6 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 4-2, D7; Everyone knew the Vikings graduated a lot of key parts from last year’s Silver Medal team, but few would have predicted two losses by 4-plus touchdowns this season with an outstanding Qb returning and a good nucleus. Opening at Cathedral Prep in a losing 40-7 effort could not have felt good coming as it did on the heels of losing to St, Joseph’s Prep 42-7 in the 6A final. Last week’s 47-17 loss to Pine Richland shows how great the gulf has become between these two programs….and is likely more a reflection of how superior Pine Richland has become than how far the Vikings have fallen. EVERYONE is getting destroyed by the Rams. Looking ahead with 3 of their last 4 games at home against Butler, Altoona and Penn Hills plus the road game at Norwin says they go into the Wpial with a head of steam at 8-2. Butler is next and at 2-3 they’re improved but they are not ready for a road game at Central Catholic.
7 Manheim Township 4-1, D3; Blue Streaks running back Grayson Sallade’s performance was electrifying (get it?) and record setting with 6 touchdowns and 304 yard rushing against Conestoga Valley as the Streaks rolled to a 49-28 LL-Section One win. It was over at the half with a 49-14 lead. And by game’s end they rushed for 438 yards while holding Conestoga Valley to 2! What Coach Mark Evans is looking for is consistency from a group that lost to powerful Governor Mifflin 49-14 while giving Central Dauphin their only loss of the season. Their last two wins, 56-0 vs Hempfield and last week’s suggest that may be occurring. What you have here is a team that averages 41ppg while allowing 8 minus the (anomaly?) Governor Mifflin game. So this is quite a team when they have their act together. McCaskey (1-4) is next, a team they defeated last year 35-7. With 6 and 3-pt losses to York 4-1 and Conestoga Valley 3-2, the Streaks need to take care as the Red Tornado can score points and have a lot of speed.
8 Wilson 3-2, D3; Since suffering their only loss of season 3 weeks ago to Central Dauphin 28-20 at home, Wilson reeled off two big wins, beating Warwick 56-24 then McCaskey last week 33-7. Coach Doug Dahms is getting it right (more physical) after a 1-2 start emphasizing the running game that saw Ignacion (Iggy) Reynosa get 186 yards rushing and catching 6 passes for 39 yards. Kept the passing attack short with Connor Uhrig completing 15 of 19 passes for 104 yards. That’s part of Wilson’s problems this year, they are without a burner/deep threat. Reynosa has been their leading receiver with 20 receptions for 228 yards, followed by TE Nick Johnson (6-1, 230, jr) with 9 catches for 125 yards. But two weeks of home cooking will get things right with Penn Manor and Lebanon both 1-4 coming in before the big one in Lancaster against Manheim Township. Otherwise the beat still goes on with “The Streak” now at 66 consecutive LL-Section One wins!
9 North Allegheny 4-2, D7; Looks like North Allegheny found their groove the last 4 weeks with the competitive loss to Central Catholic followed by 3 consecutive wins by an average score of 43-14. Ok, that includes Shaler and Butler but when you throw in the good defensive effort against Central Catholic and a 44-27 road win at Mt. Lebanon, it gets your attention. The D made its presence felt last week as well, sacking Qb James Stocker 3 times while containin the diverse Blue Devil attack, jumping out to a 27-7 halftime lead. How about duel threat quarterback Luke Trueman completing 12 of 18 passes for 248 yards and 5 Td strikes! Tack on another 118 rush yards to see what a complete game he had. Wide out John Vardzel (South Carolina transfer) had 5 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. All totaled, they produced 514 yards of total offense. Sounds more like Clemson than NA. That’s what you call a statement game. This week sees them home in an important Northern-7 Conference game against Penn Hills (5-1) who along with Catholic at 3-1 are essentially all tied for 2nd place, NA being 2-1 behind Pine Richland at 4-0.
10 Mt Lebanon 4-2, D7; Mt. Lebanon tumbled in the ranking from 6 to 10 and nearly out. In fact, except for their sizeable offense it’s hard making a strong case for them. Allowing 44 points and 514 total yards AT HOME is not what a high caliber team does. Each time they’ve played a quality team they’ve been soundly defeated, last week vs NA and earlier at PR 53-29 with narrow wins against Fox Chapel 32-27 and Canon McMillan, 24-17. And with the reshuffling of teams into 6 classifications, the pickings get slim. But the weekend will sort things out with a number of telling head-to-head encounters. Check out this listing; Erie High 5-1 at McDowell 3-3, Peters Township 5-1 at Pine Richland 6-0, Penn Hills 5-1 at North Allegheny 4-2, Delaware Valley 6-0 at Williamsport 5-1, Scranton 5-1 at Hazelton 3-3. The Blue Devils will get back on the winning track Friday with 3-3 Norwin in, a team they defeated last year 34-13.
