PT prepares for CV
There will be no rest for the weary as Peters Township (5-2, 3-1) prepares to battle Chartiers Valley (3-4, 0-4) in a Allegheny Eight Conference game set for 7 p.m. Oct. 12.
“I am always concerned to play our conference opponents. That’s why I do not sleep,” Peters coach T.J. Plack said.
Plack knows that, although the Colts hit the injury-bug mid-season, they are beginning to get healthy again. They showed flashes of fire in their loss to Bethel Park last week.
CV jumped ahead early when Troy Donofrio hauled in a 55-yard scoring strike from Connor Barrett. Barrett also rushed for two scores. He finished with 136 yards rushing.
However, the Colts surrendered four unanswered scores and ended up on the short-end of a 49-21 decision.
“We lost our core fundamentals when things went south,” CV skipper Dan Knause said. “We are making too many physical and mental errors. With the competition level we have to play smart physical football.”
That will be imperative against the Indians because Peters Township has plenty of weapons.
“Peters is an excellent team,” Knause said. “They have playmakers all over the field combined with a great offensive line. On defense they are very athletic and physical. They are well coached on both sides of the ball and special teams.”
The Indians put all those assets into play in beating Moon, 33-21.
Ryan Magiske rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown. Josh Casilli caught six passes for 185 yards. He finished with three TD grabs of 37, 61 and 40 yards. Jackson Mccluskey also hauled in a 28-yard scoring strike.
Sophomore quarterback Logan Pfeuffer completed 15 of 20 passes for 331 yards and four scores. He has topped the 1,000-yard milestone and ranks among the top passers in the WPIAL this fall.
“At his position he has proven to be accurate and capable,” Plack said. “He is starting to show his toughness and ability to stay in the pocket. He is a player that pays attention to his peers, he mimics the qualities of our positive, competitive leaders, and understands his job within the program.”
Because of Pfeuffer’s development, the Indians are in a position to win.
“Our quarterback is growing up, quickly,” Plack said. “He has a very good defense to support him, along with a senior led offensive line, and a couple guys that help him to make plays.”
Moon at USC
Jim Render relied on his assistant coaches to devise a strategy to defeat Mt. Lebanon, 28-7. Now the legendary Upper St. Clair field general will depend on those same lieutenants to get the job done when the Panthers (3-1, 6-1) host Moon at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12.
“I was very pleased with my coaches. They did a tremendous job of preparing the players for Mt. Lebanon. The defense was tremendous. Our offense had its best night of the season and our kicking game was very good,” he said.
“No question there is a balance that needs to be struck this week because we’d much rather beat Mt. Lebanon than Moon, so getting the intensity level back up will be a struggle but that’s the job of my coaching staff and myself. We must make them mentally and physically prepared to play Friday night.”
That’s because the Tigers will be no pushover for the Panthers. Despite its 1-3 conference slate and 2-5 overall record, Render has respect for Moon and the Allegheny Eight league.
“We’ve had our eye on Moon all fall because they have done good things,” Render said. “I am impressed with the fact that they have fought hard regardless of what the score was all season long.”
The Panthers demonstrated their own measure of fight against Lebo. Spearheaded by the defensive strategy carved out by coordinator Tim Robbins and his aides, Mike Junko, Pat Corr, Joe Figura and Matt Mellinger, USC limited the Blue Devils to 175 total yards.
Quinn Murray, Jason Sweeney and Antonio Orsini picked off passes. Harvey Rauch registered 11 tackles and Brandon Shearer finished with 11. Murray also had a sack.
Offensively, the Panthers amassed 375 yards. Orsini, who managed a Pick-6, rambled for 164 yards on 25 carries for a 6.6-yard average and a 54-yard touchdown. Orsini leads the team with 887 total yards, 768 coming on the ground.
“Antonio is having a phenomenal year. He does a little of everything for us,” Render said.
Sweeney does tough work, too. The senior signal caller completed 15 of 23 passes for 193 yards and two scoring strikes of 33 yards and 2 yards to David Pantelis and Harvey Rauch against Lebo.
In addition to passing for more than 1,000 yards this season, Sweeney plays defense and also handles the punting chores for the Panthers. His top targets have been the Pantelis brothers-Chris (27 catches for 453 yards and 5 scores) and David (22 receptions for 343 yards and 3 TDs) as well as Colin McLinden and Orsini.
