South Fayette continues dominance in Class AA
South Fayette continued its dominance in Class AA football when the Lions dispatched South Allegheny, 48-6, for its fourth Century Conference win this season and 20th triumph in a row since winning last year’s district and state titles.
With winless and in disarray Carlynton on tap Sept. 26 at Honus Wagner Field in Carnegie, the Lions do not look as if they are slowing down as they approach stiffer competition in October. The Lions will host Steel Valley (3-1) Oct. 3 and take on Seton-La Salle Oct. 17 at Chartiers Valley in games that should decide the conference champion.
“Our focus,” said SF head coach Joe Rossi, “is on getting better ourselves as a team each game. We have long-range goals so we take it one day at a time. We are constantly trying to get better.”
As they continue their defense of their WPIAL and PIAA championships, the Lions continue to improve defensively while they remain a well-oiled offense. The Lions, who feature eight new starters on defense, have limited the opposition to 39 total points or 9.8 per game. Meanwhile, Brett Brumbaugh, who is on target to shatter the district’s all-time passing records, engineers the offense.
“Defensively,” Rossi said, “I am pleased with what those guys are doing. They are doing a nice job. Offensively, we are doing a good job too and that’s because of Brett.”
After a sluggish start, where they nearly were sacked in their own end zone for a safety, the offense found its groove when Brumbaugh connected with Roman Denson for a 28-yard touchdown. With 5:33 to play in the first frame, the Lions led, 7-0. Brumbaugh finished with 16 completions on 26 attempts for 183 yards.
After Brett Beltz recovered a fumble, Hunter Hayes gained 47 yards on two plays and reached the end zone for score No. 2 for the Lions. Hayes darted eight yards for the touchdown, giving South Fayette a 14-0 advantage with 14 seconds into the second stanza. Hayes added his second score on a two-yard run with 7:05 to play in the half. Brumbaugh’s completions to Logan Sharp and Denson set up the TD.
Two plays after Anthony Davision recovered a fumble, Brumbaugh tossed his 11th TD of the season, a 15-yard strike to Sharp..
Geovante Love tacked on a 2-yard score with 1:18 to go in the first half, invoking the Mercy Rule or running clock. During the scoring drive, Brumbaugh completed passes to Mikey Speca (2), Dan Trimbur and Nick Ponikvar.
In the second half, Love notched his second score of the game when he darted a short distance into the end zone with 1:41 left in the third quarter. Robert O’Kelly completed the scoring for the Lions with a 2-yard touchdown with 2:27 to play.
With win in hand, the Lions get back to basics as they prepare for the Cougars, who recently had their head coach quit because he feared for his players’ health. The Cougars were three students over the limit when the WPIAL reclassified them, moving them from A to AA ball.
Noting that one of the coach’s on his staff has a son that attends Carlynton, Rossi said, “You feel for those players. They are a nice group of kids.”
Nevertheless, the Lions will prepare for the Cougars. “We’ll focus on fundamentals rather than schemes,” Rossi said. “We don’t get to do that too often.”
Other results
Seton-La Salle kept pace with the Lions in the Century Conference standings when the Rebels edged Steel Valley, 14-7, to remain undefeated, too, at 4-0. Paris Ford caught a tipped pass a touchdown and Liam Sweeney rushed for the other score for the Rebels.
Keystone Oaks slipped to 0-4 after a 35-19 loss to South Park.
In Class A ball, Bishop Canevin dropped a 35-31 decision to Fort Cherry while Chartiers-Houston edged Northgate, 19-13.
In Class AAA, Chartiers Valley slipped past Blackhawk, 28-27.
In Quad-A non-conference play, North Allegheny thumped Upper St. Clair, 31-14, while Peters Township whipped New Castle, 30-14.
In Southeastern Conference action, Penn Hills rushed past Mt. Lebanon, 41-21. With the loss, Lebo slipped to 2-1 in the conference while the Indians improved to 3-0 and tied for first place with Woodland Hills. In the loss, Eddie Jenkins tossed a 15-yard TD to Nick Tommasi and rushed for a 6-yard score and a two-point conversion for the Blue Devil points.
Bethel Park blanked Canon-McMillan, 48-0. The Hawks scored once through the air and six times on the ground. Levi Metheny tossed the scoring strike to Charlie Davis. Metheny and Davis also rushed for touchdowns. Connor McGinnis, Alex Minton, Joseph Weston and Terron Murphy also ran for TDs for the Hawks, who improved to 2-1 in the conference and 2-2 overall.