Others:
Peters Township 5-1, D7; At Pine Richland
Penn Hills 5-1, D7; At North Allegheny
Williamsport 5-1, D4: Home to Delaware Valley
x Central Dauphin East 4-1, D3; vs Central Dauphin
Red Lion 5-0, D3; Home to South Western
Erie High 5-1, D10; At McDowell
Delaware Valley 6-0, D2; At Williamsport
Scranton 5-1, D2; At Hazelton
x CD and CD East play all home games at Landis Field
7 Manheim Township 4-1, D3; Blue Streaks running back Grayson Sallade’s performance was electrifying (get it?) and record setting with 6 touchdowns and 304 yard rushing against Conestoga Valley as the Streaks rolled to a 49-28 LL-Section One win. It was over at the half with a 49-14 lead. And by game’s end they rushed for 438 yards while holding Conestoga Valley to 2! What Coach Mark Evans is looking for is consistency from a group that lost to powerful Governor Mifflin 49-14 while giving Central Dauphin their only loss of the season. Their last two wins, 56-0 vs Hempfield and last week’s suggest that may be occurring. What you have here is a team that averages 41ppg while allowing 8 minus the (anomaly?) Governor Mifflin game. So this is quite a team when they have their act together. McCaskey (1-4) is next, a team they defeated last year 35-7. With 6 and 3-pt losses to York 4-1 and Conestoga Valley 3-2, the Streaks need to take care as the Red Tornado can score points and have a lot of speed.
8 Wilson 3-2, D3; Since suffering their only loss of season 3 weeks ago to Central Dauphin 28-20 at home, Wilson reeled off two big wins, beating Warwick 56-24 then McCaskey last week 33-7. Coach Doug Dahms is getting it right (more physical) after a 1-2 start emphasizing the running game that saw Ignacion (Iggy) Reynosa get 186 yards rushing and catching 6 passes for 39 yards. Kept the passing attack short with Connor Uhrig completing 15 of 19 passes for 104 yards. That’s part of Wilson’s problems this year, they are without a burner/deep threat. Reynosa has been their leading receiver with 20 receptions for 228 yards, followed by TE Nick Johnson (6-1, 230, jr) with 9 catches for 125 yards. But two weeks of home cooking will get things right with Penn Manor and Lebanon both 1-4 coming in before the big one in Lancaster against Manheim Township. Otherwise the beat still goes on with “The Streak” now at 66 consecutive LL-Section One wins!
9 North Allegheny 4-2, D7; Looks like North Allegheny found their groove the last 4 weeks with the competitive loss to Central Catholic followed by 3 consecutive wins by an average score of 43-14. Ok, that includes Shaler and Butler but when you throw in the good defensive effort against Central Catholic and a 44-27 road win at Mt. Lebanon, it gets your attention. The D made its presence felt last week as well, sacking Qb James Stocker 3 times while containin the diverse Blue Devil attack, jumping out to a 27-7 halftime lead. How about duel threat quarterback Luke Trueman completing 12 of 18 passes for 248 yards and 5 Td strikes! Tack on another 118 rush yards to see what a complete game he had. Wide out John Vardzel (South Carolina transfer) had 5 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. All totaled, they produced 514 yards of total offense. Sounds more like Clemson than NA. That’s what you call a statement game. This week sees them home in an important Northern-7 Conference game against Penn Hills (5-1) who along with Catholic at 3-1 are essentially all tied for 2nd place, NA being 2-1 behind Pine Richland at 4-0.
10 Mt Lebanon 4-2, D7; Mt. Lebanon tumbled in the ranking from 6 to 10 and nearly out. In fact, except for their sizeable offense it’s hard making a strong case for them. Allowing 44 points and 514 total yards AT HOME is not what a high caliber team does. Each time they’ve played a quality team they’ve been soundly defeated, last week vs NA and earlier at PR 53-29 with narrow wins against Fox Chapel 32-27 and Canon McMillan, 24-17. And with the reshuffling of teams into 6 classifications, the pickings get slim. But the weekend will sort things out with a number of telling head-to-head encounters. Check out this listing; Erie High 5-1 at McDowell 3-3, Peters Township 5-1 at Pine Richland 6-0, Penn Hills 5-1 at North Allegheny 4-2, Delaware Valley 6-0 at Williamsport 5-1, Scranton 5-1 at Hazelton 3-3. The Blue Devils will get back on the winning track Friday with 3-3 Norwin in, a team they defeated last year 34-13.
Others:
Peters Township 5-1, D7; At Pine Richland
Penn Hills 5-1, D7; At North Allegheny
Williamsport 5-1, D4: Home to Delaware Valley
x Central Dauphin East 4-1, D3; vs Central Dauphin
Red Lion 5-0, D3; Home to South Western
Erie High 5-1, D10; At McDowell
Delaware Valley 6-0, D2; At Williamsport
Scranton 5-1, D2; At Hazelton
x CD and CD East play all home games at Landis Field