto’s shoulders. Injuries have hurt the Vikings’ backfield, and their young quarterback is learning behind an inexperienced offensive line, Totten said.

Spencer had the advantage of an established offensive line at Pine-Richland with two Division I recruits in Andrew Kristofic (Notre Dame) and Mike Katic (Indiana). Central Catholic returned just one lineman.

“It depends on your line,” Totten said of breaking in a new quarterback. “We have some young guys out there on the line. We’re hoping to be a running football team with play-action (passing). But when you can’t do that, much more falls on the quarterback.”

Central Catholic scored one touchdown in last week’s 7-6 victory over Bethel Park. It was Pieto’s first action since he was injured in Week 2 against North Allegheny. Losing their quarterback was a setback for a team that was trying to find itself. Central also lost a starting running back to injury but added sophomore tailback Eddy Tillman, a transfer from Westinghouse who sat out the first three games.

“We’re still putting some pieces together,” Totten said. “Hopefully, that shows up Friday night. They’re a very good football team, so it’s going to be a big challenge. Obviously, they’re capable of putting up some points, so we want to slow them down and get them off the field. And offensively, we have got to come together.”

To keep pace with Pine-Richland on Friday, Central’s offense will need more than seven points. The Rams are averaging 39.6 after last week’s 44-7 victory over Norwin. Pine-Richland has a new quarterback but not a new playbook.

“We really don’t change the offense,” Kasperowicz said. “The offense is the offense. The same plays we called in the state championship game we called Friday night.”

And if the quarterback doesn’t run them like a three-year starter quite yet, Kasperowicz understands. As a freshman, Spencer was known more as a wrestler. He went 32-6 last winter, took second in the WPIAL and placed eighth in the state at 152 pounds.

“We have a conversation with him on a daily basis about what the expectations are,” he said. “Just go out and run the offense. We’re not asking him to win it. We’re not asking him to lose it.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Central Catholic, Pine-Richland