WPIAL Saturday’s Scholastic Starz for 10/25

By: Bruce Markey
Sunday, October 26, 2014 | 8:58 AM

Rivalry weekend came to an end Saturday, as did the 9-week District 7 regular season. Sure, teams that did not qualify could opt to play a ‘Week 10’ game to extend the season, but sadly, most schools pass on that opportunity to work on their game one final time in 2014. So it is that the curtain came down with two Class A rivalries on center stage, one in the AK Valley and and one in Beaver County. Here are the two players that shined brightest on a sunny afternoon.

Nathan Block – South Side

To turn around a program, you need plenty of building blocks. At South Side, it turns out all they needed was one Block. Quarterback turned running back Nathan Block continued his great season by rushing for 156 yards and scoring three touchdowns on runs of 56, 2 and 40 yards as the Rams bounce back season continued with a sixth victory in a 28-6 triumph over the host Western Beaver Golden Beavers in a Class A Big 7 Conference finale.

Mike Banachoski – Springdale

The only playoff question still unanswered in the WPIAL heading into Saturday was which team would finish third and who would be fourth in the Class A Eastern Conference. A Springdale win and they would claim third while a loss would drop them to fourth. A quick start helped answer that question as the Dynamos Mike Banachoski rushed for 74 yards and scored no touchdown runs of 8 and 7 yards in the games first nine minutes as Springdale beat the host Riverview Raiders 28-12.