Top 10 West-6A….Aug 30th
1 Pine Richland 1-0; Don’t you love it when we just hammer a team from Ohio? Yes! The Rams made Wayne look silly with Qb Phil Jurkovec completing 70% of his passes for 242 yards and 3 touchdown passes; 29, 28, 24. He also rushed for scores of 64, 23 and 3 yards, pounding punch less Wayne 41-0. Some kind of opener for him and PR. This snapped a 20 game regular season unbeaten streak for Wayne who last lost to Centerville (Kirk Herbstreit’s HS before OSU, ESPN) in 2014. Not sure they’ll do the same this week against Mt. Lebanon (1-0), a team they beat last year 42-31 with Jurkovec healthy. Question is, will Blue Devil’s Qb James Stocker be healthy.
2 Wilson 0-0; Bulldogs were idle last week but you can believe they shot down the road to Shillington to see arch rival Governor Mifflin blow out West York 48-13. Nothing like a neighborhood brawl where the Reading powers go at it especially with Wilson winning last year in West Lawn 38-7. They have a vet Qb in Conor Uhrig (61%, +2000) and a freight train of a tailback in Ignacion Reynoso (5-11, 215) with 1674ry from last year. Tough hombre to bring down.
3 Cumberland Valley 0-0; Like Wilson above, CV was idle prepping for the big game Friday night taking on Coatesville. Tore em up last year 41-21 at Coatesville. But the Raiders are a game up on them beating Gratz 34-13 last week and should be markedly improved. Still, there is nothing easy about winning at Chapman where the locals will pack the place. CV has nice talent in the secondary and enough experience to keep the Raiders in front of them as much as possible….if possible! It’s great seeing two of the premier teams from two of the premier districts facing off in an early season encounter.
4 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 0-1; No way this team lost to defending Quad-A champ Cathedral Prep last week 40-7. Way! With everyone back we all suspected the Ramblers would rumble but….40-7? Central Catholic had some graduations (who doesn’t?) but the cupboard is far from bare in Oakland! So that puts Shaler in a bad place Friday with the Vikings coming in with a whole bunch of attitude.
5 North Allegheny 1-0; This is the way you do things if you’re a WPIAL kingpin. You pound another proud tradition making a statement win early as these guys did beating Morgantown-WV 45-0 (107-36 since 2004, 5 titles, 2 since ‘03). But now they play at Bethel Park who as always has a stout D but a rebuild on the other side putting them at risk here.
6 Central Dauphin 1-0; How about the CD Rams vs the Pine Richland Rams in the Western Final? Both have the same mascot, uniforms and helmets and that’s where the comparison ends. But they did look good beating Susquehanna Township last week 30-7. Next up is a tough one at Manheim Township who is stacked with a dynamic duel threat Qb, most of their skill people and almost all the D. They’ll pop you with a monster line and physical style of play. See last week’s write up on their personnel. Could be an upset here and with recent history, the Streaks won’t be intimidated.
7 State College 0-0; Had a bye week but now get an athletic, veteran JP McCaskey team this week that hung tough last year losing 24-13 in Lancaster. With almost everyone back they will make more local noise in the Lancaster Lebanon League than last year’s 4-6 edition but it’s asking a lot to go to State College and steal one from the Lions. Still, it could be fun for a while. Getting past JPM gets them to Hollidaysburg, Mifflin Clounty, Mechanicsburg and Carlisle, meaning they should go into the Cumberland Valley game unscathed while the Eagles will be coming off Central Dauphin.
8 Mt. Lebanon 1-0; Mt. Lebanon eked out a 32-27 win over Fox Chapel last week without Qb James Stocker who was on the sidelines with a knee injury. If he can go, they at least stand a chance against Pine Richland as the one thing Lebo has done more recently is move the ball quickly up and down the field. If not, it’s probably a long day for them at Pine Richland.
9 Manheim Township 0-0; The Blue Streaks return a lot of bodies from last year where they lost to this week’s opponent, Central Dauphin twice, 31-9 then 34-14 in the postseason. Good as they might be this year, they’d have to really bring it to catch the Rams who haven’t fallen that far with huge grad losses. At least that’s the theory. It should be one heck of a game where Central Dauphin cannot look ahead to Wilson next week or the Streaks will take this one.
