Scholastic Notebook – 10/25/2013

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 25, 2013 | 2:22 PM

West Allegheny doesn’t have a running back among the WPIAL’s top 40 rushers. The team’s quarterback isn’t among the top 30 in passing yardage.

Yet, when you look at the top offenses in Class AAA, West Allegheny is near the top of the list. And when you look at the rankings of the best teams in Class AAA, West Allegheny is right at the top.

So how does it work? No big offensive star, but yet a powerful offense? Well, if ever a team was indeed a “team,” it is West Allegheny. And they are the MSA Sports No. 1-ranked Class AAA team heading into the final Friday night of the regular season.

The Indians are all about balance. No superstars. And it shows in their statistics. Six running backs have carried the ball at least 20 times this season, yet no running back averages more than 11 attempts a game. Collectively, West Allegheny has one of the top running games in the entire WPIAL, averaging 283 yards a game.

West Allegheny often uses a “wildcat” offense, where the ball is snapped directly to a running back. Then sometimes, it is snapped directly to quarterback Andrew Koester. Chayse Dillon leads the team in rushing with 763 yards on 78 attempts. Tory Delmonico has carried the ball the most on the team but he has only 93 rushing attempts for 625 yards. Consider that the WPIAL’s leading rusher (West Mifflin’s Jimmy Wheeler) has 218 carries.

West Allegheny’s Whitney White has 225 yards on 31 carries, Terence Stephens 202 on 28 attempts and Armand Dellovade 204 on 20. Koester has 22 attempts, but that includes sacks.

As a passer, Koester is 55 of 91 for 874 yards.

West Allegheny is 8-0 and the defending WPIAL Class AAA champion. If the Indians win tonight, they will have an undefeated regular season for only the third time in school history. It seems like that balance is working pretty well.

Gateway Reeling

Gateway has a handful of seniors who are future Division I college players and the Gators started the season with high expectations. But the Gators are limping into the WPIAL playoffs

A few weeks ago, Gateway struggled to beat a Norwin team that has only one win. Then came a home loss last week to Penn-Trafford. Then the Gators hit rock bottom last night when they lost at home again to McKeesport, 49-12, in a game televised by Root Sports television.

You have to go back 16 years to find a Gateway loss so bad. It was Gateway’s worst loss since losing to North Allegheny, 55-7, in 1997. That year, Gateway finished with a 3-7 record.

If Penn-Trafford beats Hempfield tonight, Gateway will go into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed from the Foothills Conference.

Getting Their Kicks

Hempfield’s John Domit leads the entire WPIAL in field goals with nine. Mount Lebanon’s Rob Costantino is second with eight.

Domit is a 5-11 junior and now has 13 field goals over the past two seasons. But Domit is not even halfway to the WPIAL record for field goals. Peters Township’s Bob Milspaw kicked 35 from 1992-95.

Luther Chooses Pitt

There was big news on the WPIAL basketball recruiting front Thursday night as Hampton’s Ryan Luther made a verbal commitment to Pitt.

Luther averaged 21 points a game as a junior and already has more than 1,000 career points. He is a 6-foot-8 senior guard-forward who chose Pitt over Duquesne and Dayton. Dayton offered Luther a scholarship when he was a sophomore and Duquesne started recruiting Luther before his junior year. Duquesne also offered a scholarship to his twin brother, Collin.

Pitt showed interest in Luther during the spring and summer but didn’t offer a scholarship until September. Better late than never it turns out.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has never signed a WPIAL player during his tenure as head coach, but he now has two WPIAL products in this recruiting class. Former Beaver Falls standout Sheldon Jeter committed to Pitt a few weeks ago. Jeter played at Vanderbilt as a freshman, left the school and is now taking classes at a junior college in Florida.

On top of Luther and Jeter, Dixon also has a verbal commitment from Maverick Rowan, who is a sophomore at Lincoln Park of the WPIAL.

Boy-Girl Success

Three schools have turned the WPIAL Class AAA soccer semifinals into a boy-girl party.

Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and Peters Township all have their boys and girls teams in the semifinals Monday night.

South Park (Class AA) and Sewickley Academy (Class A) also have both their boys and girls teams in the semifinals.

Crouse for the Record

It is beginning to look like Greensburg Central Catholic’s Frannie Crouse has an outside shot at the WPIAL goals record.

Crouse scored five goals in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs and now has 191 career goals. The record is 205, set by 2001 Steel Valley graduate Jess Strom.

Greensburg Central Catholic is the favorite to win the Class AA title and go far in the PIAA playoffs. The Centurions might get five or six more games. Fourteen goals is a lot to ask for in those games, but Crouse is a big scorer.

Tags: Bethel Park, Gateway, Greensburg C.C., Hampton, Hempfield, Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny