Saturdays Scholastic Starz – 10/30/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, October 30, 2011 | 9:20 AM

The final day of the 2011 regular season and the final Saturday of high school football…well, until the WPIAL championships that is. For coaches and fans, the conditions were rather frightful, but for all of those teen-age kids, the snow and the mud was very delightful. Here are the top performances from those five games that close the curtain on the regular season and prime the pump for the postseason.

Damon Smith – Freeport

On a snow covered field that would soon become a mud covered field in Herman, Freeport coaches had a simple game plan for this contest at Summit Academy…Damon Smith left and Damon Smith right. The mud covered junior running back carried the ball 38 times for 209 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 27-0 shutout of the Knights that gives the Yellowjackets a share of the Class AA Allegheny Conference championship and the number one slot as well.

Shai McKenzie – Washington

It has been a break out season for Washington as they had guaranteed themselves second place coming into the regular season finale at Burgettstown. They finished the regular season with a giant exclamation point as Shai McKenzie rushed for 180 yards and scored three touchdowns, all coming in the first half of what would be a 36-0 whitewash of the Blue Devils as the Little Prexies racked up their sixth consecutive victory.

Isiah Neely – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

It was a fitting finish to what has turned out to be a memorable season for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Even though they lost out on tiebreaker points to Northgate for the final playoff spot in the Class A Eastern Conference, this second year program ended the campaign Saturday night with a winning record thanks in large part to outstanding running back Isiah Neely, who gained 235 yards on 22 carries and scored five touchdowns in the Chargers 40-0 non-conference rout of the West Greene Pioneers.

De’andre Moon – Rochester

With all of the white stuff falling down throughout an overcast day, it was nearly impossible to see the sun, however there was plenty of Moon sightings in Hookstown Saturday afternoon. Running back De’Andre Moon rushed for 164 yards and scored four first half touchdowns on runs of 4, 14, 28 and 6 yards as Rochester finished off an 8-1 regular season by winning the Battle of the Rams in a 35-0 victory over South Side Beaver.

Rasheed Howard – Wilkinsburg

Not all of the games on this final weekend were played for conference championships, home field advantage in round one or for playoff berths. There were some games out there with nothing more at stake than some good old fashioned pride. That was the case Saturday at historic Graham Field where Rasheed Howard tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lamar Washington then scored later in the opening quarter on a 15-yard run for the games only two touchdowns as the Wilkinsburg Tigers knocked off the Leechburg Blue Devils 12-0 to end the season with back-to-back victories.

Tags: Freeport, Washington, Wilkinsburg