Westmoreland high school football notes: Norwin tight end Tanner Krevokuch receives first D1 offer

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, September 19, 2019 | 4:20 PM

Norwin football player Tanner Krevokuch has his first Division I-FBS scholarship offer.

Krevokuch, the Knights’ 6-foot-4, 205-pound tight end and middle linebacker, announced Sunday that Central Michigan has extended an offer.

“This offer means everything to me because it changes my life big time,” Krevokuch said. “It helps for other schools to see me and it helps my parents out financially, tremendously.”

Krevokuch has been one of senior quarterback Jack Salopek’s targets this season. Salopek is a Western Michigan recruit.

Krevokuch has eight catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, he has a team-best 31 tackles, one interception and three forced fumbles.

He caught 26 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns last season.

After a coach reached out to Krevokuch via social media, the school invited him to a game. After his visit to Central Michigan, the alma mater of Antonio Brown, he was offered.

Krevokuch said he is going to wait to see what other opportunities materialize before he makes a decision.

“I am going to wait to see what else I could possibly get before committing too soon,” he said. “I’m still young as a junior so I still have a lot of time to decide.”

Lisbon, Fanelli out

Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane did not disclose the full extent of knee injuries to his top two running backs, but he did say both are out for this week’s game at Massillon, Ohio.

Caleb Lisbon and Sam Fanelli suffered knee injuries about three minutes apart in last week’s 29-12 win over McKeesport. Both left the field for the halftime break on crutches.

Slowing West Greene

Monessen is the next team looking to put the brakes on West Greene’s offensively explosive season.

The Greyhounds (1-3, 1-1) host No. 5-ranked West Greene (4-0, 3-0) Friday in a Class A Tri-County South Conference game. West Greene has piled up a WPIAL-best 58.8 points per game, including a head-turning 82 against Bentworth.

The Pioneers are led by senior running back Ben Jackson, who leads the league in rushing with 1,014 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Monessen coach Mikey Blainefield is trying to give the matchup proper perspective — and a fundamental approach.

“It’s just about sticking to the basics,” he said. “A lot of tackling and pursuit drills. Defensively we have to get 11 guys to the football if we want to give ourselves a chance to win. Also we will continue to press the need for takeaways. And understanding down and distance.”

Wild finish

Greensburg Central Catholic was leading Leechburg, 21-7, late in the fourth quarter last week and appeared headed for a victory. The win came, but not before an exhilarating stretch that carried the teams into three overtimes.

GCC first-year coach Bret Colbert said the game was fun, even when his team was trailing in overtime. But some bad bounces gave Leechburg life.

“We had three very unfortunate plays, almost in succession, that led to them quickly coming back,” Colbert said. “Their quarterback hit some really nice throws and (Jake Blumer) refused to not get in the end zone. They’re a very good team, and they play very hard.”

Blumer scored six touchdowns for the Blue Devils, who took advantage of GCC punter Nate Ward’s knee touching the ground and recovered an onside kick on the way to forcing overtime.

Been a long time

At 4-0, Southmoreland is off to its best start since 1991. That Scotties team tailed off, losing five of its final six to miss the WPIAL playoffs.

A win this week at Brownsville will all but secure a playoff spot for Southmoreland for the first time since 1979 — the longest WPIAL football playoff drought.

But a 5-0 start will reach farther back in history. Southmoreland hasn’t done that since 1964 — the school’s first year following the merger of Scottdale and East Huntingdon.

That team finished 8-0 but did not go to the playoffs due to Gardner points. There were no playoff brackets then, only championship games.

The 1979 team finished 7-1-1 after starting 4-0-1.

Bus stop

Southmoreland wants its fans to be there if it does go to 5-0, so the team has arranged for two fan buses to make the trip to Brownsville’s Redstone Field.

Similarly, Penn-Trafford’s boosters will take two fan buses to Massillon, Ohio.

Extra points

With last week’s win, Ruane moved into a tie with Art Tragesser for the most wins in Penn-Trafford football history (83). … Ligonier Valley’s Kyrie Miller leads Westmoreland County in rushing with 586 yards, but Derry’s Justin Huss is not far behind with 567 yards. Miller is averaging 12.7 yards per carry.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Ligonier Valley, Monessen, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland