Big Game Hunting – Week Eleven

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 9, 2017 | 4:27 AM

Rematch week begins as we hit the semifinals in the four largest classifications in the WPIAL football playoffs. Of the eight semifinal matchups in classes 3-A through 6-A, seven of them are rematches of games played earlier in the season. Three are rematches from week nine, while two are rematches from week eight. It will be like déjà vu all over again. Meanwhile, it’s the quarterfinals in the two smallest classifications, as we continue on the Highway to Heinz and the Road to Robert Morris. It’s time to go week 11 Big Game Hunting!

Class 6-A Semifinals:
#6 Penn Hills Indians (8-3) vs #2 Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings (9-2) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at Fox Chapel High School; broadcast on the TribLiveHSSN by Sean Meyers and Johnny Lee

The Indians pulled off a mild upset in the quarters, getting by Bethel Park 30-28, with Hollis Mathis tossing for 229 yards and three touchdowns. Central almost was upset, hanging on to defeat a game Peters Township club 27-20 in the opening round. Central shut out Penn Hills in week nine 21-0, but Penn Hills played that game without their leading receiver, Dante Cephas, who is expected to play Friday.

Penn Hills has had an impressive aerial attack all season behind Mathis, who has completed 135 of 229 passes for 2,328 yards and 26 touchdowns, while throwing just seven interceptions. Mathis can also pull it down and go, as he has rushed for 337 yards and three touchdowns.

Mathis has a pair of remarkable receivers on the outside in Dante Cephas (35 catches, 766 yards and 15 touchdowns) and Daequan Hardy (35 catches for 769 yards and ten scores). Darrell Mason also has 19 catches for 313 yards on the season.

On the ground for the Indians, it is the Tank and Tim Smith show. Tank leads all Penn Hills’ rushers with 120 carries, 629 yards and eight scores. Tim has 88 carries for 414 yards and a score.

Central’s offensive numbers are not overwhelming. During the regular season, the Vikings averaged just over 30 points per game, and did not have a 1000-yard rusher, passer or receiver. That’s fine with Vikings fans, because they love their defense. If you take out their lone conference loss to Pine-Richland, the Vikes’ defense allowed just over eight points per game in conference play in 2017.

During the regular season, Troy Fisher threw for nearly 900 yards for Central Catholic, to go along with 14 touchdowns and 77 completions, while throwing only two interceptions.

Cam Laconi and Khalil Weathers were the top targets for Fisher, combining to catch 35 passes, but Gavin Thomson and Corey Thomas each averaged nearly 20 yards per catch on the year, as well.

On the ground, Khalil Weathers was the leading rusher for the Vikings in the 2017 campaign, rushing for 18 scores and nearly 500 yards. Weathers, though, is not expected to play on Friday.

Class 5-A Semifinals:
#4 Upper Saint Clair Panthers (8-3)  vs #1 Penn-Trafford Warriors (10-1) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at Titan Stadium on the campus of West Mifflin High School; broadcast on WHJB FM 107.1 and the TribLiveHSSN by Mike Zappone and Jimmy Lee Santorella

The only one of the eight semifinals in the largest three classes that is not a rematch will feature one of the top offenses in the WPIAL for Penn-Trafford, and one of the top defenses in the WPIAL in Upper Saint Clair.

The Panthers won a defensive shootout with Franklin-Regional in the opening round, 6-3, while Penn-Trafford got everything it wanted from Fox Chapel, escaping with a 28-21 win in the opening-round contest.

Warrior quarterback Cam Laffoon has completed 82 of 159 passes for 1,317 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. Laffoon has also rushed for 645 yards and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Dimitri George and Cam Suman each have reached the 20-catch plateau on the season, for a combined 732 yards and five touchdowns.

On the ground, the Warriors will rely heavily on John Gay, who has 141 carries for 1,171 yards and a team-high 17 touchdowns on the year.

The Panthers have thrown the ball a little more this season than USC fans are normally used to. Senior quarterback Jack Hansberry completed 91 of 173 passes during the regular season for 1,376 yards and nine scores. Hansberry has also added 526 yards and 10 scores on the ground.

Don Cepullio and Chris Pantellis have combined to catch 47 passes for 763 yards and nine touchdowns to lead the receiving corps for USC.

Colin McLinden is the bell-cow for the Panthers in the ground game. McLinden has carried 154 times for 760 through week nine, scoring 12 touchdowns to lead all USC players.

Class 4-A Semifinals:
#4 Montour Spartans (8-2) vs #1 South Fayette Lions (11-0) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at West Allegheny High School; broadcast on the TribLiveHSSN by Sam Hall and Steve Nagler

South Fayette defeated Montour in week nine at Montour, 49-21, and it was pretty convincing. Montour, though, showed signs of having the ability to do the thing any team is going to have to do the knock off the Lions; You must run the football and not get behind. Montour had long, time-consuming drives in its first possessions of each half that led to scores, but in between, left out the part about not falling behind. The Spartans will get another crack at the Lions Friday night. South Fayette, coming off of completing its sixth-straight unbeaten regular season, blanked West Mifflin in the quarterfinals, 35-0. Montour rallied from trailing New Castle 28-7 late in the third quarter to defeat the Red Hurricane, 35-31.

Sparty has gotten an amazing season from Kavon Morman at quarterback. Morman has completed 81 of 121 passes for 1,437 yards and 15 scores, while tossing just a pair of interceptions. He is also the second-leading rusher for Montour, with 550 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Brandon Lipford is a huge playmaker for Sparty; he is their leading receiver with 22 catches for 501 yards, and a threat to burn you from anywhere on the field if he gets his hands on the ball. He has scored eight touchdowns on the season, and is a key in the Montour special teams return game.

