"Thursday night on television is good for the whole school and the program," said SLS head coach Greg Perry. "There's a lot of excitement."

The hype surrounds two top-notch signal callers. Anthony Rizza stars for the Rebels. His supporting cast features Jake Novicki, Chad Dawgiello and Kevin Hart. Paul Jones headlines the Vikings. Andrew Carswell is his sidekick.

Rizza leads the WPIAL in passing with 908 yards. In his latest outing, a 35-14 win over Quaker Valley, the senior completed 17 of 21 aerials for 239 yards and two scores. In addition, he rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

"Anthony is doing exactly what we expected of him. I can't say that we are surprised," said Perry.

Unlike past SLS QBs such as Pitt's Bill Stull, Akron's Matt Rogers and the Oakland Raiders' Bruce Gradkowski, Rizza is a threat to run with the football. Plus, he starts at linebacker on defense.

"I've coached a lot of great quarterbacks but he's the only one I let run the ball, let alone play defense, because of his body build," said Perry of his 6-2, 195-pound signal caller. "Anthony has all the physical skills."

Yet, Rizza is only receiving looks from schools such as Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Wooster, Case Western and Johns Hopkins.

"Somebody is going to get a good high school football player, not to mention a good kid," Perry said of Rizza. "How many out there complete 70 percent of their passes? How many are as bright and aren't going to get into any trouble?"

When Rizza finds himself in harm's way, Novicki or Dawgiello have been there to bail him out via the air attack and Hart via the ground game.

Though he did not play against Quaker Valley--he had the flu--Novicki has 19 receptions for 281 yards. With his six grabs for 58 yards against QV, Dawgiello increased his season totals to 18 catches for 281 yards.

"Jake and Chad complement Anthony so well," Perry said. "They don't drop balls. A quarterback's best friend is a kid who can catch a football."

After being sidelined by shoulder surgery, Mike Delsardo returned to the receiving corps. The junior caught a 5-yard scoring strike from Rizza against QV. Casey McGrath also hauled in a 24-yard TD aerial, too.

"The more weapons you have on the field, the better," Perry said. "With Rizza, he is so effective, you can use him anywhere on the field as a weapon. Plus, we have Hart and all those receivers. A team has to respect them all. They can't pinpoint which one we will exploit."

Meanwhile, Sto-Rox exploits opponents with the Jones-Carswell connect. A Penn State recruit, Jones has thrown for more than 200 yards in both games since his return from a broken ankle. He completed 17 passes for 207 yards in a 35-20 loss to South Fayette. While six of those aerials went to Dontae Gilmore for 87 yards, Pitt recruit Andrew Carswell is the top target for Jones. He has 12 receptions for 172 yards this season.

"How do you contain a Jones and a Carswell?" Perry asked. "The last time I had a Division I quarterback and a wide receiver we won a WPIAL title. Sto-Rox presents major problems for a defense because they can hit a home run at any time. We want to try to contain them as much as possible and not give up the big throw."

Should the Rebels do that, they only face a similar situation in their next Century Conference contest. Seton-La Salle, which romped over Northgate, 42-12, Cornell, 42-25, Bishop Canevin, 32-10 and QV, 35-14, will square off against South Fayette next Friday, Oct. 9 at Chartiers Valley Stadium.

"We're entering a good, tough stretch on the schedule but we can't look ahead to South Fayette, which is a very good team with a good coach and staff and great young quarterback."

That quarterback is Christian Brumbaugh. The junior dismantled Sto-Rox, completing 13 passes for 203 yards and four scores. He has 49 completions for 636 yards and nine touchdowns this season.

Jeff Davis rushed for 84 yards on 22 carries for the Lions, who improved to 4-0. He scored on a 5-yard run and on a 27-yard scoring strike from Brumbaugh. Brumbaugh also connected with Eric Myers for a 9-yard TD pass.

The Lions host Northgate at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2.