WPIAL Week 1 High School Football Roundup

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 2, 2017 | 12:54 AM

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TribLive’s sports writers have you covered from Friday’s Week 1 regional high school football action.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

■ McKEESPORT 7 at FRANKLIN REGIONAL 13

Franklin Regional upsets Class 5A No. 1 McKeesport
McKeesport hurt itself with three turnovers, 13 penalties for 105 yards and poor field position. The Tigers average starting field position was the 15-yard line. Their best starting position was their 28 in the second quarter.

■ KISKI AREA 6 at PLUM 9

Plum kicker Jackson Gildea boots winning field goal in waning seconds to beat Kiski Area
Gildea booted a 38-yard field goal as time expired, lifting Plum to a 9-6 victory over Kiski Area in a Big East Conference opener Friday night at Mustangs Stadium.

ALLEGHENY

■ NORTH ALLEGHENY 15 at BETHEL PARK 35

Bethel Park leans on linemen, Volpatti to take down No. 3 North Allegheny
The Black Hawks leaned heavily on four touchdowns from tailback Tanner Volpatti and a veteran offensive line in Friday night’s 35-15 victory, the team’s first over North Allegheny in nearly a decade.

■ MT. LEBANON 29 at PINE-RICHLAND 59

No. 1 Pine-Richland holds off Mt. Lebanon in offensive shootout
There were gaudy stats, deep passes delivered downfield and plenty of touchdowns but, in the end, it was Jurkovec and top-ranked Pine-Richland (2-0) that secured a 53-29 victory over Mt. Lebanon (1-1) in a WPIAL Class 6A nonconference showdown.

WESTMORELAND

■ ALTOONA 0 at NORWIN 24

Norwin bounces back, pulls away from Altoona
Jack Salopek passed for 180 yards and two touchdowns and Tevin Thrift rushed for 134 yards and another score as Norwin pulled away from Altoona in the second half Friday night to open its WPIAL Class 6A Southeastern Conference schedule with a 24-0 victory over the visiting Mountain Lions.

■ GREENSBURG-SALEM 48 at RINGGOLD 7

Hoyle leads Greensburg Salem to nonconference win
Senior quarterback Jacob Hoyle threw three touchdown passes and ran for another to stake the Golden Lions to a 28-7 lead at halftime. Hoyle finished with 157 rushing yards and 147 through the air.

■ CHARTIERS-HOUSTON 0 at JEANNETTE 58

Jeannette passing attack shines in blowout win
First-year starting quarterback Robert Kennedy threw for 144 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half, to pace the Class A No. 2 Jayhawks to a 58-0 nonconference win over Chartiers-Houston on Friday night at McKee Stadium.

■ DERRY 7 at ELIZABETH-FORWARD 39

EF’s Benedek-Martik connection snaps Derry’s regular-season win streak
Elizabeth Forward Warriors quarterback Zachary Benedek threw four touchdown passes to receiver Gavin Martik, running back Brian Malloy added 126 yards and two scores on 18 carries, and Elizabeth Forward ended Derry’s 12-game regular-season winning streak Friday with a 39-7 Interstate Conference win.

■ IMANI CHRISTIAN 70 at GREENSBURG CENTRAL CATHOLIC 7

Imani races to big early lead, sends Greensburg CC to loss in conference opener
In an overpowering offensive and defensive display, the Saints piled up 204 yards passing and 176 rushing and the Centurions to 42 yards on the ground and 87 passing.

AK VALLEY

■ WEST ALLEGHENY 41 at FOX CHAPEL 20

West Allegheny too much for Fox Chapel
The defending WPIAL Class 5A champion Indians jumped to a 27-7 first-half lead as No. 2-ranked West Allegheny downed Fox Chapel, 41-20, in an Allegheny 9 Conference matchup at Fox Chapel.

■ HIGHLANDS 28 at AMBRIDGE 14

Highlands gets victory in coach Dom Girardi’s debut
In his first game as the Golden Rams’ coach, Girardi’s squad topped Ambridge, 28-14, for a Northwest Nine Conference road game.