10 Williamsport 1-0; With much of both lines, RB Treyson Potts and almost all the defense back, Williamsport should roll through the Wyoming Valley, positioning themselves for another postseason run. They beat Central Mountain last week 34-7 and will do at least that much to Mifflin County this week. Sure hard finding a loss on the schedule unless they have a seasonal mid-life crisis game #6 and #7 against a underated Scranton team and always respectable Delaware Valley.
Others:
McDowell 0-1; Let’s see how they respond after the 40-7 loss to St. Edward traveling to Buffalo, New York to play St. Francis..
North Hills 1-0; Pummeled Shaler 45-17 but now comes Upper St Clair, looking to bounce back from a 37-7 loss to powerful Steubenville out of Ohio.
Penn Hills 1-0; Beat Plum 26-0 and now Butler (0-0) unless they get cocky. Vet D at PH.
Hempfield 1-0; Beat rival Greensburg-Salem and now go to Canon McMillan who defeated Kiski last week 17-10.
Bethel Park 0-0; Had a bye week and now home opening with North Allegheny who defeated them last year 21-14. Bethel’s offense is typically low octane but their defenses have been strong.
Central Dauphin East 0-0; Very often good stuff here but lost in the debris of the Mid Penn Commonwealth by year’s end having battled Harrisburg, Cumberland Valley, State College and Central Dauphin. We use to call them CD-Lite but only in jest….right! Young group last year that could surprise. At Milton Hershey.
Governor Mifflin 1-0; The Mustangs are gearing up for rival Wilson who visits Friday after crushing West York in the opener 48-13. Wilson always finds a way to pull out the tight ones but its Mifflin and you never know.
Central York 0-0; Have a lot returning from a 7-4 campaign (Qb, receivers) and 8 on D bringing 486 tackles. Big losses last year to Cumberland Valley 35-7 and Wilson 55-23 says there’s work to do but they’ll be significantly improved to challenge the York-Adams bullies, Red Lion 10-1, Dallastown 7-3 and Northeastern 8-3, particularly rebuilding Red Lion and D-town.
1 Pine Richland 1-0; Don’t you love it when we just hammer a team from Ohio? Yes! The Rams made Wayne look silly with Qb Phil Jurkovec completing 70% of his passes for 242 yards and 3 touchdown passes; 29, 28, 24. He also rushed for scores of 64, 23 and 3 yards, pounding punch less Wayne 41-0. Some kind of opener for him and PR. This snapped a 20 game regular season unbeaten streak for Wayne who last lost to Centerville (Kirk Herbstreit’s HS before OSU, ESPN) in 2014. Not sure they’ll do the same this week against Mt. Lebanon (1-0), a team they beat last year 42-31 with Jurkovec healthy. Question is, will Blue Devil’s Qb James Stocker be healthy.
2 Wilson 0-0; Bulldogs were idle last week but you can believe they shot down the road to Shillington to see arch rival Governor Mifflin blow out West York 48-13. Nothing like a neighborhood brawl where the Reading powers go at it especially with Wilson winning last year in West Lawn 38-7. They have a vet Qb in Conor Uhrig (61%, +2000) and a freight train of a tailback in Ignacion Reynoso (5-11, 215) with 1674ry from last year. Tough hombre to bring down.
3 Cumberland Valley 0-0; Like Wilson above, CV was idle prepping for the big game Friday night taking on Coatesville. Tore em up last year 41-21 at Coatesville. But the Raiders are a game up on them beating Gratz 34-13 last week and should be markedly improved. Still, there is nothing easy about winning at Chapman where the locals will pack the place. CV has nice talent in the secondary and enough experience to keep the Raiders in front of them as much as possible….if possible! It’s great seeing two of the premier teams from two of the premier districts facing off in an early season encounter.
4 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 0-1; No way this team lost to defending Quad-A champ Cathedral Prep last week 40-7. Way! With everyone back we all suspected the Ramblers would rumble but….40-7? Central Catholic had some graduations (who doesn’t?) but the cupboard is far from bare in Oakland! So that puts Shaler in a bad place Friday with the Vikings coming in with a whole bunch of attitude.
