Action heats up in Allegheny 6 Conference
With two weeks to go in the regular season, teams in the Allegheny Six Conference are gearing up for a strong finish, which features top-notch battles for playoff positioning and seedings in the upcoming WPIAL Class 5A football tournament.
“There are no freebies in the Allegheny Six Conference,” said Upper St. Clair coach Mike Junko. “You better be ready every week because you are going to get somebody’s best effort.”
The Panthers are gearing up for a showdown at Moon at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17.
The Tigers gave league-leading Peters Township all it could handle back on Oct. 3. Moon forced a handful of miscues, including three interceptions, but succumbed to a late-game rally by the host Indians, 21-10.
Nolan DiLucia completed 11 passes for 141 years and two touchdowns of 31 and 16 yards to PJ Luke and Reston Lehman. The scoring strikes erased a 10-point first-half Moon lead.
Cole Neupaver iced the victory with a one-yard touchdown. The senior tailback finished with 143 rushing yards. Luke finished with four receptions for 69 yards.
According to Junko, Moon is probably the most athletic team the Panthers have played. “They feature a number of skill players that will be playing on Saturdays in the future,” he said.
“They are opportunistic on defense and they have the ability to create explosive plays on offense,” he continued. “They have won some tough games and played everybody on their schedule extremely hard.”
Though the Tigers slipped to 1-1 in the conference and 4-3 overall after the loss to the Indians, they are a formidable opponent for USC. Andrew Cross is a versatile signal caller with 620 yards on 50 completions for nine scores and over 300 yards rushing for two additional scores. Antione Arnett headlines the backfield while Braeden Stuart, Savario Vandetti and Jayden Revis spearhead the receiving corps.
“Moon is a great example of the depth in our conference,” Junko said. “They have an experienced quarterback that is having a great year. They have running backs with break away speed. On defense they have the ability to shut down the passing game with great closing speed and an aggressive attacking scheme.”
In many ways, the Tigers are similar to the Panthers, who responded with seven unanswered scores to defeat South Fayette, 50-14.
Jacobo Echeverria Lozano converted three field goals and five of six extra points.
Ethan Hellmann completed 11 of 17 passes for 203 yards to remain the WPIAL’s top thrower. The senior also tossed three touchdown aerials of 21, 81 and 14 yards to John Banbury, Bryce Jones and Josh Snyder to run his numbers to 23 on the year.
Additionally, Dante Coury rushed for 98 yards and scored on runs measuring 2, 13 and 61 yards.
Defensively, Nico D’Orazio picked off two passes while Andrew Gaither also had an interception. Banbury led the unit with five tackles followed by D’Orazio, Caffery Duplessi and Beck Shields, all of whom had four solo stops.
“The middle of our defense is very solid,” Junko said. “John is a physical presence at linebacker and Nico does a great job of covering ground in the secondary. Will (Stohl) also gets better with every start.
“We were able to create turnovers that had a big impact on the final result and in the second half, we did a better job of finishing off drives and we made some great adjustments that slowed a very explosive South Fayette offense.”
Drew Welhorsky led the Lions in all aspects of the game. He had a team-high nine tackles on defense, averaged 43.7 yards on punts, rushed for 73 yards and passed for 179 more on 11 completions. Welhorsky ran for a 27-yard touchdown and tossed an 80-yard scoring strike to Tyson Wright to open the scoring in the game.
For USC to upend Moon on its own turf, the Panthers must win the turnover battle. Junko said that factor has contributed to USC’s success this season.
“Our formula for winning this year has been taking care of the football,” he said.
“Our defense needs to continue to generate turnovers to give us a chance to win. We have to find a way to slow down their run game and contain the explosives in the pass game.
“Moon has a reputation of being very physical,” Junko continued. “I don’t think this week will be any different. Our kids will have to come ready to match that intensity.”
Motivation will be TJ Plack’s main mission as he prepares Peters Township to play at Baldwin. The Highlanders suffered a 75-14 shellacking by Bethel Park to maintain their longest losing streak in the WPIAL.
In the loss to BP, the Highlanders surrendered 49 points in the first quarter.
Evan Devine threw for 172 yards and six touchdowns before yielding to Enzo Centrofanti, who tossed two scoring strikes and collected 161 yards passing.
Santino Nowozeniuk hauled in three TD aerials for the Black Hawks. Jovian Smith, Brady Brukner and Nathan Cirincione pulled in scoring strikes from Devine as well. Troy Goetz and Takondwa Moyo had the TD grabs for Centofanti.
Bryan McGuire had a Pick-6 for 21 yards as did Richard Johnson for 50 yards. Tyler Miller also added a 40-yard touchdown run in the rout, and Xavier Jackson converted the extra points.
Bethel Park will travel to South Fayette for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 17.
CLASS 6A
Mt. Lebanon continues to lose the battle of attrition in football this fall.
Playing without three starters, the Blue Devils slipped to 1-6 overall after dropping a 28-19 decision at North Allegheny on Oct. 3. They are 1-3 in the Quad County Conference heading into their final two games of the season – at home Oct. 17 against Hempfield and on the road Oct. 24 against Norwin.
The outcomes of each are critical as the results have playoff implications.
“Must win for sure,” Lebo skipper Greg Perry said of the Spartans this Friday on Senior Night. “We need to see what we have standing and piece together our best unit to get a victory.”
For nearly three quarters the Blue Devils pieced together their best and found themselves within striking distance of the Tigers, trailing by one point, 14-13, before giving up back-to-back touchdowns. Korry Pitts, who returned a kickoff 81 yards for the first score, pulled in a 65-yard scoring strike from Brady Brinkley and Luke Rohan rushed for a 2-yard touchdown to edge ahead of the Blue Devils.
“We battled with NA,” Perry said. “I really liked the effort of our kids in the game. We are what we are now with injuries and some inexperienced kids getting some action. Playing so many kids both ways, they just get worn down and injuries happen. We just need to try and get some players, especially linemen, ready to go.”
Patrick Smith appears always prepared. The senior completed 12 aerials for 150 yards and a 40-yard scoring strike to Jaxson Driscoll in the loss to North Allegheny.
Heading into a non-conference clash on Oct. 10 against Penn Hills (results unavailable at press time), Smith ranked among the top passers in the WPIAL with 888 yards and three touchdowns on 72 pass completions. He also has rushed for 785 yards and nine scores.
Another bright spot in the loss to the Tigers was Jacob Zaber’s 100-yard Pick 6.
Against the Spartans, the strategy is simple. Hempfield is led by quarterback Dominic Detruf (1,258 yards and 14 TDs on 88 pass completions. While Jack Kopas (26 catches for 356 yards, is the top receiver, five other players had nine or more receptions for Hempfield. Among them are: Henry Mutschler (16 for 217), Aidan Stinebiser, Tony Sebring and Lucas Simmons (all with 10 grabs) and Andrew Jones (9 for 116)
“Our pass defense needs to be better because (Hempfield) will throw the ball,” Perry predicted. “We need to get our run game going to keep them off the field.”