Brayden Jones has been dinged up a little, but playing through the injuries, Jones is the leading rusher for Montour with 661 yards and six scores on 114 carries.

The Lions’ Drew Saxton is third in the entire WPIAL in passing yards with 2,462 yards, and he is second in touchdown passes, with 31 of his 139 completions going for scores.

Noah Plack, Rayquin Glover, and Mike Trimbur each have more than 20 catches for more than 400 yards receiving, with Plack leading the way with 42 catches for 778 yards; he has scored 10 touchdowns.

On the ground, the Lions mostly lean on Johnny Beck, who has 887 yards rushing and has scored a team-high 18 touchdowns and is also a threat in the passing game out of the backfield. Andrew Franklin scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in their quarterfinal win.

Class 3-A Semifinals:
# 3 Seton LaSalle Rebels (9-1) vs # 2 Quaker Valley Quakers (10-1) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at Martorelli Stadium in Westview; broadcast on the TribLiveHSSN by Rob Matzie and Donny Chedrick

Seton won its first rematch of the postseason last week, knocking off Freeport for a second time in the 2017 campaign, this time by the score of 35-18. The Quakers put 51 points up in a rout of Derry in their opening round match up. In week eight, Quaker Valley throttled the Rebels 42-7. The Quakers held Lionel Deanes to 22 yards on 17 carries, by far his lowest output of the year. If the Quakers can do that again, they are likely headed to Heinz Field. This game features the leading rusher in 3 A  in Deanes, and the leading passer in 3 A in Quaker Valley quarterback Ricky Guss. Deanes is second in the WPIAL in scoring with 162 points, Guss is third with 154.

The Rebels’ Lionel Deanes doesn’t lead just 3 A, he leads the entire WPIAL in rushing, with 2,058 yards on 276 carries. Also, he has scored 27 touchdowns, and has added 231 yards receiving.

Seton doesn’t exclusively give the ball to Deanes, though. Quarterback Matt Banbury has had a very good season throwing the ball, completing 100 of 177 passes for 1,145 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Nick Vari is the top receiver for the Rebels with 32 catches for 276 yards and four scores.

Seton will need to get Deanes going and step up defensively in trying to control Guss and the Quakers. Guss only completed eight passes against Seton in that week eight win, but he totaled 212 yards and three touchdowns in those eight completions.

Guss, for the regular season, proved to be a prototypical dual-threat quarterback. To that point, he completed 96 of 185 passes for 1,630 yards and led the Quakers in rushing and touchdowns with 785 yards and 24 scores.

Isaiah McNair is Guss’ favorite target, catching 37 passes for 676 yards; he scored 13 times through week nine.

J.T. Taylor will get some work in the rush game for Quaker Valley. He had 96 carries for 616 and 11 touchdowns rushing during the regular season.

Class 2-A Quarterfinals:
# 12 Avonworth Antelopes (4-5) vs # 4 Riverside Panthers (8-2) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at Seneca Valley High School; broadcast on the TribLiveHSSN by Sean Saputo and Kevin Zielmanski    

The ‘Lopes pulled off the upset in the opening round, taking advantage of five Cougar first-half turnovers and knocking off the five seed Charleroi, 21 – 12. With that, the Antelopes became the ‘Cinderella story’ of these 2017 playoffs so far. Riverside thumped the 13 seed Frazier, 34-0, as LeMarcus Cleckley rushed for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

If Cinderella is to continue to dance, ‘Lopes quarterback Derek Johncour will need to continue his splendid season. Johncour has completed 154 of 268 passes for 1,795 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Turner Grau (55 catches, 874 yards, nine scores) and Brennan Neidhart (40 catches for 353 yards) are the go-to receivers for Johncour.

When the ‘Lopes hit the ground, look for J.J. Igams to be their main man, Igams has carried 139 times for 513 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Panthers have good balance on the offensive side of the ball. Ben Hughes has hooked up on 64 of 114 passes for 1,418 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Austin Dambach is their leading receiver with 26 catches for 647 yards. He has also rushed for 243 yards and has scored a combined 15 touchdowns on the year.

On the ground, Riverside features a dynamic duo. Noah Harris has 152 carries for 856 yards and 12 scores, while LeMarcus Cleckley has 110 carries for 849 yards and eight scores.

Class 1-A Quarterfinals:
# 5 OLSH Chargers (9-2) vs # 4 Imani Christian Saints (9-2) Friday, November 10^th @ 7:30 PM at Chartiers-Houston High School; broadcast on the OLSH Sports Network AND on the TribLiveHSSN by Rob McKinney and Greg Kuntz

The Chargers rolled Springdale in the first round, 52-26, and Imani throttled Sto-Rox, 52-0. The offensive statistics in this game seem to indicate this might set up to be a big-time shootout.

Tyler Bradley for OLSH is the second-leading passer in the entire WPIAL, having completed 171 of 243 passes for 2,526 yards and 30 touchdowns; he has only thrown five interceptions.

Richard Banks and Andrew Schnarre have had huge receiving years for Our Lady of Sacred Heart. Schnarre has caught 47 passes for 836 yards and eight scores. Banks, meanwhile, has 49 catches for 740 yards, and is also the leading rusher for OLSH with 1,061 yards on 143 carries, scoring a total of 21 touchdowns.

Jack Graff has also had a big season rushing the football for OLSH, with 131 carries for 843 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Imani’s numbers are eye-popping, as well. Tawan Wesley has hooked up on 142 of 238 passes for 2,336 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Sam Fairly has 52 catches for 1,013 yards, and has scored 20 touchdowns on the year. Rahmon Hart has 46 catches for 737 yards and nine touchdowns.

For the Saints on the ground, Asante Watkins gets the bulk of the work, with 114 carries for 1,021 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Tags: Avonworth, Imani Christian, Upper St. Clair