WPIAL Big Game Hunting: The Football Four-Pack – 10/19/2011

By: Bruce Markey
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 | 10:17 PM

The penultimate week of the regular season is upon us for WPIAL football, the middle week of the stretch run features quite a few dandies around town, and as always MSA has the big ones covered. There is so much to be decided with two regular season games remaining on the schedule. What do you say? Let’s, you and I, go Big Game Hunting!!

WPIAL Class AAAA Northern Seven Conference

#2 North Allegheny Tigers (7-0)(4-0) @ #7 Shaler Titans (5-2)(3-1)

Friday October 21^st 7:30 pm @ Titan Stadium Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and 1410 KQV AM by Sam Hall and Steve Nagler also broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network by Randy Gore and Rick Meister

Shaler lost a heartbreaker to Seneca Valley in the final minute of regulation and that really hurt their chances at sole possession of the Northern Conference title but they still have a crack at gaining a share of that title if they can find a way to knock of the Tigers on Friday night. North Allegheny just keeps rolling along and this game means a lot to them by way of a section championship as well as seeding going into the playoffs. While Central has been atop the rankings all season long, you would the think the defending champions  if they enter the playoffs on a 16-game winning streak; would have at least an argument for the number one seed. But they have to take care of business against Shaler Friday and rival North Hills in week nine for that argument to take place.

Shaler quarterback Ryan Mincher has pretty numbers for the year, 69 of 103 passes completed for 971 yards and 11 touchdowns. Even prettier is the way he throws the football. The Titans have a solid group of receivers in Alex Conway, Sean Gavin, Tommy Orr and J.P.Holtz, and Mincher mixes them all into the passing game very nicely.

Holtz is a beast on both sides and has great hands to boot, plus he is the Titans go – to short yardage back,  they load up with a full-house backfield, hand it to Holtz and it is very tough to stop.

The Titan defense though has some holes to fill especially against the running game, two weeks ago they allowed over three hundred yards rushing against Erie McDowell and last Friday they could not hold a fourth quarter lead against Seneca Valley as the Raiders took to the ground game to hand Shaler their first section loss.

Problems with the run defense are not problems to have when you are facing North Allegheny. As a team the Tigers have rushed for 1891 yards on the year, the math says that is an average of over 270 yards per game. Mix in almost 200 yards passing per game and over 46 points per game and you have an offensive juggernaut.

Junior quarterback Mack Leftwich has completed 69 of 109 passes on the year for 1378 yards, 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions.

Senior running back, Vinnie Congedo leads the Tigers with 519 yards on the ground on 84 attempts. Congedo has also rushed for nine touchdowns on the year. Isiah Faulk, Alex Deciantis, and Nick Passodelis have all rushed for more than 230 yards on the season, that my friends is a multi-faceted attack for Art Walker’s team.

Three stand-out wide outs make sure you cannot focus too much on stopping the Tiger run game. James Kleinhampl leads NA with 24 catches for 547 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Conniker and Greg Garrity have combined for 26 more catches and 534 yards to go along with six scores on the year.

That Tiger defense is not to be trifled with either, senior d-lineman Nate Nachazel has six sacks on the year to lead a defense that is averaging more than 2.5 sacks per game.

WPIAL Class AAA Parkway Conference

#7 Montour Spartans (5-2)(3-2) @ #9 West Allegheny Indians (5-2)(4-1)

Friday October 21^st 7:00 pm @ West Allegheny High School broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and Trib-Live radio by Ken Laird and Jonathan Whaley

You just can’t go a week without a huge game popping up in the best high school football conference in the state of Pennsylvania. There will be a team or two from the Parkway that don’t make the playoffs that would have challenged for a conference title in every other AAA conference.

The winner of this game…well forget what I say, that doesn’t matter…. here is Montour head coach on this game, “Once again a huge game between Montour and West Allegheny. Two very well coached teams with a lot at stake for conference home game in the play-offs. Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will win.”

Looooooouuuuuuuuu sums it up pretty well there. Lose this one and your shot at playing at home in the first round is greatly diminished, maybe your shot at playing in the playoffs at all, is diminished. This is a big game even if nothing is at stake, throw in playoff implications and, you gotta wear a seatbelt for this one on Friday.

Montour’s 2011 offense has been exactly what most thought it would be scoring a second best in the conference 36.4 points per game. Senior quarterback Dillon Buechel is just fabulous tossing 17 touchdown passes and only four picks on the year. He has completed 78 of 114 passes, an incredible 68.4% completion rate for 1193 yards. He spreads it around, does Buechel and pretty evenly to, in fact his two leading receivers Darren Massey and Devin Wilson both have exactly 425 receiving yards. Darren has eight touchdowns and Devin four, Devin…that’s on you.

Senior running back Julian Durden is an absolute game breaker at running back. Durden, (already over 4000 yards for his high school career) has toted it 99 times this season for 966 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is averaging just less than ten yards per rush.

Defensively the Spartans are led by linebackers Aaron Reed and Anthony Rippole, Reed has 52 tackles and Rippole 44 on the year. Buechel leads the Spartans with five sacks on the season.

Bob Palko’s West Allegheny team has been doing it with a lot of defense this year. The Indians’ defense has allowed a conference low 12.7 points per game on the year, that number is in fact almost a full field goal lower than any other team in the rock-solid Parkway.

The Indians offense features quarterback Dylan Bongiorni who will burn you through the air or on the ground. Bongiorni has completed 52 of 85 passes for 613 yards and eight touchdowns. He has also rushed for over 500 yards and nine touchdowns on the season.

Bob Palko’s club also has three different rushers averaging over five yards per carry on the season in Nick Halbedl, Tory Delmonico, and Wes Thomas.

