my point is- this year- that's what separate Peters AND NA they both have consistent programs, both I think have similar coaching staff, I think Peters 8+, and NA maybe 15 yrs+- PCC struggled, and even PR, had flaws, that were exposed this year, due to changes in coaches and changes in "schemes"
Pine-Richland 2023
- Thread starter new2pa
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Just watched the P-R Peters game. Peters is by no means an incredible team, but they handled P-R in all phases. They put 7/8 in the box to wildcat and slowed Pillar down. On D, I thought their overall lack of athleticism was really exposed at all positions. The Peters kids are nice HS players, but they just ran by the P-R kids on multiple occasions. Also, its pretty clear that LeDonne is trying to bring his Aliquippa/Penn Hills culture to P-R with how the kids acted when call didn't go their way, etc. That's gonna be interesting.
I have no doubt that P-R will be above average going forward, but they need to rebuild in pretty much every position. Like I said, will be interesting.
I have no doubt that P-R will be above average going forward, but they need to rebuild in pretty much every position. Like I said, will be interesting.
appreciate your input- yes PR got pushed around, but the issue is not a "culture" problem. LeDonne is great in many ways, but imo
EK teams also had penalties, no less- that is often overlooked
We will see in a few weeks, starting against Erie cathedral who is 7-3. They gotta be the favorites next week
He’s technically 1-4 but he got hurt that game in 2020 and didn’t finish, then you have speca making the game winning play in that championship as well. Definitely thought PCC had a lock on 6A for a couple years with freshman playing big roles for them that year but this group just couldn’t seal the deal ever again. Seemed poised for another wpial dynasty and maybe contend for states. Pretty crazy. That team got screwed from the Covid protocol too, didn’t get to even play their state play off game, had to forfeit.
Yeah I remember a lot of these current PCC seniors playing as freshmen, and thought maybe they’d be borderline unbeatable when they were seniors. Maybe PCC needs a new strength and conditioning coach
post-season thoughts- wow- I'm kinda feeling like PR is regressing- I can't imagine being anywhere near Peters next year? We have talent coming up- but I just do not like our offensive scheme, too simple. Thoughts?
Ledonne was out coached by Peter’s in the championship, but I think overall he overachieved a lot with this roster. This is the first year in a long time pr hasn’t had a legitimate passing threat or even a 1k yard passer. Huffman was way too limited and in over his head and strader was too young and raw (but did give them a nice option in the run game). Just way too one dimensional to be a legitimate threat and the talent to pass or catch the ball just wasn’t there. PR’s only skill player that defenses really had to account for was pillar. I think most coming into the year thought this would be a rebuilding year with playoffs being in question, but they managed to beat a loaded PCC who was #2 in the state, the Penn hills team that really had their number and was one of the heavy favorites for the title and still make the wpial championship. You could say even the same thing going into last year too. Pr went from having a line of great qb’s to now having a little bit of drought at the position but still able to stay a winning program, and now with strader coming up and playing significant time as a freshman, ledonne has a young qb he can develop like Mathis and dugar at PH.
I think with straders athletic ability, and him likely growing some this off season, pr can still keep their run game how it is with a lot of the wildcat/QB run stuff but actually implement a passing game on top of it. That’s really the reason they almost lost to ph and did to pt, despite the mistakes from pr on top of that, both of these teams defenses were just flying towards the line of scrimmage to stop the run game, and pr just had no consistent answer at all. How they develop strader mechanically and how he reads defenses will be key this off season. Then schematically, what kind of passing game ledonne and company try to implement? That won’t be easy trying to teach them passing concepts while getting the QB on the same page when they’ve barely ran these type of plays in games the past two seasons, but ledonne has done it before. Also have to replace entire O line, including Cory who is a top 5 player in the state. That won’t be easy either, but it looks like they aren’t gonna have much of a size drop off next year, just experience.
