WPIAL Friday Night Highlights – Week One 2017

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 2, 2017 | 2:46 PM

The calendar may have said September 1st, but it felt more like October weather wise. On opening night of the regular season, there are usually major concerns of heat exhaustion and muscle cramps on high school football sidelines, but there was a chill in the air on the first night of conference play. No matter if short sleeves or breaking out the long sleeves was the pre-game decision for all the players, these athletes made the most of the curtain rising on the regular season by putting up postseason like numbers.

Phil Jurkovec – Pine-Richland

The only reason the Phil Jurkovec missed the MSA Sports SpotLight on Friday or the Starz on Saturday in Week Zero is because he was preaching his sermon on Sunday. But now that he and his Pine-Richland teammates were back to weaving their magic on Friday night, we tip our cap to the Notre Dame recruit fopr his 23 of 32 passing for 439 yards and three touchdown passes to go with four scoring runs as the Rams rolled past the Mount Lebanon Blue Devils in a wild 6-A non-conference tilt 53-29.

Seth Morgan to Aidan Cain – Mount Lebanon

We usually save the spotlight for those who led their teams to victories on Friday night, but there are always exceptions…although in this case it would be a pair of exceptions. Mount Lebanon quarterback Seth Morgan completed of 38 passes for 414 yards with Aidan Cain setting a record with TWENTY THREE receptions for 306 yards with two going for touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Devils fell to the top-ranked Pine-Richland Rams 53-29.

Dawson Porter – Armstrong

Last season, Armstrong High School football fans were all a part of Zane’s World featuring record setting running back Zane Dudek. Early in 2017, those same fans are caught up following ‘Dawson’s Peak’. Quarterback Dawson Porter hit on 14 of 24 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, plus he rushed for 216 yards to lead the River Hawks to a 28-21 Class 5-A non-conference victory over the visiting Moon Tigers.

Drew Saxton – South Fayette

The new Road Warriors of the WPIAL are 2-0 with victories over perennial football powers Central Valley and Mars. South Fayette took the green machine on the road and behind quarterback Drew Sexton, who connected on 20 of 29 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown as the Lions used a big third quarter to pull away from the Fightin’ Planets in a Class 4-A Northwest Nine Conference opener by the score of 30-6.

Nick Welsh – Washington

After beating Monessen in a Week Zero contest, Charleroi was feeling good heading into the throne of the reigning Class 2-A Century Conference champions Washington in their conference opener. Sure, while the game was only 7-0 Wash High at the half, hopes and dreams of a Week One stunner faded into reality each time Nick Welsh toted the ball for Wash High as he gained 309 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 8 and 80 yards as the Little Prexies prevailed over the upstart Cougars to the tune of 36-8.

Thomas Botkin – South Side Beaver

South Side Beaver earned a postseason berth last season by winning the Class 2-A wild card. There were plenty of questions about this years team after graduation claimed several key pieces on both sides of the ball. But SSB has found a blue print for success…give the ball to Thomas Botkin and win 28-21. For the second week in a row, the Rams claimed a 28-21 victory thanks to Botkin’s bullish ways with the football as he pounded out 210 yards and scored twice as the Rams beat the host New Brighton Lions in a 2-A Midwestern Athletic Conference opener.

Tamaine Underwood – East Allegheny

Tamaine Underwood started hot and that was nothing but good news for East Allegheny. The EA quarterback was 22 of 39 passing for 278 yards and fired three first half touchdowns as the visiting Wildcats jumped out to a 22-0 lead at halftime, only to have to battle in the second half before pulling away to a 36-14 victory over the South Allegheny Gladiators in a Class 2-A Three Rivers Conference opener at Glassport Stadium.

Dylan Rush – Mapletown

Perhaps he helped open up the concession stand, make the first batch of popcorn, help shine up the instruments for the band and trim the grass at the stadium before Dylan Rush did it all for Mapletown. Rush lived up to his name by running for 318 yards and scoring all six of his teams touchdowns on runs of 5, 32, 19, 12, 69 and 43 yards as the Maples improved to 1-1 with a Class 1-A non-conference 42-14 victory over the visiting Cornell Raiders.

Ben Jackson – West Greene

The world famous clock Big Ben is located in London and keeps perfect time. Another Big Ben was having a perfect time running roughshod over Avella in a Class 1-A Tri-COunty South COnference opener. West Greene running back Ben Jackson rushed for 217 yards and scored on runs of 64, 10 and 58 yards, plus he got the ball rolling on a big night as the clock struck 7:00pm by returning the games opening kick 82 yards for a score as the host Pioneers crushed the Eagles 53-7.

 Scott Landis – Springdale

The ultimate goal in card game of blackjack is to hit 21. Springdale scored 21 points in each half and the player dealing the winning cards turned out to be Scott Landis. Landis rushed for 201 yards and scored on a pair of touchdown runs of 2 and 10 yards and the host Dynamos evened their overall record at 1-1 while dropping the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets to 1-1 with a 42-20 triumph in a Class 1-A non-conference tune-up.

Tags: Armstrong, East Allegheny, Washington, West Greene