5 things we learned in high school football Week 7: Class 2A has new look

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 12, 2024 | 9:23 PM

In some WPIAL football classifications, the names near the top of the conference standings don’t change too much from year to year.

But take a look at Class 2A.

With two weeks left in the regular season, the three conference leaders are Ellwood City (7-0), Seton LaSalle (7-0) and South Park (7-1) with South Allegheny (7-1) not too far behind. Two of the four missed the playoffs a year ago, and the two others finished fourth or fifth in their conference to qualify.

But this is a new year, and Class 2A definitely has a new look.

That can be credited to a few factors. Conference realignment moved a few familiar 2A names — such as Imani Christian and Neshannock — into other classifications. Some recent WPIAL 2A finalists are having down years, including Beaver Falls (0-8) and Sto-Rox (0-7). Some usual contenders also got off to slow starts.

And, of course, there’s the simple fact that the teams currently at the top of the standings are playing well in what could be resurgent seasons for the programs.

Ellwood City is 7-0 for the first time since 1944 after a 13-6 win Friday over rival Riverside. The seven wins also match Ellwood City’s total victories from the past five seasons combined.

The Wolverines went 0-25 in three years from 2019-21 before improving to 2-8 in 2022 and 5-6 last season. This is the third year under coach Dan Bradley.

“We looked forward to this year, simply because we only had eight seniors (combined) in the first two years with the program,” Bradley said. “The predominance of our starting lineup was freshman and sophomores. We’re finally competing with juniors and seniors on the football field.”

Seton LaSalle is only two years removed from its own winless season. The Rebels went 0-10 in 2022 but improved to 5-5 last season in coach Tim Storino’s first year with the team.

Rebels sophomore receiver Khalil Taylor scored five touchdowns in the first quarter of Thursday win against Shady Side Academy. He had a 77-yard kickoff return and a 70-yard interception return among his touchdowns.

Realignment maybe helped South Park, which dropped down from 3A, where the Eagles finished fourth in the Western Hills Conference at 3-3. Senior running back Eric Doerue ranks among the WPIAL’s leading rushers this year.

South Allegheny also moved to 2A from 3A, where the Gladiators went 1-9 overall last year and 0-5 in the Interstate. The passing tandem of Ryan Cortes and Drew Cook are setting single-season school records.

“Some of the traditional powers are down a little bit,” Bradley said. “Wash High. Steel Valley. But they’re still winning games, and I’m sure they’ll be a factor come playoff time.”

Petras debuts in Week 7

One of the WPIAL’s top wide receivers made his season debut Friday night.

Bethel Park senior Ryan Petras, a Princeton recruit who underwent preseason shoulder surgery, had five catches for 85 yards in a 14-10 loss to Upper St. Clair. Petras also carried the ball three times for 7 yards.

His highlights were catches of 40 and 18 yards on consecutive plays in the second quarter.

“You could tell there was a little bit of game rust, just like there would be for anybody,” Bethel Park coach Phil Peckich said. “I thought he did a great job of doing what we asked him to do here tonight. The comfort level will continue to grow. … He’ll get back to being Ryan Petras. You saw glimpses of that tonight.”

Petras’ 52 receptions ranked sixth in the WPIAL last season and best among returning players.

Small schools, big scores

Fort Cherry and Bishop Canevin are two of the smaller schools in the WPIAL, but whenever these Class A teams got together lately, the score was usually big.

In the past three seasons — call it the Matt Sieg era at Fort Cherry — they’ve averaged a combined 73 points in their four matchups. Fort Cherry won 49-34 on Friday for a combined 83 points.

They met twice last year, and Fort Cherry won 48-41 and 33-21. In 2022, Bishop Canevin won 60-7.

Shutout ends after 2 months

It took eight weeks to do it, but someone finally scored a touchdown against Clairton’s defense.

The Bears allowed a fourth-quarter touchdown in a 44-7 victory over Leechburg on Friday. With the Bears ahead 36-0, Leechburg’s Tim Andrasy reached the end zone on a 4-yard run.

Clairton surrendered a defensive touchdown to Steel Valley in Week Zero, but the Bears defense hadn’t been scored upon yet. They’ve outscored opponents 387-14.

Clairton also improved its all-time record against Leechburg to 30-0-1.

West Coast to Western Pa.

When did the WPIAL become recruiting grounds for West Coast colleges?

Their interest seems to be increasing ever since the ACC added Cal and Stanford. In fact, three Central Catholic players announced Cal offers this weekend: freshman Chrys Black Jr. and sophomores Zachary Gleason Jr. and Jimmy Kalis.

Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier said Cal coaches visited the high school Friday, one day before played Pitt at Acrisure Stadium. Black and Gleason are defensive backs, and Kalis is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive lineman.

But they’re not the only WPIAL athletes being recruited by the former Pac-12 schools. Peters Township senior linebacker Mickey Vaccarello committed last November to Stanford.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.