Pieces in place for another strong season at Pine-Richland

By: Jerin Steele
Wednesday, August 7, 2024 | 6:01 AM

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Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 23.

In his first two years at Pine-Richland, Jon LeDonne has guided the Rams to the WPIAL championship game.

Following the WPIAL and state title run in 2022, the Rams fell just short of a repeat, losing 43-17 to Peters Township in the Class 5A final last season.

Some key members of that team, such as 1,400-yard rusher Ethan Pillar, have graduated, but there are pieces in place to make yet another run.

“We’re looking forward to getting it going,” LeDonne said. “We have some guys back and some young guys coming in and some are going to be first-year varsity players that will be growing and maturing as the season goes along. We’re just looking for that constant progression.”

There’s continuity on defense with eight returning starters.

Eli Wentz, Jay Timmons and Tanner Cunningham return in the secondary. Timmons is the son of former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

Sam Heckert and Bradan Lenz return at linebacker. Dustin Edwards, John Curran and Josh Nindl are back on the defensive line.

“We pride ourselves on defense and with the amount of returners we have, we’re going to lean on them,” LeDonne said. “A lot of them played all year for us last year. We may move some guys around here and there, but the strength of our defense is certainly going to help out our younger offense the first four weeks.”

Aaron “Oobi” Strader took over at quarterback as a freshman last year in Week 6 against Central Catholic after starter Kanan Huffman went down with an injury.

Strader helped guide the Rams to an upset win over the Vikings that night and had another memorable moment, scoring a touchdown with two seconds remaining in Pine-Richland’s 16-9 win over Penn Hills in the WPIAL 5A semifinals.

LeDonne has seen more growth from Strader over the summer as he enters his sophomore season.

“He’s mentally more mature,” LeDonne said. “We’ve thrown a lot at him this offseason. We’ve kind of opened up the playbook more. We kind of babied him along last year and didn’t ask him to do too much, mainly because we had a senior running back (Pillar) that was a killer and could handle a lot of the offensive workload. Now Oobi is a year older. We have a lot of young pieces around him, so we’re going be looking for him to control the offense more and lead us.”

With Pillar no longer there, Mac Miller is slated to step in at running back. Miller, a junior, is also a wrestler and has compiled a 69-17 record his first two years on the mat.

“He got some reps last year next to Ethan at running back,” LeDonne said. “We’re looking at him to carry a lot of the workload. If we can get that two-headed dinosaur (Miller and Strader) in the backfield going, we’re going to be able to make some decisions on what we do and when. Mac is a tough kid. From the wrestling mat to the football field, his toughness is seen.”

Cunningham is a returning starter at wide receiver.

Ryan Cory, who’s now at Wisconsin, was a big loss to the offensive line, but the Rams have two returning starters in Jackson Bojanic-Hubbell and Braylen Price.

Pine-Richland also has one of the best specialists in the WPIAL, senior kicker Grant Argiro.

Argiro holds multiple college offers.

“Having a high percentage of touchbacks on kickoffs where the opponent is starting at the 20-yard line is huge,” LeDonne said. “He also has the ability to hit 50-yard field goals. I think he hit a 60-yarder this summer. He has a strong leg and will be a huge weapon for us.”

Pine-Richland is in the Class 5A Northeast Conference once again with Fox Chapel, North Hills, Penn Hills, Plum and Shaler. Plum is the only new conference member.

Pine-Richland

Coach: Jon LeDonne

2023 record: 9-4, 4-1 in Class 5A Northeast Conference

All-time record: 406-291-13

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.23 at Hilliard-Davidson (Ohio), 7

8.30 Central Catholic, 7

9.6 at Seneca Valley, 7

9.13 North Hills*, 7

9.20 at Plum*, 7

9.27 Fox Chapel*, 7

10.4 Penn Hills*, 7

10.11 Latrobe, 7

10.18 at North Allegheny, 7

10.25 Shaler*, 7

* Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Kanan Huffman

39-87, 540 yards, 3TDs

Rushing: Ethan Pillar*

257-1,454 yards, 22TDs

Receiving: Vasile Balouris*

26-255 yards, 2TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• Pine-Richland has the unique distinction of winning football championships in five classifications: Class 6A (2017, ’18), Class 5A (’20, ’22), Class 4A (2014), Class 3A (‘03) and Class 2A (1969, ’70).

• Pine-Richland’s has eight WPIAL titles, which is tied for sixth-most in district history.

• The Rams will travel to Ohio to play Hilliard Davidson for their Week Zero game. Hilliard Davidson is near Columbus. The last two years, the Rams have played Week Zero games against Pickerington North, which is also near Columbus.

• Pine-Richland has made the WPIAL playoffs 11 years in a row.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland