MSA Sports Big Game Hunting – Week Two

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 | 5:48 PM

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Week one of the 2013 WPIAL football season showed a shining example of that statement, with a pair of defending champions in North Allegheny and Clairton, convincingly hushing the whispers that they were set to be declining in the current season due to graduation losses. Week two is chock full of delicious match-ups as well. The long holiday weekend is over, time to clean the grill, drain the pool, and go Big Game Hunting.

AAAA Southeastern Conference
Bethel Park Blackhawks (1-0)(1-0) at Mount Lebanon Blue Devils (0-1)(0-0) Friday September 6^th at 7:30 PM @ Blue Devil Stadium on the campus of Mount Lebanon High School. Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and KQV 1410-AM by Lanny Frattare and Bob Orkwis.

These two teams opened the 2013 campaign about as disparately as you can imagine. Lebo started on the road with a non-conference game and got thumped by North Allegheny 55-7. Bethel started with home game against a conference foe and handled Plum convincingly 38-0. I still think they are fairly similar teams and fairly evenly matched heading into week two, and I think this will be a great game Friday night.

Mount Lebanon will need to cut down on penalties and turnovers that really hurt them in week one against the defending champions. The Blue Devils did not score until the fourth quarter against the Tigers when the score was already 55-0 before Jake Rolfsen finally punched through for the only Lebo score of the game. The Blue Devils gave up almost 500 yards of offense to North Allegheny and compounded that by committing over 130 yards in penalties. You can’t do that against the champs, for that matter can’t do that at all, if you hope to win many football games. Rolfsen managed 79 yards rushing in the loss, but Lebo will need first year starting quarterback Kellan Stout to develop more of a passing game with Troy Apke and company to make some noise in a tough Southeastern Conference. The good news for Lebo is, as bad as that first game was, it does not matter one bit moving forward. How quickly can they shake it off? Nothing works better for Mount Lebanon than having a bitter rival coming to Blue Devil stadium, no time for head-hanging and I don’t think there will be any for 2^nd year head coach Mike Melnyk and company.

Bad news for the Blue Devils is, Bethel Park seems like a very good football team. Sophomore quarterback Levi Metheny rushed for 59 yards and three touchdowns in the week one shutout of Plum.

It is a Bethel team that is returning both Metheny at quarterback and, their leading rusher and receiver from last season in 5’8’’ 190 senior Zach Enick. It is also a Bethel team with one of the biggest and best offensive lines in the entire WPIAL. Mike Grimm (6’6’’ 308 pounds), Ryan Sosnak (6’3’’ 290 pounds) and Casey Schreiner (6’3’’ 322 pounds) are the headliners up front for the Hawks. Mix in the fact that Lebo struggled greatly in trying to stop the North Allegheny run game, and that task becomes even more daunting. 

AAA Big Nine Conference:
Elizabeth-Forward Warriors (1-0)(1-0) at Thomas Jefferson Jaguars (1-0)(1-0) Friday September 6^th at 7:30 PM @ Thomas Jefferson Stadium on the campus of Thomas Jefferson High School. Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Paul Paterra and Lou Rood

It seems that Elizabeth-Forward is ready to step up and play with the upper echelon in the Big Nine this year. Last year the Warriors turned some heads going 5-3 in conference play and this past Friday they absolutely dominated and throttled the Trinity Hillers in every facet of the game, in a 46-0 season opening win. The Warriors had three different players rush for more than a hundred yards. Defensively they held Trinity to 20 total yards in the first half. E-F senior quarterback Jaquan Davidson rushed for 101 yards as did Jalen French. A third senior, Ryan Wardropper led the Warriors with 125 yards on the ground. Matthew Bernadowski scored four touchdowns for E-F including a 96 yard punt return for a touchdown, in what was clearly a “we are here to be reckoned with” statement game for Mike LeDonne’s team.

Thomas Jefferson is not Trinity. The competition takes a big leap forward in week two and this will be benchmark game for the Big Nine. The Jags picked up a come-from-behind win in week one over Ringgold 31-10, a game that Ringgold led 10-7 at halftime. Chase Winovich, sliding into the quarterback position for TJ ran for 90 yards including an 80 yard touchdown run in the win. Junior running back Austin Kemp carried 20 times for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Both teams appear to emphasize the running game this season so, this should be a fast-moving game with the battle in the trenches deciding the victor.

 This I think, will be very evenly matched with the athleticism and depth of skill guys edge going to E-F with Davidson and company and the edge in size and experience going to the returnees up front for the Jags.

 Bill Cherpak’s team has won seven straight Big Nine conference titles, the road to the crown goes through Jefferson Hills. West Mifflin will have some say in this before all is said and done but for now this game is THE GAME in the Big Nine. Don’t miss a minute of the action. 

