WPIAL Friday Night HighLights for 9/12

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2014 | 11:00 AM

After a couple of humid and warm Friday nights to kick off the 2014 season, cool air prevailed in Week Three making it feel more like football weather. With concerns of water breaks and cramps behind them, many players relaxed and let their talents take over with some huge efforts on Friday night. We scratch the surface with some of the peak performances on the third Friday of the season.

Alex Minton & Levi Metheny – Bethel Park

Coming off a heartbreaking Southeastern Conference loss to top-ranked Woodland Hills last week, Bethel Park was facing the real dilemma of dealing with an 0-3 start as they faced defending conference champion and South Hills rival Upper St. Clair. The tandem of Alex Minton and Levi Metheny helped the black and orange cause big time as Minton rushed for 205 yards while Metheny hit on 9 of 13 passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns, including the game winning 14-yard toss in the final minute as the Black Hawks beat the Panthers 21-14.

Eddie Jenkins – Mount Lebanon

After a rare miss of the WPIAL football playoffs a year ago, Mount Lebanon has quietly started the 2014 season on a big time roll thanks to the play of quarterback Eddie Jenkins. Jenkins connected on 17 of his 24 passes for 239 yards and touchdown tosses of 16, 40, 41 and 27 yards, plus he added a 46-yard first quarter scoring run that put the Blue Devils up for good in a 54-14 rout of the host Baldwin Highlanders in a Class AAAA Southeastern Conference contest.

Daniel Walters – Hempfield

In what has been a disappointing start to the season for Hempfield after losing the first two games, a rebound game was needed and quarterback Daniel Walters was more than happy to slam that lose puck into the net…whoops, wrong rebound reference sport. Walters three three touchdown passes, one to Clark Pederson and two to Dylan Sikora, plus he scored four times on touchdown runs of 1, 1, 17 and 4 yards as the visiting Spartans exploded for their first victory, a 55-20 thrashing of the Kiski Area Cavaliers in a Quad-A Foothills Conference game.  

Austin Kemp – Thomas Jefferson

He may not be The Million Dollar Man Steve Austin, or even Stone Cold Steve Austin, but this Austin is truly turning into something special around the District 7 gridirons. Thomas Jefferson running back Austin Kemp rushed for 321 yards on 27 carries leaving him only 182 yards shy of 1,000 yards after only three games. Kemp scored SEVEN touchdowns, including runs of 11, 17, 1, 16, 2 and 4 yards, plus he added a 40-yard interception return for a score as the Jaguars remained unbeaten with a 48-19 thrashing of the visiting Laurel Highlands Mustangs in a Class AAA Big Nine Conference battle for first place.

Tre Tipton – Apollo-Ridge

It appears the Apollo-Ridge football team is truly on an out of this world mission and through the first three weeks everything is Tre-mendous. Pitt recruit Tre Tipton had a HUGE game in one of the biggest games at Owens Field in a long time as he rushed for 304 yards and scored on a 67-yard touchdown run, plus he tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Shipman as the Vikings knocked off the defending Class AA Allegheny Conference champion Kittanning Wildcats in a thriller, 44-41 in Overtime.

Louis Berry – Shady Side Academy

While there has been a lot of talk in the Class AA Allegheny Conference about defending champion Kittanning, Highlands coming down from Class AAA and upstart Apollo-Ridge, conference power Shady Side Academy has just quietly gone about registering three victories in a Berry strong fashion. Louis Berry only carries the ball seven times, but ended up rushing for 207 yards and three touchdowns, plus he returned a kickoff 98-yards for another score as the Indians rolled past the visiting Valley Vikings 32-20.

Brett Brumbaugh – South Fayette

While there were a lot of big games on the ground Friday night, you knew The Hitman would show up in the HighLights for another strong game through the air. Brett Brumbaugh moved closer to becoming the all-time leading passer in WPIAL history when he connected on 11 of 19 passing for 270 yards and five touchdown passes of 15, 61, 10, 15 and 10 yards yards as the unbeaten Lions won their first Class AA Century Conference road game with a 59-20 beating of the South Park Eagles.

Taizjon Brown – East Allegheny

In an entertaining Class AA Century Conference battle that went back and forth between a pair of teams in search of their first victory of the season, East Allegheny’s Taizjon Brown helped make Keystone Oaks fan leaving Dormont Stadium exit with a frown. Brown scored three touchdowns…one on a 1-yard plunge, the second on a 70-yard scoring pass from Deon Smith that gave EA their first lead, then the eventual game winning score in the third quarter on a 100-yard interception return to the house as the Wildcats edged the Golden Eagles 26-21.

James Duchi – McGuffey

Some coached will handle mid-season non-conference games differently. Maybe they rest banged up players or maybe they experiment with a new system, plays or personnel. Whatever some coaches do, McGuffey coach Ed Dalton kept it simple and just gave the ball to James Duchi, who responded with 248 yards rushing and six touchdowns on scoring totes of 24, 63, 15, 6, 56 and 63 yards as the Highlanders knocked off the visiting Mohawk Warriors in a Class AA non-conference fray 56-6.

Tyler Root – Shenango

In the baseball classic song, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, fans are encouraged to chant the word root three times as they support the home team. That is the same number of times the home team fans at Shenango High School saw one of their players celebrating in the end zone. Tyler Root rushed for 242 yards and scored three times on long runs of 59, 62 and 40 yards as the host Wildcats picked up a Class A Big 7 Conference victory with a 49-21 victory over the still winless Rochester Rams.

Bonus – Vincentian Academy Royals

Playing in their first WPIAL conference game, Vincentian Academy picked up a victory. Four different Royals players scored touchdowns in a 28-20 Class A Big 7 Conference win over the visiting Union Scotties. Kudos VA!

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Bethel Park, East Allegheny, Hempfield, Vincentian Academy