Upper St. Clair hosts Canon-McMillan
After challenging three straight rivals, the schedule does not get any easier for Upper St. Clair as the Panthers host Canon-McMillan at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 in a non-conference football clash.
“This is a really good Canon-Mac team that has progressively gotten better,” said USC coach Mike Junko. “They have played a lot of tough opponents early on and I think that has served them well. So this is going to be a big challenge for us.”
The Big Macs compete at the Class 6A level and have played North Allegheny and Central Catholic close before succumbing. They also posted a 33-21 conference win against Seneca Valley as they continue to remain in contention for one of the four playoff spots in the Tri-County Five Conference.
“They are a team that is big and athletic,” Junko said. “We will have our hands full.”
Mike Evans ranks among the Top 12 passers in the WPIAL with more than 1,000 yards.
“I think one of the keys will be stopping their quarterback,” Junko said, “but I think we have to be concerned about their running game, too.”
Jake Kasper leads the rushing attack while Austyn Winkleblech has developed into both a passing and running threat along with Zyan Howard.
“Early in the season, they were having success passing the ball but now I think they have found their run game. They have become much more balanced. I think that’s really benefited them offensively. They score points. Every game, they do a great job of that.”
While the Big Macs are averaging over 25 points per game, USC has been doing the job on defense. The Panthers own the No. 1 defense in Class 5A. Allowing just nine points per game, the Panthers also rank seventh in the WPIAL.
After limiting Peters Township to 133 total yards of offense, USC tamped down Mt. Lebanon, which is the defending WPIAL and PIAA champion at the Class 6A level.
In a 17-10 victory, USC held the Blue Devils to 146 yards of offense. Most of those yards came on Lebo’s opening drive of the game. The Blue Devils took a 7-0 lead with 6:17 left in the first frame on Beckham Dee’s 6-yard TD run.
“Credit to them,” Junko said of Lebo’s first offensive series. “They had a good game plan coming out. It took us awhile for our kids to wake up. Credit to their coaching staff and the job they did on that first drive.
“I thought our kids did a great job of being resilient and not panicking and staying the course.”
In between Michael Beiersdorf’s extra point and fourth-quarter field goal (31 yards), the Panther defense dominated. Even closing down a final Lebo thrust in the final minutes of play.
“No doubt, we want our defense on the field to stop opponents,” Junko said.
“We feel real confident about our defense. The type of games that we are playing are when our defense is out there, that is the strength of our team. We have a ton of confidence that they are going to make plays when we need them.”
Though just a sophomore, Van Hellmann has meshed well with the experience-dominant defense (10 starters returned from last season). He made 5.5 tackles and shared in one sack and a tackle for loss against Lebo. Hellman also ranks third on the team in tackles behind Sheamus Moorhead and Ivory Travers.
“Van has really come on for us since the summer and he just gets better every week,” Junko said. “He’s a competitor. He’s always around the ball and making plays. He’s been a pleasant surprise and we are excited to have him for another three years.”
Hellmann’s brother, Ethan, is a freshman and with Julian Dahlem, a sophomore, the Panthers are secure at quarterback well into the future. Ethan Hellmann stepped in for a sick Dahlem and secured the critical conference win against Peters Township.
Dahlem returned to start against Lebo and completed 18 of 25 aerials for 214 yards and two scoring strikes of 5 and 8 yards to Aidan Besselman and Jamaal Brown, respectively.
Through six games, Dahlem has completed 45 of 63 passes for 674 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is also the team’s second-leading rusher (208 yards, 3 TDs) behind Jamaal Brown, who has 655 yards on 78 rushes for an 8.4-yard average per carry.
Hellmann is 13 of 24 for 246 yards and four scores. He has 31 yards rushing on seven carries.With eight touchdowns, Besselman is USC’s scoring leader with 48 points after six games. He’s also the leading receiver with 23 grabs for 436 yards, ahead of Jacob Hufnagel and Cody Marn, who had five catches for 72 yards against Lebo.
Besselman and Hufnagel also make up USC’s stout defense along with Ty Lagoni, Mark Banbury, Nathaniel Stohl, Gordon Groninger, Peter Engel, Ty Shields, Aidan Conn and Brown.
While the Panthers are continuing to shore up their special teams by inserting different return specialists to handle punts and kickoffs, Bennett Henderson has proved steady. The senior has kicked four field goals, including a 34-yarder against Lebo, and 27 extra points to rank second on the team in scoring with 39 points.
”We emphasize special teams but we have had a lot of new kids in there because last year we had Mateo (Cepullio),” Junko explained. “We made some chances because there were some things we needed to fix.”
Just before Grayson Dee of Mt. Lebanon sacked Julian Dahlem in the end zone, the Upper St. Clair sophomore quarterback tossed the football out of bounds.
Yellow flags immediately flew out of the officials’ pockets. The Blue Devils were called for holding wide receiver Aidan Besselman on the play.
There was no intentional grounding on the play because a new rule has been implemented this season for high school football that allows a quarterback to throw the ball away if he is outside the tackle box.
“In high school it didn’t use to be the rule. It’s brand new this year,” explained USC head coach Mike Junko. “You can throw the ball away if you are outside the tackle box.
Junko added that it was the first time that Dahlem has taken advantage of the rule.
“I thought it was a real heady call by him,” he added.