Five things we learned from Week 9 of WPIAL football season

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 28, 2017 | 6:36 PM

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Maybe for the first time all season, Clairton looked a lot like its dominant self, and just in time for the playoffs, too.

That could be bad news for the rest of Class A.

The three-time defending WPIAL champions scored the first 34 points in Friday night's 40-6 victory over then-No. 1 Jeannette, a win that showed Clairton's reign might not be ending just yet.

Tre'sean Howard caught an 86-yard touchdown pass, Anthony Pruitt returned a blocked punt 83 yards for another score and Howard added an 83-yard run to lead 21-0. That big-play ability helped Clairton win the WPIAL title nine times in the past 11 seasons, so it was probably too soon to count the Bears out after two midseason losses.

Clairton's victory Friday created a three-way tie atop the Eastern Conference between Clairton (7-2, 6-1), Imani Christian (8-2, 6-1) and Jeannette (9-1, 6-1). After tiebreakers, Clairton finishes first, Jeannette second and Imani is third because the Saints' six-point win Saturday left them behind the other two in the WPIAL's margin-of-victory formula.

“If you look at the way we're playing right now, I think you should say we're No. 1. Why wouldn't we be No. 1?” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said after Friday's win “We lost to Imani, where we just didn't play well. And then we lost to a great Aliquippa team. And if you watched the game, we played a great game. It wasn't a 28-0 game to us.”

The WPIAL playoff brackets will be revealed Monday night in Green Tree.

Undefeated California (10-0) could draw the No. 1 overall seed, which would be an achievement for the much-maligned Tri-County South Conference. California owns nonconference wins over Imani Christian and Rochester.

OLSH (8-2, 7-1) and Rochester (7-2, 7-1) shared the Big Seven title, so the WPIAL committee will have decisions to make.

Pine-Richland flying high

Pine-Richland first planted itself as the clear WPIAL favorite in Class 6A with a 48-28 victory over rival North Allegheny, and then the Rams planted their flag midfield at Newman Stadium.

Jurkovec missed the season finale last season with a thumb injury and North Allegheny won 47-10.

“People might be mad about that, but I find it harmless,” said Pine-Richland quarterback Phil Jurkovec, the flagbearer. “I wasn't trying to be mean in any way, but it's a rivalry game. If NA would beat us and they did that to us — they planted their flag at our 50 — I would just say they have the right to do that because they won. It's just a rivalry game. That's what makes it fun.”

Pine-Richland (10-0), ranked second in the state, will be the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL playoffs.

The Rams rushed for 629 yards and seven touchdowns Friday. Jordan Crawford ran for 242 yards, Kenny White had 209 and Jurkovec added 178. White had three touchdowns. Crawford and Jurkovec each scored twice.

Cornell ends long drought

Friday's win won't send Cornell to the playoffs, but it sure gave the Raiders reason to celebrate. When Cornell defeated Northgate, 22-6, it was the team's first victory since 2011.

The football program folded in 2012 and didn't return until 2016. After finishing 0-9 last season, Cornell lost its first eight games this year before Friday's win. In all, the Raiders had a 19-game losing streak.

The team's most recent victory was Oct. 21, 2011, a 40-0 win over Union. Cornell reached the playoffs that season but didn't have enough players to field a team the next year.

Serra Catholic rebounds

Serra Catholic is only a couple of years removed from a difficult 2-27 stretch, but the Eagles are headed to the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs this season as the second-place team in the Three Rivers Conference.

Serra (6-4, 4-2) and first-year coach Jose Regus also assured the school would have a home playoff game by defeating East Allegheny, 28-27, Friday in overtime. It's the second year in a row Serra earned a playoff berth after six seasons without.

The team posted one-win seasons in 2013 and '14 after going winless in 2012.

Butler star's big day

Butler, Freedom and Waynesburg all saw their coaches resign midseason, but the teams finished Friday with much different results.

Butler celebrated a 28-26 nonconference victory over Canon-McMillan as senior Luke Michalek scored four times and totaled 485 all-purpose yards. Michalek returned two kickoffs for touchdowns of 92 and 94 yards. He also had touchdown runs of 82 and 14 yards, including in his 299-yard rushing performance.

The victory improved Butler to 3-6 overall, the team's first three-win season since it won four in 2012.

Waynesburg lost 55-21 to South Side Beaver on Friday, while Freedom lost 51-0 to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Clairton, Imani Christian, Jeannette