WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Three 2015

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 19, 2015 | 10:32 AM

With two weeks to get a feel of the district high school football landscape, there was plenty of ‘big game’ feel up and down the FOUR classifications of the WPIAL on the third Friday of the campaign. Some turned into laughers while others were nail-biters well into the fourth quarter. On a picture perfect night around Western Pennsylvania, here are the players who proved to be very photogenic in leading their teams to Week Three wins.

Terron Murphy – Bethel Park

After two tough, tight losses to then top-ranked Pittsburgh Central Catholic and second-ranked Woodland Hills, Bethel Park’s first victory was very elementary. See Terron run. Run Terron, run.  You could say it was as easy as ABC for BP…and the fact it came against an unbeaten rival in USC made it even sweeter. Running back Terron Murphy rushed for 326 yards on 22 carries and score three touchdowns as the Black Hawks rolled to a convincing 30-7 Class AAAA Southeastern Conference victory over the host Upper St. Clair Panthers.

Riley Trueman and Ethan Maenza – North Allegheny

We often take time here in the HighLights to tip our cap to a pair of running backs who run wild and lead their teams to victories. We call it the old one-two punch. North Allegheny used a different version of said boxing lingo to stun top-ranked Pittsburgh Central Catholic Friday in a Class AAAA Northern Eight Conference eye-opener. Instead of running backs, it was duel quarterbacks for NA as Ethan Maenza rushed for 122 yards while signal calling teammate Riley Trueman scored on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter, then on a 28-yard game winning scamper with less than a minute left as the host Tigers edged the Vikings 24-17.

Jake Collins – Chartiers Valley

Three weeks into the season and already two top-ranked teams have fallen in Class AAA. The latest came when Montour returned home after two grueling wins on the road only to be stunned by visiting Chartiers Valley in a Class AAA Parkway Conference stunner. CV quarterback Jake Collins did damage with both his arm and his legs as he rushed for scoring runs of 64 and 18 yards, plus he tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Joe Antonucci and a 29-yard scoring strike to Jared Nelson (ha-ha) as the Colts won for the second time in three games with a 27-14 upset of the Spartans.

Russell Tyree – West Mifflin

With all of the Class AAA Big Ten Conference focus early on being on the Thomas Jefferson struggles and the quick starts for Ringgold and Belle Vernon, quietly West Mifflin is there at the top of the pack with a 3-0 mark thanks in part to the running of Russell Tyree. The junior running back rushed for 243 yards and scored four touchdowns on runs of 26, 3, 36 and 67 yards as the Titans wiped away an early deficit to cruise past the visiting Albert Gallatin Colonials to the tune of 48-12 in a game that was only 14-6 at the half.

Zane Dudek – Armstrong

Zane Dudek burned the Indiana defense early, late and plenty in-between as the Armstrong junior running back continues to drive his opponents insane in the membrane. Dudek rushed for 254 yards and scored all five of his teams touchdowns on runs of 63 and 10 yards in the first half, followed by scoring jaunts of 47, 34 and 46 yards in the second half to lead the River Hawks to a 35-20 victory over the visiting and still winless Indiana Little Indians in a Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference contest at old Kittanning High School.

Kurt Adkins – Washington

There was a time when Washington vs Waynesburg was THEE game in the Class AA Interstate Conference, so big it was often played in Week 9 for all of the conference marbles. Today…not so much. Kurt Adkins of Washington took the suspense out of this one early as he ended up with 209 yards rushing with three looooong touchdowns runs of 56, 38 and 52 yards…all in the first half as the visiting an unbeaten Little Prexies raced out to a 42 point lead by halftime and coasted to a 42-0 victory over the winless Raiders.

Alex Smith – Keystone Oaks

What a difference 24 hours made for Alex Smith as he led his team to victory the night after his team suffered a heartbreaking loss on national TV. Uhhh, what’s that…one Alex Smith quarterback Keystone Oaks while the other is the signal called for the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh. The KO version of Alex Smith connected on 18 of 25 passes for 312 yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Nick Hrivnack of 53 and 16 yards while also scoring on a 9-yard run in the first quarter that gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good in a 41-19 Class AA Century Conference victory over the host East Allegheny Wildcats.

Dylan Rush – Mapletown

After losing their first two games this season, Mapletown fans were possibly starting to think the season was going nowhere. But like a cold slurpee on a hot day, a Week Three victory for players, coaches and fans of the black and gold was quite a Rush. Dylan Rush ran for 221 yards and scored SIX touchdowns on runs of 4, 3, 2, 10 and 32 yards, plus he added a 51-yard fumble return for a score in leading the Maples to a 61-22 rout of the host West Greene Pioneers in a Class A Tri-County South Conference matchup.

Zach Chandler – Avonworth

Last year, Avonworth shocked many by making it to the WPIAL Class A championship game at Heinz Field after losing their star quarterback early in the season. Thus far this year, the ‘Lopes are off and running with Zach Chandler under center and life appears to be much easier with the 6’4 signal called than without him. Chandler connected on 18 of 31 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns on passes of 80, 14, 23 and 20 yards as the Antelopes smoked the visiting Brentwood Spartans 47-30 in a Class A Black Hills Conference battle of the unbeaten.

Jonah Vitale – Neshannock

After losing in heartbreak fashion in Week Two at Shenango, there were questions for defending Class A Big 7 Conference champion Neshannock with the biggest being: Is this team still a legit Class A contender. The yes answer came loud and clear Friday thanks to a ‘whale’ of a performance by Jonah Vitale. The running back caught eleven passes for 128 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns on a 45-yard run and a 28-yard scoring toss from Frank Antuono as the host Lancers outscored the previously unbeaten Riverside Panthers 71-48.

Tags: Armstrong, Avonworth, Bethel Park, Chartiers Valley, Keystone Oaks, Washington, West Mifflin