WPIAL Friday Night HighLights for Week Four

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 21, 2013 | 9:34 AM

History was made Friday night when the longest winning streak in WPIAL and PIAA history came to a crashing end. Monessen went into Clairton and beat the Bears 42-24 ending a mind-numbing 66-game winning streak. So as we look back at some of the top performances from the fourth Friday of the 2013 WPIAL football season, what better way to begin than to salute…

The Clairton Bears

When all is said and done, the win streak that lasted 66-games began on September 11, 2009 with a 46-0 shutout of Monessen and was ended by the Greyhounds on September 20, 2013. The streak included three perfect seasons of 16-0, four Black Hills Conference championships, four additional WPIAL Class A crowns added on to the one they captured in 2008 and four straight PIAA state titles and was in the top ten of high school football winning streak ever in the United States. Streaks are made to be broken, but it might be a long, long time before 'Bout Dat' is erased from the district and state record books.

Clintell Gillaspie – Monessen

It was a team effort, but senior Clintell Gillaspie led the charges as Monessen proved to be the giant dragon slayer on Friday night. Gillaspie rushed for 169 yards on 13 carries, scoring on touchdown runs of 2 and 91 yards, plus he caught a pair of touchdown passes from Noah Rullo of 60 and 77 yards as the Greyhounds rolled into Neil Brown Stadium and Clairton and ended the Bears 66-game winning streak with a convincing 42-24 victory that ties both teams for second place in the Class A Black Hills Conference.

Luigi Lista-Brinza – Pittsburgh Central Catholic

It took a while for Pittsburgh Central Catholic to get going Friday night, but they eventually pulled away in preparation of a big Week 5 showdown with Seneca Valley with a victory over Fox Chapel. The diminutive Luigi Lista-Brinza led the way on the ground with 202 yards rushing as the senior capped off the scoring with a 49-yard scoring jaunt to lead the 4-0 Vikings past the Foxes 49-10 in a Class AAAA Northern Eight Conference contest that christened the new Highmark Stadium at Station Square.

Nico Law – Ringgold

For years now, Ringgold opponents have learned that when you fight the Law, the Law wins. First game Quad Law leading the way for towns-folks in the Monongahela area, however he has since moved on and its his younger brother that wears the quarterbacks badge nowadays. Nico Law hit on 12 of 19 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns as the Rams won for the third time in four games with a 60-21 rout of the Uniontown Red Raiders in a Class AAA Big Nine Conference fray.

James Wheeler – West Mifflin

With what 'Little Jimmy' continues to do on the ground for West Mifflin, and with what Nico Law is doing through the air for Ringgold (see above), we can expect a dandy in the Class AAA Big Nine Conference when the two meet in Week 5. however as far as Week Four is concerned, James Wheeler rushed for 223 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 3, 43 and 23 yards as the Titans remained undefeated with a 56-12 triumph over the visiting Uniontown Red Raiders.

Julian Cox – New Castle

While still a solid conference, the WPIAL Class AAA Parkway Conference is not the weekly meat-grinder it has been over the last couple of years when it earned it reputation as the best single conference in the state. While the traffic on the Parkway is not as congested as it used to be, there are still teams packing a mighty punch. Thanks to a big night by quarterback Julian Cox, New Castle continues to be one of those teams. Cox hit on 10 of 11 passes for 216 yards and four touchdowns tosses to go along with a scoring run as the Red Hurricane knocked out the host Montour Spartans 32-13 to stay within a game of co-leaders Central Valley and West Allegheny.

Damian Rawl and Dan Stratton – Beaver Falls

With their perfect record in jeopardy against one of their MAC rivals, the Beaver Falls tandem of quarterback Dan Stratton and running back Damian Rawl helped save the day with a strong finishing kick down the stretch. Stratton hit on 12 of 18 passes for 181 yards plus ran for a score in the third quarter that helped tunr the tide while teammate Rawl ran for 257 yards and scored four touchdowns, including a 9-yard run for the winning score as the Tigers remained unbeaten by coming back from a 24-12 deficit to win 30-24 in a Class AA Midwestern Conference matchup at Geneva College.

Jared Meyers – Ellwood City

As the season goes on and the conference races in all four classifications heat up, there is very little attention paid to non-conference games, especially contests matching 1-3 teams. But Jared Meyers made everybody stand up and take notice as he rushed for 200 yards on the dot on a work-man-like 29 carries while scoring on touchdown runs of 31, 13 and 40 yards as the Wolverines knocked off the host Chartiers Valley Colts 28-13.

Isiah Canton – Carlynton

We have played four weeks of this 2013 high school football season and we now have two busts of Isiah Canton of Carlynton on the Friday Night HighLights mantel. On Friday, Canton rushed for 237 yards and scored three touchdowns on runs of 63, 2 and 56 yards as the Cougars improved to 2-2 in a suddenly wide open Class A Black Hills Conference with a 42-0 whitewash of the low-flying visiting Serra Catholic Eagles.

Brandon Lawless – Carmichaels

OK, We've already established above that when you battle the Law, the Law wins and that non-conference games don't grab a lot of headlines once you are a few weeks into the season. so we counteract both of those earlier points by the evidence presented by Carmichaels quarterback Brandon Lawless. Being Lawless is good and non-conference games can be noteworthy is his closing comment after hitting on 13 of 17 passes for 218 yards and FIVE touchdown passes and a scoring run as the Mighty Mikes improved to 3-1 overall with a 51-13 trouncing of the visiting Vincentian Academy Royals in a Class A Non-conference matchup.

Tags: Beaver Falls, Carlynton, Carmichaels, Clairton, Ellwood City, West Mifflin