Upper St. Clair shocks Mt. Lebanon in season opener
“Shock and Awe”, a military-coined phrase, applied as Upper St. Clair overwhelmed Mt. Lebanon, 35-14, in its season-opening football game on Aug. 22. The Panthers cruised to a 35-0 lead with 5:57 left in the first half, which invoked the “Mercy Rule”, running clock, for the second half of action.
“Wow,” said USC coach Mike Junko. “Didn’t see that coming.”
That’s because the Panthers had suffered the loss of 24 seniors from last year’s conference championship club that reached the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals and finished 11-1 overall. Additionally, they were redesigning an offensive line after Reese Pirain tore his ACL on the first day of training camp.
“We’ve had to make some changes and they’ve kind of had a next-man-up mentality, Junko sold. “On the whole, those guys did a great job of protecting Ethan (Hellmann) and opening things up (for ground game).”
Hellmann concurred and he had the numbers to back it up. In his fourth year as starting quarterback, he completed 17 of 22 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns.
“We played well and I thought the game plan was phenomenal,” Hellmann said.
“The key was execution and every guy was on assignment. We really only had one returning linemen. So we had four guys that needed to step up and they really did their job. The O-line can really control a game and that’s what they did.”
Anchored by three-year starter Mason Geyer, the Panthers out-gained the Blue Devils in yardage, 465-267. They rolled up 192 yards on the ground with Dante Coury and Luca Coury picking up the lions’ share with 83 and 46 yards respectively.
“Mason is a captain and his experience means the world to us and to him because he’s in a new position. He’s been awesome filling his new role and to have him there really helps all of those guys.”
In addition to Geyer at center, Ryan Robbins and Kenny Davis excelled at tackle while Chase Kaczmarek and Elias Grady shone at guard. Their play enabled Hellmann to find his favorite target, Nico D’Orazio, for 127 yards and three touchdowns on five receptions. D’Orazio also had five total tackles on defense to follow John Banbury’s team-high eight.
“Nico D’Orazio made a lot of big plays for us,” Junko said. “He was a big part on both sides of the field.”
Two minutes into the game, D’Orazio caught a 48-yard TD strike from Hellmann. Five minute later Josh Snyder rushed for a 9-yard score before another D’Orazio-Hellmann TD connection, this one for 45 yards. D’Orazio also hauled in an 8-yard score to make it 35-0.
“Nico and I are very close friends. He’s up there,” Hellmann said of his favorite targets. “Last year, he didn’t get too much until that last playoff game against Peters and he put up numbers. We had a connection. That game led into this year and here we are.”
In between D’Orazio touchdowns, the Panthers found themselves in the end zone again with 6:56 left in the first half. After a 27-yard interception by Caffery Duplessis, Hellmann hooked up with Anthony Rozzo for a 27-yard touchdown.
“Ethan was the quarterback that I’m used to seeing out there and that is the quarterback play of a four-year starter. So when he is making throws like he did (against Mt. Lebanon), we can have success,” Junko said.
“He got into a rhythm early and the biggest thing was he took what they gave him and didn’t force things.”
Junko added Hellmann has come a long way, even from this summer when he experienced a bout with Lyme disease after incurring a tick bite.
“He’s overcome a lot of adversity and he’s worked extremely hard,” Junko said. “He’s just such a passionate leader on the field. His teammates will follow hime to the end of the earth. So, it’s fun to watch him when he’s really rolling.”
With USC playing much of its reserves in the second half, Lebo stuck for two scores.
Shortly after Chris Fiedel recovered a Panther fumble in the end zone, Patrick Smith connected with Maxton Siegel for a 96-yard TD aerial at the 5:25 mark in the third quarter. Kris Kambitsis tacked on a 1-yard score with 5:25 to play. Josh Huff converted both extra points.
Junko was concerned a bit about the miscues but not about having gotten some of his more inexperienced players an opportunity to play under the Friday Night lights.
“We made some second-half mistakes but we’ll correct them. It was good to get a lot of new numbers out there because that’s what you want to do, get those guys experience.”
The Panthers now have the experience of beating their arch rival in succession four times.
“The biggest concern is how do you get them hungry again? How do you get them wanting to play this game?” Junko said.
“Our kids though came out of the locker room hungry and ready to play. The key was the start. A lot could be made of how we played offensively, but I think our defense and the three-and-outs were huge, too.”
NOTE: In the game, Jacobo Echeverria punted once, averaging 36 yards, but all six of his kickoffs were unable to be returned, reaching the end zone for 65-yard averages. Echeverria converted all of USC’s extra points.