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Upper St. Clair beats Lebo, plays host to Moon

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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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 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 their 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.

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