5 things we learned in Week 3 of high school football

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, September 17, 2022 | 8:33 PM

Pick a word: Unpredictable? Competitive? Chaotic?

They all describe WPIAL Class 6A football this season, where top-ranked Central Catholic surprisingly lost its conference opener Friday night.

Mt. Lebanon prefers the word “fun.”

“It’s fun because there are five teams and we’re all very even,” said Mt. Lebanon senior Mike Beiersdorf, who scored a pick-six in the Blue Devils’ 17-16 win over Central Catholic. “Anyone could win. Anyone could lose. It makes these 6A games so big because every game matters.”

But in Week 3, that unpredictability wasn’t limited to 6A.

This was a bad week to be ranked No. 1 in the WPIAL since three of the six top-ranked teams lost Friday night. The others to lose were Gateway in Class 5A and Belle Vernon in 3A.

All three entered the fall as preseason favorites.

Central Catholic had led 16-0 after three quarters but saw that lead slip away in the fourth. Mt. Lebanon rallied and kicked a walk-off field goal with no time left.

“We don’t really focus on what other people are saying,” Beiersdorf said. “We just put our heads down and work.”

Theirs was the third conference game in WPIAL 6A this season, and two of the three have now produced somewhat surprising results. Canon-McMillan surprised Seneca Valley in a Week 2 game labeled an upset, but nowadays that’s hard to say about any outcome in 6A.

Mt. Lebanon used Friday’s win to remind the WPIAL that it’s still the defending champion, even if graduation hit the team hard.

“The kids believed we could win,” Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko said. “They didn’t say it, but you could just tell it in their body language. We believed that we could beat them and it was just so evident. It was neat to be a part of.”

Gateway’s loss Friday night was also stunning. The Gators offense was stifled by Franklin Regional, which won 16-7 in the Big East opener.

Belle Vernon stepped up two classifications and lost a nonconference game to 5A contender Penn-Trafford, 14-13.

Boyd injures ankle

No defense has stopped McKeesport’s Bobbie Boyd this season, but unfortunately an injury has.

The Tigers star senior left the first quarter Friday with a sprained ankle, said coach Matt Miller, who’s optimistic his two-way standout can make a quick recovery. The running back and defensive back ranks among the WPIAL leaders with seven touchdowns.

“We’re hoping he’ll be available this week,” Miller said. “We’ll see.”

McKeesport (4-0, 1-0) is ranked second in WPIAL 4A. The Tigers host Trinity (2-2, 1-0) this week. Boyd carried three times for 34 yards in Friday’s 33-0 win over Laurel Highlands. He was injured on his third carry when he was tackled awkwardly.

“It was one of his typical great runs,” Miller said. “He started left, cut back on the grain, a kid had an angle on him and wrapped him up kind of funny. … We told him to sit out the rest of the game.”

His absence highlighted how the Tigers aren’t a one-man team. Larry Gibson rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and Jahmil Perryman added 132 yards and a TD.

Unfriendly welcome

The WPIAL’s longest active conference winning streak ended this week at 25 games.

The streak belonged to North Catholic, but the newcomer to Class 4A lost to Highlands, 17-7, in its Greater Allegheny debut. The loss was a rare for the Trojans, who hadn’t fallen to a conference foe since Sept. 21, 2018.

North Catholic moved up from Class 3A this season.

The longest active conference streaks now belong to Central Valley (22 games), Penn-Trafford (21) and Clairton (20).

Getting defensive

Leechburg’s Braylan Lovelace ranks among the top running backs in the WPIAL, but don’t forget Pitt recruited the 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior to play defense.

With Lovelace at linebacker, the Leechburg defense hasn’t allowed a point in three weeks. The Blue Devils have outscored opponents 202-0 in that span, a historic scoreless streak for the team.

Leechburg hadn’t posted three consecutive shutouts since 1955.

Its three wins this season were over Summit Academy, 69-0, Bentworth, 56-0, and Springdale, 77-0. Extending that scoreless streak to four games could be tough. Leechburg visits Clairton next week.

The perfect start

WPIAL football has 117 teams, and only 14 are off to 4-0 starts.

That feat is more rare for some teams than others. Hempfield hadn’t started a season with four wins in more than 50 years, yet the Spartans are celebrating a 4-0 start after a 48-7 win at Shaler.

The last time Hempfield did was 1971.

None of the other 4-0 teams can match Hempfield’s patience, but McKeesport (2013), Neshannock (2014) and Mapletown (1997) have gone a number of years without winning their first four games. In comparison, Central Valley is 4-0 for the fourth consecutive season, and City League team Westinghouse is 4-0 for the third year in a row.

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.