AA Interstate Conference:
Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions (0-1)(0-1) at Mount Pleasant Vikings (1-0)(1-0) Friday September 6^th at 7:00 PM @ Vikings Stadium on the campus of Mount Pleasant Area High School. Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and WLSW-FM 103.9 by T.J. DiStefano and Aaron Wills 

The Centurions took one on the chin in week one but a lot of teams are going to have trouble with the Washington High School Prexies and Shai McKenzie. Greensburg Central Catholic did get a couple touchdown passes from Chase Keller to finish with a respectable 26-14 loss, but in the fourth quarter they did trail this game 20-0.

Mount Pleasant meanwhile rolled to a 26-0 lead before finishing off Waynesburg 33-13 in week one. Tyler Mellors shone brightly as a Kennywood/MSA pre-season all-star, scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 157 yards on the night. Mellors will continue to be the engine that makes the Vikings offense roll.

These two clubs played thriller last year in week two with Mt. Pleasant eeking out a 30-28 win with a late field goal. But in that game Mellors rushed for 268 yards qand three touchdowns for the Vikings. Keller was spectacular for the Centurions as well, rushing for 140 yards and throwing for 167 including a touchdown pass that gave GCC a one point lead they could not hold with less than three minutes to play.

With both Mellors and Keller back and in top form look for more of the same from this game.

Ryan Gumbits is back at quarterback for Mt. Pleasant as well and had a solid game in week one completing 6 of 13 passes for 63 yards. Brett Fess and Ryan Bellew also ran the ball well behind a strong Mt. Pleasant offensive line in week one.

GCC will hope for even more Keller, who completed 16 of 26 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown in week one. Nate Stone caught five of those passes for 95 yards, while Tyler Balla caught another five for 59 yards.

The Centurions would like to get more out of their running game Balla was their leading rusher in week one with just 38 yards on 15 carries. Pounding the ball a little bit on offense would help keep Mellors and company off the field offensively for the Vikings. That would be a good thing for 2^nd year GCC coach Dan Mahoney.

A Black Hills Conference:
Bishop Canevin Crusaders (1-0)(0-0) at Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers (0-1)(0-1) Friday September 6^th at 7:00 PM @ Buccaneer Stadium on the campus of Chartiers-Houston High School. Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and WJPA-AM 1450 by Bob Gregg and Nate Regotti. 

This game in my mind breaks out to be a huge one in the Black Hills already in week two. You have to, based on tradition and returnees from last year as well as week one results, assume three of the four playoff spots in the Black Hills are going to be taken by Clairton, Monessen, and Brentwood. That leaves, in my opinion of course, Canevin, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry and California in a fight for that final spot. Apologies to Carlynton and Serra but they appear to be in a bit of a rebuilding mode right now at both those schools.

Canevin had to, last gasp find a week one opponent after Imani Christian failed to field a 2013 football team. The Crusaders made the trip to United High School in Armagh PA, and came away from week one with a in Armagh PA, and came away from week one with a 31-3 victory.

Darren Schoppe takes over for longtime Crusader head coach Bob Jacoby. Schoppe runs the Wing-T, his version of it.

Junior quarterback Reed Relosky will be relied upon to make the reads. Fullback Mark De Schon will be a big contributor on both sides of the ball. Tyler Reddy rushed for 151 yards in the week one win over  United he is one of the key wings along with standout junior Giovanni DeMarzo  who scored on an 86 yard touchdown run.

Tanner Richardson returns up front for his senior year he is a splendid offensive lineman and one of the best inside linebackers in the WPIAL. Zach Cortese and Dom Palmosina along with Relosky will anchor a solid secondary for the Crusaders.

Chartiers-Houston took one on the chin in week one from the champs falling at Neil Brown stadium to the Bears 35-0. No shame in losing to Clairton, and there were some bright spots for the Bucs to reflect upon while they made their way back south. Kaleb Susko and Miles Williamson will have more success away from Clairton offensively and freshman tailback Spencer Terling had several big runs against a staunch Bear defense. Terling’s performance, (a team high in rushing yards) against the Bears might merit him more touches against the Crusaders. 

The Bucs defense will need to watch for the big plays, they allowed three first quarter touchdowns against Clairton including passes of 30 and 27 yards and a 22 yard touchdown run to jump into a 23-0 hole. Starts like that will doom most teams to failure.

I am not the only person who sees this as a monster game in the Black Hills. Canevin coach Darren Schoppe told me “It’s for a playoff spot, anybody who says it is not, is kidding themselves.”

That alone made this match-up a shoe-in for Big Game Hunting!

Tags: Bethel Park, Bishop Canevin, Chartiers-Houston, Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg C.C.