Bethel Park hosts Upper St. Clair
Mike Krenn (No.2) barrels his way for key yardage during Upper St. Clair’s 35-13 win against Peters Township.
Gunnar Lund bolts up the middle for his second touchdown of the game during Upper St. Clair’s 35-13 victory versus Peters Township. Lund is used by the Panthers during run situations in the red zone while senior quarterback Dan Trocano starts. Trocano completed 10 of 12 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Indians. Trocano is 16 of 23 for 283 yards and three TDs on the season.
Jeff Metheny and Jim Render agree on one thing. When Bethel Park hosts Upper St. Clair at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in Southeastern Conference football action, both teams will be prepared.
“We will be ready [for Bethel],” said Render, the legendary coach of the Panthers.
BP’s Metheny said, “It’s not hard to get up for our neighbors down the road. That’s the easy part of it.”
The hard part for the Hawks is overcoming the sting of defeat. BP dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference after falling to Woodland Hills, 33-31. The Hawks appeared to have the game won against the top-ranked team in Quad-A when Charlie Davis returned a fumble 35 yards for a touchdown with 1:30 to play. However, Art Thompkins responded with a 75-yard kick-off return for the winning score.
“It’s disappointing. Heartbreaking,” said Metheny of the loss. “It’s not going to take just a day to get over what happened.
“We played well at times. We made a lot of mistakes. That cost us in the end. We had a couple costly errors for sure.”
One of the biggest was when a snap to the punter sailed over Chris Papalia’s head and Joe-El Shaw recovered in the end zone giving Woodland Hills a 27-24 lead. Plus, there was the 64-yard TD reception by Thompkins. The scores erased a 24-13 lead by the Hawks.
Alex Minton helped mount that advantage when he tackled Penn State recruit Miles Sanders in the end zone for a safety. Minton also rushed for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Levi Metheny kept BP close in the first half with scoring strikes of eight and six yards to Chiante Pryor and Jacob Dixon before Matthew Monte gave the Hawks a 17-13 advantage with his third-quarter field goal of 44 yards.
While the Wolverines turned the ball over six times, BP had three miscues. In all, however, Metheny was pleased with the team’s progress from its opening-season loss to Central Catholic, 41-0. The Vikings and the Wolverines were WPIAL Quad-A finalists, with Central winning the championship and finishing runner-up in the state.
“We ran the ball better. We were a lot more physical. We played good defense, except for some big plays. We definitely improved since week one but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Render, likewise, was pleased with USC’s progress. The Panthers dispatched Peters Township, 35-13, one week after they had dropped a turnover-plagued decision to Penn Hills, 33-13.
“We did not give the ball away,” Render noted dryly.
“We were another week mature. A lot of our kids never started and played under the lights before,” he continued.
Against the Indians, USC continued to perfect it’s multi-quarterback system as Gunnar Lund rushed for two scores of 15 and 7 yards inside the red zone and Dan Trocano passed for two scores of 8 and 33 yards to Marcus Galie and Andrew Bartusiak. Tracano finished with 130 yards after completing 10 of 12 aerials.
USC also utilized Jackson Geisler behind center. Render says he was pleased with the things his talented sophomore did late in the fray.
“You might call it a wrinkle in the offense,” Render said in reply to a reporter’s question, “but we developed that when we had Dakota Conwell (Arizona) and Pete Coughlin (W&J). It’s not one quarterback versus another quarterback. It’s what we like to do and have done. There is no grand scheme. It’s a process.”
For BP, the process also continues. The Hawks, like the Panthers suffered severe graduation loss. While USC had to replace all but one starter, BP graduated 25 seniors from last year’s playoff team.
“We lost a lot of guys and we are like them in that regard,” explained Metheny. “We need to work on our schemes and we need to become more sound. We have to eliminate the big plays. Work on technique and keep getting better. No question, we will get better.”
Thomas Vissman continues to improve. The sophomore led USC’s ground attack and for the second game in a row rushed for over 100 yards. He gained 112 against the Indians. Marcus Galie, who rushed for an 8-yard TD against Peters, is USC’s second-leading rusher. However, the Panthers have a plethora of talented backs, including Bartusiak, Mike Krenn, Kevin Chrissis, Andrew Baltutat, Dom Folino and Sean Thomas.
The Hawks will find the Panthers resilient when it comes to responding to pressure. As the Hawks did against the Wolverines, the Panthers answered each salvo. After the Indians made big plays, USC answered with key scores, including one on a fourth-down play and right before the first half ended. Noting that he was pleased with the way his team responded when the Indians struck, Jim Render said, “We showed poise and we made some plays.”
Metheny says his Hawks cannot afford to give up the big plays or turn the ball over.
“We have to take care of the football, get better on special teams and not give up the big play,” he said. “They will play their best game of the year and we have to be ready for that. It’s going to be a good week in the conference.”