Bongiorni’s favorite target is wide receiver Mike O’Donnell who has 20 catches for 215 yards, Zach Medved has caught four touchdown passes on the season.

Coach Palko knows the Spartans are loaded, he says, “This Montour team is talented and full of skill and speed and size. They have a tremendous amount of experience and seem poised to make a run at the championship. They are well coached and they have a “special” young man at RB (Durden). He is a tremendous talent and is fun to watch but not fun to defend against.”

The Indians have only suffered two losses on the year and both were to serious powerhouses. AAAA playoff bound Upper Saint Clair knocked them off in week four and the number one team in AAA Central Valley eeked out a 13-9 win over the Indians in week two. We at BGH think Bob Palko’s team might be a little under the radar this year, and has the potential to contend for the AAA crown down the road. We will find out if that is true Friday night in Imperial, PA.

WPIAL Class AA Century Conference

#2 Seton LaSalle Rebels (7-0)(5-0) @ #9 South Fayette Lions (5-2)(4-1)

Friday October 21^st 7:30 pm @ Lions Stadium broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Matt Vandriak and Mike Krcil

Time for another “Game of The Century” , the final two spots in the Century conference require an abacus to figure out, but things near the top are pretty clear especially with this game looming on Friday.

 Greg Perry’s quarterback machinery at Seton is still churning out greatness and junior quarterback Luke Brumbaugh is fitting right in with those machinations. (You didn’t know I knew that word did you?) Truthfully I am still not sure I used it correctly, I am trying to say Brumbaugh is a very good quarterback. Joe Rossi’s Lions though are a very solid team and this might be the best secondary that Brumbaugh has faced this season. With the conference title on the line and a big-time rivalry game as well Lions Stadium will be packed, and tons of listeners tuned in, to Vandy and Kirch for this one.

Brumbaugh is completing better than 50% of his passes and is approaching 1000 yards on the season he has thrown nine touchdown passes and run for five more. Speaking of running and scoring touchdowns Kevin Hart does a bunch of both of those things for the Rebels, on the season the senior running back has rushed for 814 yards and scored a grand total of 19 touchdowns on the season both running and catching the ball. Hart is also the leading receiver for Seton.

The Rebel’s have a healthy respect for the defending Century Conference champions. Head Coach Greg Perry says “I told our team they are the defending conference champs and until you beat them they are still the champs. We also are 0 for 2 in our last two meetings with them so we will respect what they have done. So we go to their place with the attitude we need to beat the champ to be the champ.”

South Fayette quarterback John Lerda is very good as well, heading into last week he was 61 of 115 for 867 yards 14 touchdowns and only three picks. The Lions have a multitude of ways to attack you. They will use Zach Challingsworth in the Wildcat look, Challingsworth is also one of the best wide receivers in the WPIAL with over 500 yards catching and averaging almost 20 yards per grab.

Trevor Fiorentini and Tyler Yanosik will pound you with the football on the ground if you over – emphasize defending the pass. Fiorentini is a punishing runner who never seems to go down with first contact and Yanosik is a big time threat catching the ball out of the back field for Joe Rossi.

WPIAL Class A Black Hills Conference

#1 Clairton Bears (7-0)(5-0) @ #9 Fort Cherry Rangers (5-2)(4-1)

Friday October 21^st 7:30 pm @ For Cherry High School Broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Matt Vandriak and Mike Krcil

The Bears roll has been sufficiently documented with their win streak now at 38 in a row. Tom Nola’s team seems to have the look of a team of destiny with that destiny being the state championship and the new WPIAL record win streak at the end of the season.

Tyler Boyd is just spectacular no matter how you slice it rushing or catching it for the Bears. Boyd has amassed 942 yards rushing on the season on just 67 carries, that is an incredible average of 14.06 yards per carry…come to think of it there is nothing “average” about that. Boyd has also scored a combined 20 touchdowns on the season and 11 two-point conversions giving him 142 points scored on the year, that is more than 57 current WPIAL teams.

Heading into last week quarterback Capri Thompson was 34 of 55 passing for 801 yards and eight touchdowns without a single interception thrown.

The Bear defense has already reached legendary status they have a shutout string of six games in a row, have not allowed a point since week one of the WPIAL season….not a single point…they are allowing 1.7 points per game, that is the best in the state of Pennsylvania…and I am betting it ranks pretty high in the United States.

So, Fort Cherry has their work cut out for them, to say the least. The Rangers have some great players make no mistake about it, but like all Clairton opponents, team speed is where they will be lacking against the Bears. Fort Cherry head coach Tim Garry says the Bears aren’t exactly sneaking up on teams. “I don't know if anyone can handle Clairton's speed.  They just are so fast at every position that it makes it very difficult to execute offensively and defensively” said Garry, when asked to comment for BGH.

The Rangers will try, quarterback Tanner Garry is a great one in his own right, and fast becoming a you tube sensation as well. For the season Garry has completed 72 of 112 passes for 1481 yards and 20 touchdowns on the season.

Many of those touchdown passes have gone to Ryan Babirad who is outstanding on both sides of the ball. Babirad has 25 catches for 600 yards and ten touchdowns he also leads the Ranger defense in interceptions.

Corey Garry, Tanner’s cousin is a great running back and line backer, his defensive leadership will be relied upon heavily if Ft. Cherry is to make a game of it against the bears. On the ground Corey is approaching 500 yards for the season and has scored seven touchdowns.

It’s gotten to the point now where, not only are the Bears making history but, every team they play has the chance to make history as well, some team, some day, somewhere will become “that team that stopped that great Clairton winning streak” remember them? The Rangers get their crack at history Friday night.

Tags: Clairton, Fort Cherry, West Allegheny