Baldwin at BP
Error-free football spearheaded Bethel Park (5-2, 3-1) to victory against Chartiers Valley, 49-21. A similar scenario should lead to another Allegheny Eight Conference victory when the Hawks host rival Baldwin (4-3, 2-3) at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12.
“We did not turn the ball over,” Jeff Metheny said about the triumph against the Colts. “When you don’t fumble the football, things go easier for a team. We’ll have to do that against Baldwin because they are a good team with good football players. In football, you have to take care of the ball.”
Sean McGowan and Luke Surunis took care of the ball and racked up huge yardage against CV. McGowan scored four touchdowns and finished with 102 yards rushing. Surunis finished with a game-high 156 yards and one score.
“Sean and Luke are developing into a nice 1-2 punch,” Metheny said. “Those two played pretty well.”
Anthony Chiccitt played well, too. He completed six of 10 attempts for 135 yards and two scoring strikes.
“We demonstrated that we are capable of throwing if we need to,” Metheny said. “In that regard, we passed well especially for touchdowns.”
Metheny also cited Brandan Greco for his play at tight end and Dylan Fusca for his play at linebacker. Greco pulled n a 30-yard TD strike while Fusca was credited with a 37-yard score after the Hawks blocked a punt.
Baldwin, however, does pose some concerns for the Hawks. They feature Mason Stahl, who has already passed for 1,000 yards. He threw two TD passes to Dre Howell and rushed for another in last week’s loss to West Allegheny, 29-26.
“We have been watching them,” Metheny said. “Their quarterback is good and they have several talented wide receivers and their running back looked impressive on film. They have a lot of skill players. We will have our hands full. They are going to be fired up for sure. We better be, too.”
Lebo at Pine-Richland
Focus on the little things. After a loss to Upper St. Clair, 28-7, it’s the mantra of Mt. Lebanon in preparation of a Quad County Conference clash at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at Pine-Richland.
“A few plays are the difference between victory and defeat,” Mike Melnyk said of the lessons Lebo learned from the loss to USC. “Attention to detail on every play is necessary.”
Hence, playing their hearts out will not help the Blue Devils defeat the Rams, who are ranked No. 2 in the state. The Blue Devils must eliminate the miscues that led to having two touchdowns called back due to penalties. Against USC, they also tossed three interceptions, one of which resulted in a pivotal score for the Panthers.
USC held Lebo to 175 total yards and one touchdown-a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by Seth Morgan. Casey Sorsdal kicked the extra point to tie the game, 7-7, with 5:56 left in the second stanza.
“Both defenses played their hearts out,” Melnyk said.
He pointed to two touchdowns called back on “tough” penalties, one which would have tied the game in the fourth quarter.
“Our kids played hard but we left some points out there, which led to our defeat. USC was prepared and played hard also, but they did not do anything we weren’t prepared for.”
Lebo has its hands full preparing for the Rams.
“They don’t have any weaknesses,” Melnyk said. “We need to play a physical, focused game for an entire four quarters to win this game.”
Highlands at South Fayette
A shootout could be in store when Highlands (2-5, 2-3) visits South Fayette (6-1, 4-0) for a 7 p.m. kickoff Oct. 12 in this Northwest Eight Conference clash.
The Golden Rams and the Lions love to put points on the scoreboard. However, while Highlands surrenders almost as many points as it scores, South Fayette owns one of the top defenses in Class Quad-A.
So the Lions’ strategy will be simple.
“It will be important for us to control the line of scrimmage and create turnovers,” South Fayette coach Joe Rossi said.
The Lions did just that in recording a win against Knoch, 35-14, last week. With plenty of line protection, Jamie Diven passed for 232 yards and five scores. He improved to 1,445 yards and 19 TDs this season.
Mike Trimbur hauled in six of those aerials, half for scores of 16, 51 and 74 yards, and for a total of 159 yards. The senior leads the team with 444 yards and eight scores.
Charley Rossi also caught two scoring strikes of 21 and 9 yards in the win against the Knights. Rossi has four TDs and 324 yards receiving this fall.
Meanwhile, Highlands boasts an equally efficient quarterback as Seth Cohen has already exceeded 1,300 yards passing.
“Highlands has a strong offense and they can put many points on the board. They feature a three-year starter at quarterback and he has many skills kids to throw the ball to,” Rossi said.
Defensively, the Golden Rams use a 4-4 formation.
“They get to the ball well and have created many turnovers despite giving up some points,” Rossi said.