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The West: 6A Top 10….October 11th (#1 -#5)

Stalker

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With the top teams in the West coming from 4 conferences, District 7’s Northern Seven and Southeastern conferences and District 3’s Mid Penn Commonwealth and the Lancaster Lebanon Section-One, and with inter-conference games between the latter two, you’re going to see major changes every week in the rankings with all the head-to-heads. That’s compounded by the loss of many quality teams dropping to 5A, teams like Penn Trafford, USC and Harrisburg. This makes for convoluted rankings but a great view watching what almost amounts to prelims! So once again the rankings resemble a shuffled desk as the teams jostle about playing each other often on a weekly basis. But hey, it just doesn’t get any better than that!


1 Pine Richland 7-0, D7; Quarterback Phil Jurkovec reached a milestone last week topping the 6000 yard mark while completing 14 of 14 passes for 248 yards to bring his career total to 6108 yards. Considering time lost to injury, that is one heck of an accomplishment. All totaled this season he has completed 114 of 149 passes for 1876 yards and rushed for 350 yards. His completion percentage is an uncanny 77% along with a solid 16 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio along with 12 rushing touchdowns. Last week saw the Rams beat Peters Township 56-7 in a cross-over game, taking their season scoring total to 336 points or 48ppg. But the big news is the return of Kenny White (West Allegheny transfer) recovered from injury (game shape?) and playing in the backfield after being worked into the lineup the week before on defense only. His presence along with Jordan Crawford with over 520 rush yards combined with 6 quality receivers makes them a veritable scoring machine that no one has come close to slowing down. Their lowest output came in the opener to Wayne (Huber Heights-OH, Div-1, 5-2) where they routed the Warriors 41-0. They move on to Shaler (0-7, 22 game losing streak), followed by Butler (2-5) before the finale at Wexford against North Allegheny.


2 Cumberland Valley 5-1, D3; Cumberland Valley inserted itself right back in the Mid Penn Commonwealth conference battle pulling out a hard fought 36-21 win over previously undefeated State College. Qb Jared Plessinger had a great outing keeping them guessing completing 7 of 8 passes for 148 yards and a score. Nice having a Qb that can throw in the Wing-T. But the main weapon was their bull dozier at fullback in Galen Witmer (5-9, 235, 11 for 59) and backs Jake Palmer (5-9, 190, 24 for 86) and Charlie Katshir (6-3, 195) who battered the Lion’s D for 238 yards rushing on 50 carries. Total yardage figures were 386 (238r) for CV, 325 (167r) for SC. The win keeps them even with Central Dauphin, Central Dauphin East and State High with 1 conference loss behind powerful Harrisburg at 2-0 and 6-0 overall. 4-2 Carlisle is next, a team they defeated last year 33-13.


3 Bethel Park 5-1, D7; Bethel got a battle from quirky Seneca Valley but hung on for a 27-14 win. Heck of a performance by the Raiders now 1-5 with a 5-pt loss to Peters Twp and a hard fought 28-20 loss to Central Catholic. Super tough schedule for SV playing Central Catholic, Penn Hills and Bethel Park consecutively then North Allegheny this week. For The Black Hawks that’s two in a row since the 54-20 blowout to Pine Richland. Running backs Tanner Volpatti and John Doleno again led the way with each scoring two touchdowns. Canon McMillan and Altoona are next, followed by Mt. Lebanon, a game that will likely decide the Southeastern Conference where both are now undefeated. C-Mac is not a team to take lightly at 4-3 (2-2) with a 24-17 loss to Lebo 4 weeks ago. And practically everyone is still fighting for a playoff spot. Scoring 22ppg, they’ve done a good job replacing just about all of last year’s skill people.


4 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 5-2, D7; Central Catholic jumped on Butler, taking a 21-0 halftime lead that paved the way to a 49-14 rout of the Golden Tornadoes in the Northern Seven where they are essentially tied with Northern Allegheny. Like Phil Jurkovec of Pine Richland, Troy Fisher was perfect for Central Catholic, completing 7 of 7 tosses for 118 yard. Running back Khalil Weathers had another solid game rushing for 132 yards (9.4ypc) while scoring 2 touchdowns on 14 carries. That was a nice rebound from the 47-17 pounded administered the week before at Pine Richland. Altoona (2-5) is next. They’ve shown great improvement the last two weeks with a 27-23 road loss at Canon McMillan two weeks ago and last week’s 48-47 home win against Hempfield. First year starting quarterback Braeden Burchfield (6-2, 185, sr) had his coming out party last week completing 23 of 34 passes for 374 yards and 5 Tds so it could get exciting with any production approaching that level.


5 Manheim Township 5-1, D3; With Central Dauphin and State College losing, Manheim Township and Bethel Park benefitted by joining Cumberland Valley in moving up two slots in the ever changing rankings. But it is exciting seeing teams sort things out on the field. Township had little difficulty beating JP McCaskey last week, although the Red Tornado put up a good first half fight, down 14-0. Thereon the weight of the Blue Streak attack and their balance wore them down. Senior Qb Luke Emge (Fleetwood transfer, jr year) a Harvard commit, threw well enough to keep them honest, completing 9 of 16 passes for 2 scores and 104 yards as Grayson Sallade rushed for 94 yards on 16 carries allowing the Blue Streaks to prevail 35-7. The Warwick Warriors (3-3) are next in a revenge game where Manheim lost at home last year 31-28. That was a powerful Warwick team at 8-3 and they’re dangerous again this year with Wilson quarterback Grayson Kline (6-5, 225) lighting up secondaries averaging 44ppg! A 8-pt loss to state power Manheim Central (5A, 6-0) says they can be a load when on. And if the Streaks have Wilson on their mind coming in the following week, they’re in big trouble here.
 
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Stalk -

CV asserting itself in at number 2 Top Five;

CD Rams still in Top Ten; and

Mt. Lebo still rounding out Top Ten.

There you go!
 
Right not_a_fan, we're getting there. D3 is still wide open but 7 seems more predictable. Too bad but it is HS football and you never know. Some one could step up.. State could be a stumbling block since they won't have to fight through District 3's wars being from D6. Won't play CV again. They're probably the favorite to play PR while D3 tears itself apart in fierce rivalry games; CV/CD/CDEast and Wilson/Manheim Twp.
Hey Skinner, yeah the West has some teams this year but it hurts losing so many quality teams to 5A, Gov Mifflin and Harrisburg in particular in D3 with same scenario in 7 with USC, McKeesport, Penn Trafford, etc. I liked it the way if was over losing such quality to another classification.
Looks like Skins are getting there in a wide open district too with at least 4 hard core favorites.
 
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My son is video taping the Harrisburg game today. He will be interviewing coaches and maybe players afterwards. He is a broadcast journalism major at PSU University Park, and his 6 credit broadcasting class has him reporting on all of the Center County teams and providing footage and interviews to the local stations as well as the school webcasts.
He is coming home today, so he asked to cover the Harrisburg game on thw way home because of the way they are blowing teams out and prospects like Parsons.
 
My son is video taping the Harrisburg game today. He will be interviewing coaches and maybe players afterwards. He is a broadcast journalism major at PSU University Park, and his 6 credit broadcasting class has him reporting on all of the Center County teams and providing footage and interviews to the local stations as well as the school webcasts.
He is coming home today, so he asked to cover the Harrisburg game on thw way home because of the way they are blowing teams out and prospects like Parsons.

It should be an exciting game with a lot of fans and a long day for CD if they can’t cover better than last week. The Cougars are a load, beatable but a load!
 
James Franklin and Terry Smith are there. My son sent me a picture from about 15 feet away.
 
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