Hope this can help the rest you guys understand whats going on out here in 6A.
1. North Allegheny: I really think they and PCC are 1a and 1b but I give NA the nod since they beat PCC. NA's special teams and offense are the strength of an overall very good NA team. They are exactly the same team they have been for the past several years. Solid up front with some good skill guys. Offensively, they revolve around getting the ball to Luke Collela (WR) and Percise Colon (RB). Collela is a Princeton commit and is an all around weapon for them catching the ball and on cross-buck/reverse type plays. Colon is very small, but surprisingly tough and also fast. Have to tackle him around the LOS or he could be gone. The rest of the skill guys are solid, but not spectacular. QB is better than years past and is also a run threat. (He killed P-R last year running QB ISO.) Even with the younger Lugg (Harvard commit), the OL is probably a notch down from years past. Still very good but not punishing. Special teams, particularly KOR are very good. Have opened several games with TDs. While they are undefeated, they have been in games until the 4th quarter (Lebo, Hempfield) before the game got out of hand.
2. PCC: PCC is all about their defensive line, which is large and athletic. The Donald kid is the real deal. A little light, but quick and athletic. The other kids are thick and fairly athletic - the Allen twins are MAC level kids and Beatty is going to UNC. Beatty looks to have gained weight and wasn't as nimble as the year before. LBs are very solid with Suneri leading the way as a 3 year starter. The secondary is probably the weakness of the defense. They are young back there and don't have anyone close to the Hamlin/Garner. When P-R had time, they were able to effectively throw the ball on them. Offensively, PCC runs the ball between the tackles and takes shots. No developed passing game to speak of. The Tillman kid at RB is smaller but very fast and shifty and seemed to solve his fumbling problems. QB is a caretaker who doesn't make mistakes and leads the team. WR look the part but the hyped up kids haven't played well - lots of drops. Best of them is a track kid - #19. Lots of kids play both ways which is interesting for PCC. As a side note, I think many people believe that this is PCC's last really good shot for a WPIAL in a while. JV and freshman teams are average. Time will tell.
3. P-R: I thought P-R's defense would be the weakness of the team, but they are a strength. Besides the PCC game where the offense gave them NO help, they are allowing under a TD a game with several shutouts. They fly around and have many looks to confuse the O. Also, I've not seen this at the HS level, but they definitely have substitution packages where different skill kids come on in long yardage situation. Coach K has them tuned up. Rechenberg at LB has been outstanding and a sophomore (Hasley) has stepped up and looks like he could be the best of the bunch. Tall, fast and tough. Up front, Jackson dominates and plays at a different level. Nobody been able to block him. The other DE Miller has had a sold year too. In the secondary, Boyd and Schweiger at S have played very well. Both can run and hit. On offense, the name of the game is getting the ball to the skill guys in space, who I think are the best in the WPIAL. Meckler and Jochem are the two fastest kids on the team and are a threat to take it to the house every play. Meckler isn't rushing the ball nearly has much but has probably 25 receptions and leads team in TD's. Jochem moves all around at WR and is long and fast. Every game I've been to he's had long TD's over or around people. Johnson is the other WR who is coming on. More of a possession kid, but 6'3" and 200#'s. QB, Spencer, is outstanding. I think he's better as a Junior than DiNucci and putting up passing numbers to rival Jurkovec as a junior (and that team was all about Jurkovec). He's only 5'10" though so not much college interest. The weakness of the O is the OL. Jackson goes both ways and is solid and Tackles are improving. Hayes is the best of the bunch. If they can get average to better Center play, they could make some more noise in the playoffs.
4. Lebo: Just saw them last week. They are solid in all phases, but as I said in another post, a long way away from being competitive with the top 3. Their best players are Evan Jones and Mason Ventrone and a big OL/DL. Lots of hype for those kids, but really were non-existent from what I saw. On the plus side for Lebo is that they play a lot of young players in the secondary and will have to build from that. QB is only a sophomore, so some potential. But complete rebuild on OL and DL/LB. Possibly take a step back before improving.
5. Seneca Valley: P-R plays them this week so I will know more after that, but I think they are a pretty typical SV team, just not as athletic as usual. Best player is a LB with Ivy offers and an OL going to Purdue. They have a 3 year starter at QB but still struggle to score. I don't think they have much in the way of speed and QB is more of a big runner than dual threat. Its sort of amazing they aren't better in that they are about double to the size of these other schools.
6. Canon-MacMillan: They rank lower than this in talent IMO but a nice QB and very good coaching is going to get them in the playoffs. Not really much to say except they play hard and don't quit.
7. Hempfield: Seems like every year is supposed to be there year to break out. This year they had a huge OL and DL and returned 9 or 10 starters on both side of the ball. But nothing. Haven't beaten anyone and seem destined to stay where they are. They do try and do some modern things on O and D and hung with PCC for a while, but they can't get over the hump.
8. Norwin: D1 QB and 1 win over a 6A team? Not sure what's going on there. They have some work to do,
9. Butler: Their varsity is awful, but believe it or not, I think they are better than they have been. Have heard the freshman team is very good so if those kids keep playing, look for Butler to compete for the final playoff spot in a few years.