■ DEER LAKES 21 at APOLLO RIDGE 34

Apollo-Ridge shrugs off slow start, tops Deer Lakes
What started out as a nightmare for Kyle Fitzroy and Apollo-Ridge ended up having a pretty good ending. After three turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble — in the Vikings’ first three possessions, Fitzroy threw for 225 yards and a pair of touchdowns to help Apollo-Ridge defeat Deer Lakes, 34-21.

■ VALLEY 6 at KEYSTONE OAKS 16

Keystone Oaks scores twice in 4th quarter to rally past Valley
The fourth quarter became the Michael Daure show. The Keystone Oaks junior tailback morphed into a wildcat quarterback over the final 12 minutes, and his TD runs of 2 and 3 yards helped lift the Golden Eagles (1-0, 1-0) to a 16-6 victory.

■ RIVERVIEW 16 at LEECHBURG 0

Riverview grinds out victory over Leechburg
The Raiders scored points on their first drive of the season, the only ones they needed in a 16-0 victory over host Leechburg in Class A Eastern Conference play Friday night.

■ BURRELL 6 at HOPEWELL 12

Hopewell denies Burrell on late touchdown run
An 8-yard run by DeShaun Sanders with 1:01 to play lifted the Vikings to a 12-6 victory at Tony Dorsett Stadium in a nonconference game.

■ JEFFERSON-MORGAN 20 at SPRINGDALE 42

Springdale runs past Jefferson-Morgan for coach’s 1st win
Springdale finished with 373 yards rushing, spearheaded by senior fullback Scott Landis, who ran for 209 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries.

REGION ROUNDUP

■ HEMPFIELD 28 at CANON-McMILLAN 33

Trey Lewis’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Greyden Piechnick with 54 seconds left in the game gave Canon-McMillan (2-0, 1-0) the Southeastern Conference win against Hempfield (1-1, 0-1). Lewis threw for 225 yards and three touchdowns and Drew Engel caught five passes for 141 yards and a score. Blake Remaley paced Hempfield with 192 passing yards and two TDs.

Hempfield quarterback Justin Sliwoski left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.

■ LATROBE 8 at GATEWAY 41

Brady Walker threw for 243 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 82 yards and another score to lead Gateway (2-0, 1-0) to the Class 5A Big East Conference win over Latrobe (0-2, 0-1). Iasiah Cameron added 113 rushing yards and a 69-yard touchdown on six carries and caught five passes for 72 yards and a TD. Latrobe converted two field goals and a safety for its scores.

■ PENN-TRAFFORD 48 at CONNELLSVILLE 7

Cam Laffoon completed 9 of 13 passes for 158 yards and two scores as Penn-Trafford (2-0, 1-0) won a Class 5A Big East Conference game. John Gay added touchdown runs of 1 and 56 yards, and Caleb Lisbon scored on an 86-yard kickoff return and 16-yard run. Jon Peduzzi added two scores.

■ ALBERT GALLATIN 6 at BELLE VERNON 29

Jared Hartman threw for 181 yards and three scores, and Mason Pascoe ran for 105 yards to give Belle Vernon (1-0, 1-0) a Big Nine Conference win.

■ MT. PLEASANT 55 at WAYNESBURG 13

Cody Reese rushed for 118 yards on just four carries, including scoring runs of 84 and 7 yards, as Mt. Pleasant (1-1, 1-0) defeated Waynesburg (0-1, 0-1) in the Class 3A Interstate Conference. Reese added two receiving touchdowns from quarterback Luke Pieszak, who threw for 208 yards and three TDs.

■ SOUTH PARK 42 at SOUTHMORELAND 7

Damon Smith scored on touchdowns of 90 and 46 yards — his only carries of the game — as South Park (1-0, 1-0) downed Southmoreland (0-1, 0-1) in the Class 3A Interstate Conference. Isaiah Mack added two rushing touchdowns for South Park, which led 35-0 at the half. Colt Harper rushed for 109 yards in the loss.

■ MONESSEN 15 at CARMICHAELS 33

Monessen opened Class A Tri-County South Conference play with a loss and fell to 0-2 overall.

■ YOUGH 6 at BETH-CENTER 21

Yough fell to 0-2 with a nonconference loss at Beth-Center (2-0).

■ LIGONIER VALLEY 56 at SALTSBURG 0

In a district 6 Heritage Conference game, Ligonier Valley rolled to a 2-0 record with a blowout victory.