Peters has definitely been on the rise though, and with them finally breaking through this year with a generally younger team doesn’t bode well for PR in the future, assuming they are still 5A (all accounts I’ve heard sounds like they will stay). Their soph QB is probably the best in the wpial and most polished too, they were nothing crazy athletic or size wise just really well coached and executed their scheme to perfection. Receivers aren’t crazy athletic but none of them drop the ball and the QB puts it in the perfect spot every time. Also have two FBS LB prospects who are sophomores. Honestly a lot of parallels between the current PT program and the EK led PR program. Will be interesting to see if they can finish the deal and win states this season, but they are probably the top threat to pr again next season and the rest of 5A.
2020 - I agree with you. I watched Peters game and P-R got beat pretty good by an good to better-than-good Peters team. think P-R loses a lot of their bigger guys and IMO the skill wasn't very good (or at least deep) to begin with. Also, the old culture is 100% gone now. The freshman QB is "ok" but he basically drops back, looks around, and runs at least 50% of the time. Also, if they have the large turnover in coaches again this offseason, that doesn't bode well.
Here's the timeline
2013: 5-5 Coach K hired
2014: 15-1 Change to spread offense (Lose to state champ SJP)
2015: 10-2 Jurkovec Era begins (Lose to PT)
2016: 7-5 Jurkovec hurt, defense is bad (Lose to state champ PCC
2017: 16-0: State/WPIAL Champs: Coach K takes over defense
2018: 11-3: WPIAL Champs: Remnants of 2017 are very very good seniors (lose to state champ SJP)
2019: 10-2: WPIAL Runnerup: Lose to PCC
2020: 11-0 State Champs, Beat ECP
2021: 7-5: Crazy year. Lose in WPIAL semi with zero coaching
2022: 13-3: State/WPIAL Champs: Last of Coach K's staff kids graduate
2023: 9-4: Lose in WPIAL Finals
I suspect a run of playoff appearance with loses in WPIAL quarters or semi's is what's next.
Here's the timeline
2013: 5-5 Coach K hired
2014: 15-1 Change to spread offense (Lose to state champ SJP)
2015: 10-2 Jurkovec Era begins (Lose to PT)
2016: 7-5 Jurkovec hurt, defense is bad (Lose to state champ PCC
2017: 16-0: State/WPIAL Champs: Coach K takes over defense
2018: 11-3: WPIAL Champs: Remnants of 2017 are very very good seniors (lose to state champ SJP)
2019: 10-2: WPIAL Runnerup: Lose to PCC
2020: 11-0 State Champs, Beat ECP
2021: 7-5: Crazy year. Lose in WPIAL semi with zero coaching
2022: 13-3: State/WPIAL Champs: Last of Coach K's staff kids graduate
2023: 9-4: Lose in WPIAL Finals
I suspect a run of playoff appearance with loses in WPIAL quarters or semi's is what's next.
He played “better” than 95% of freshman that would be in the same situation. Can’t expect much from a 14-15 year old at the end of the day. Still had 900 yards of total offense in limited reps as well, I can’t think of many freshman who have done that in the higher classes recently (pretty common for the lower class teams to have freshman be their top players) maybe wehner from PCC? Regardless though, comparing different eras here at this point but I don’t think jurkovec dinucci or Spencer would put up those kind of numbers as freshman. Looking back at the last ten years or so, the only two freshman I can think of seeing significant time or starting on varsity were Tyler King and Luke meckler.
Again how they develop him his key, has all the athletic ability and arm strength, can he make the reads and can they improve the type of passes he can make etc. I like to think of it as a high school Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, coming in with all the talent in the world just raw and needs refining. If ledonne does it right, he could have one of the most explosive players in recent years brewing to be unleashed, and adding to the line of QBs pr has had.
Jacky, correct. I think you make a good point. Those three former P-R QB's weren't even on varsity as freshman
If Coach LeDonne turns him into anything like the previous QB's, it will be very impressive. Those other guys all have 7000+ yards of offense and 100ish TD's.
If Coach LeDonne turns him into anything like the previous QB's, it will be very impressive. Those other guys all have 7000+ yards of offense and 100ish TD's.
well, his daughter just started at Oakland Catholic... so, idk, maybe N Catholic, or assistant at Central Catholic
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