1. North Allegheny: I really think they and PCC are 1a and 1b but I give NA the nod since they beat PCC. NA's special teams and offense are the strength of an overall very good NA team. They are exactly the same team they have been for the past several years. Solid up front with some good skill guys. Offensively, they revolve around getting the ball to Luke Collela (WR) and Percise Colon (RB). Collela is a Princeton commit and is an all around weapon for them catching the ball and on cross-buck/reverse type plays. Colon is very small, but surprisingly tough and also fast. Have to tackle him around the LOS or he could be gone. The rest of the skill guys are solid, but not spectacular. QB is better than years past and is also a run threat. (He killed P-R last year running QB ISO.) Even with the younger Lugg (Harvard commit), the OL is probably a notch down from years past. Still very good but not punishing. Special teams, particularly KOR are very good. Have opened several games with TDs. While they are undefeated, they have been in games until the 4th quarter (Lebo, Hempfield) before the game got out of hand.
2. PCC: PCC is all about their defensive line, which is large and athletic. The Donald kid is the real deal. A little light, but quick and athletic. The other kids are thick and fairly athletic - the Allen twins are MAC level kids and Beatty is going to UNC. Beatty looks to have gained weight and wasn't as nimble as the year before. LBs are very solid with Suneri leading the way as a 3 year starter. The secondary is probably the weakness of the defense. They are young back there and don't have anyone close to the Hamlin/Garner. When P-R had time, they were able to effectively throw the ball on them. Offensively, PCC runs the ball between the tackles and takes shots. No developed passing game to speak of. The Tillman kid at RB is smaller but very fast and shifty and seemed to solve his fumbling problems. QB is a caretaker who doesn't make mistakes and leads the team. WR look the part but the hyped up kids haven't played well - lots of drops. Best of them is a track kid - #19. Lots of kids play both ways which is interesting for PCC. As a side note, I think many people believe that this is PCC's last really good shot for a WPIAL in a while. JV and freshman teams are average. Time will tell.
3. P-R: I thought P-R's defense would be the weakness of the team, but they are a strength. Besides the PCC game where the offense gave them NO help, they are allowing under a TD a game with several shutouts. They fly around and have many looks to confuse the O. Also, I've not seen this at the HS level, but they definitely have substitution packages where different skill kids come on in long yardage situation. Coach K has them tuned up. Rechenberg at LB has been outstanding and a sophomore (Hasley) has stepped up and looks like he could be the best of the bunch. Tall, fast and tough. Up front, Jackson dominates and plays at a different level. Nobody been able to block him. The other DE Miller has had a sold year too. In the secondary, Boyd and Schweiger at S have played very well. Both can run and hit. On offense, the name of the game is getting the ball to the skill guys in space, who I think are the best in the WPIAL. Meckler and Jochem are the two fastest kids on the team and are a threat to take it to the house every play. Meckler isn't rushing the ball nearly has much but has probably 25 receptions and leads team in TD's. Jochem moves all around at WR and is long and fast. Every game I've been to he's had long TD's over or around people. Johnson is the other WR who is coming on. More of a possession kid, but 6'3" and 200#'s. QB, Spencer, is outstanding. I think he's better as a Junior than DiNucci and putting up passing numbers to rival Jurkovec as a junior (and that team was all about Jurkovec). He's only 5'10" though so not much college interest. The weakness of the O is the OL. Jackson goes both ways and is solid and Tackles are improving. Hayes is the best of the bunch. If they can get average to better Center play, they could make some more noise in the playoffs.
4. Lebo: Just saw them last week. They are solid in all phases, but as I said in another post, a long way away from being competitive with the top 3. Their best players are Evan Jones and Mason Ventrone and a big OL/DL. Lots of hype for those kids, but really were non-existent from what I saw. On the plus side for Lebo is that they play a lot of young players in the secondary and will have to build from that. QB is only a sophomore, so some potential. But complete rebuild on OL and DL/LB. Possibly take a step back before improving.
5. Seneca Valley: P-R plays them this week so I will know more after that, but I think they are a pretty typical SV team, just not as athletic as usual. Best player is a LB with Ivy offers and an OL going to Purdue. They have a 3 year starter at QB but still struggle to score. I don't think they have much in the way of speed and QB is more of a big runner than dual threat. Its sort of amazing they aren't better in that they are about double to the size of these other schools.
6. Canon-MacMillan: They rank lower than this in talent IMO but a nice QB and very good coaching is going to get them in the playoffs. Not really much to say except they play hard and don't quit.
7. Hempfield: Seems like every year is supposed to be there year to break out. This year they had a huge OL and DL and returned 9 or 10 starters on both side of the ball. But nothing. Haven't beaten anyone and seem destined to stay where they are. They do try and do some modern things on O and D and hung with PCC for a while, but they can't get over the hump.
8. Norwin: D1 QB and 1 win over a 6A team? Not sure what's going on there. They have some work to do,
9. Butler: Their varsity is awful, but believe it or not, I think they are better than they have been. Have heard the freshman team is very good so if those kids keep playing, look for Butler to compete for the final playoff spot in a few years.
