WPIAL Week Five Saturday’s Scholastic Starz

By: Bruce Markey
Sunday, September 30, 2012 | 9:20 AM

The only bad thing about a jam-packed Friday night of high school football is that it leaves the Saturday district schedule a tad light. That was the case in Week Five with only THREE WPIAL football games, all on the Class A level. So even though there were only three games, we were still able to keep with the tradition of the Top Five performances from Saturday that led to loud victories on a quiet day.

Jake Temple & Nick Kusich – Avella

A solid tag-team effort help keep shockingly unbeaten Avella soaring in a Class A Tri-County South Conference contest in Fayette County. Nick Kusich rushed for 101 yards and scored the games first two touchdowns on runs of 57 and 42 yards while Jake Temple ran for 105 yards and scored on a pair of runs of 34 and 67 yards, plus he returned a kickoff 85-yards for a touchdown to lead the Eagles to a 5-0 start with a 59-6 rout of the host Geibel Gators.

Ben Richko & Dante Marsick – Rochester

A trap game in football is when you have a huge game coming up, but you are playing a team that you are expected to beat before the big showdown. Many teams get caught looking ahead and end up chowing down on a heaping helping of upset. Rochester is not like many teams. They took care of business Saturday thanks to a one-two punch of quarterback Ben Richko, who hit on 5 of 6 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns and running back Dante Marsick, who rushed for 154 yards and scored on three touchdowns runs and a scoring pass as the Rams improved to 5-0 in preparing for next weeks Class A Big 7 Conference showdown with 5-0 Neshannock with a 41-6 triumph over the host Western Beaver Golden Beavers. 

Tim Wagner – Riverview

He might not have put up the gaudy stats, but Tim Wagner did a little bit of everything well Saturday to help stop Riverview's long losing skid. Wagner had four long punt returns for a total of 93 yards, two of which set up scoring drives that he personally capped off with a 33-yard touchdown run and a 25-yard scoring pass from Tyler Nigro as the Raiders snapped an 11-game losing streak with a hard-fought 15-12 victory over the host Wilkinsburg Tigers in a Class A Eastern Conference contest.

Tags: Avella