5 North Allegheny 1-0; This is the way you do things if you’re a WPIAL kingpin. You pound another proud tradition making a statement win early as these guys did beating Morgantown-WV 45-0 (107-36 since 2004, 5 titles, 2 since ‘03). But now they play at Bethel Park who as always has a stout D but a rebuild on the other side putting them at risk here.
6 Central Dauphin 1-0; How about the CD Rams vs the Pine Richland Rams in the Western Final? Both have the same mascot, uniforms and helmets and that’s where the comparison ends. But they did look good beating Susquehanna Township last week 30-7. Next up is a tough one at Manheim Township who is stacked with a dynamic duel threat Qb, most of their skill people and almost all the D. They’ll pop you with a monster line and physical style of play. See last week’s write up on their personnel. Could be an upset here and with recent history, the Streaks won’t be intimidated.
7 State College 0-0; Had a bye week but now get an athletic, veteran JP McCaskey team this week that hung tough last year losing 24-13 in Lancaster. With almost everyone back they will make more local noise in the Lancaster Lebanon League than last year’s 4-6 edition but it’s asking a lot to go to State College and steal one from the Lions. Still, it could be fun for a while. Getting past JPM gets them to Hollidaysburg, Mifflin Clounty, Mechanicsburg and Carlisle, meaning they should go into the Cumberland Valley game unscathed while the Eagles will be coming off Central Dauphin.
8 Mt. Lebanon 1-0; Mt. Lebanon eked out a 32-27 win over Fox Chapel last week without Qb James Stocker who was on the sidelines with a knee injury. If he can go, they at least stand a chance against Pine Richland as the one thing Lebo has done more recently is move the ball quickly up and down the field. If not, it’s probably a long day for them at Pine Richland.
9 Manheim Township 0-0; The Blue Streaks return a lot of bodies from last year where they lost to this week’s opponent, Central Dauphin twice, 31-9 then 34-14 in the postseason. Good as they might be this year, they’d have to really bring it to catch the Rams who haven’t fallen that far with huge grad losses. At least that’s the theory. It should be one heck of a game where Central Dauphin cannot look ahead to Wilson next week or the Streaks will take this one.
10 Williamsport 1-0; With much of both lines, RB Treyson Potts and almost all the defense back, Williamsport should roll through the Wyoming Valley, positioning themselves for another postseason run. They beat Central Mountain last week 34-7 and will do at least that much to Mifflin County this week. Sure hard finding a loss on the schedule unless they have a seasonal mid-life crisis game #6 and #7 against a underated Scranton team and always respectable Delaware Valley.
Others:
McDowell 0-1; Let’s see how they respond after the 40-7 loss to St. Edward traveling to Buffalo, New York to play St. Francis..
North Hills 1-0; Pummeled Shaler 45-17 but now comes Upper St Clair, looking to bounce back from a 37-7 loss to powerful Steubenville out of Ohio.
Penn Hills 1-0; Beat Plum 26-0 and now Butler (0-0) unless they get cocky. Vet D at PH.
Hempfield 1-0; Beat rival Greensburg-Salem and now go to Canon McMillan who defeated Kiski last week 17-10.
Bethel Park 0-0; Had a bye week and now home opening with North Allegheny who defeated them last year 21-14. Bethel’s offense is typically low octane but their defenses have been strong.
Central Dauphin East 0-0; Very often good stuff here but lost in the debris of the Mid Penn Commonwealth by year’s end having battled Harrisburg, Cumberland Valley, State College and Central Dauphin. We use to call them CD-Lite but only in jest….right! Young group last year that could surprise. At Milton Hershey.
Governor Mifflin 1-0; The Mustangs are gearing up for rival Wilson who visits Friday after crushing West York in the opener 48-13. Wilson always finds a way to pull out the tight ones but its Mifflin and you never know.
Central York 0-0; Have a lot returning from a 7-4 campaign (Qb, receivers) and 8 on D bringing 486 tackles. Big losses last year to Cumberland Valley 35-7 and Wilson 55-23 says there’s work to do but they’ll be significantly improved to challenge the York-Adams bullies, Red Lion 10-1, Dallastown 7-3 and Northeastern 8-3, particularly rebuilding Red Lion and D-town.
