A-K Valley high school football notebook: Apollo-Ridge firmly in Allegheny Conference playoff race

By: Michael Love
Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 7:44 PM

Purchase Photo Options

With five WPIAL playoff spots available in the Class 2A Allegheny Conference, there still are things to be decided.

And Friday’s regular-season finale between Burrell and Apollo-Ridge at Burrell’s Buccaneer Stadium is a big final piece to the postseason puzzle.

Steel Valley (6-0), Serra Catholic (5-1) and Ligonier Valley (4-2) entered Week 8 already in the Class 2A playoff field. Burrell (6-3, 3-3) joined that trio with its 30-8 victory over Derry and now owns enough tiebreakers should they come into play.

Apollo-Ridge (5-4, 3-3) rose to the occasion Friday, winning its second in a row with a 43-36 upset of Serra Catholic.

The Vikings can join the playoff party with a win over Burrell or even with a loss if Imani Christian loses (2-4) to Yough.

“We know Apollo-Ridge is going to come in and play very hard with what they have on the line,” said Burrell coach Shawn Liotta, who saw Devin Beattie rush for 164 yards in the victory over the Trojans. “Our kids are going to play hard because we’re playing for a higher seed. We also want to finish flipping our record around. We were 3-7 last year, and we want to be 7-3 this year.”

The Vikings got a huge game from their leading rusher, as senior Nick Curci returned to the lineup and carried the ball a whopping 51 times for 338 yards and five touchdowns.

He now has 1,286 yards and 18 touchdowns on 185 carries through eight games.

Senior Jake Mull caught three passes for 95 yards and a touchdown. He has caught seven TDs this season.

“The kids came out and played really hard, were focused on what we needed to get done, and they executed, top to bottom,” Apollo-Ridge coach John Skiba said.

“Offensively, we kept things real simple. We ran the ball and made Serra try to stop it. Obviously, it worked out for us. Nick ran so hard, and the offensive line did a heck of a job.”

That winning feeling

After eight weeks of pushing to get into the win column to no avail, it all came together Friday for Kiski Area.

The Cavaliers responded on both sides of the ball and on special teams to produce a 50-13 victory over Fox Chapel on senior night at Richard Dilts Stadium.

“Unbelievable,” Kiski Area coach Sam Albert said. “I was so proud and happy for the guys. They have continued to work with such great attitudes. It was great to see them experience the feeling of winning, especially on senior night.

“And our student section, too, has stayed positive all year. They’ve been at every game cheering. The cheerleaders, the band, everyone has really supported this team. It means so much.”

Senior Dom Dininno returned to the lineup and had a monster game. He caught 12 passes from sophomore Carson Heinle for 163 yards and four touchdowns.

He also intercepted two passes, taking one of them back for a score, and forced a fumble.

Heinle finished 19 of 23 for 219 yards and the four TD tosses. At one point in the game, he recorded 12 straight completions. He also carried the ball five times for 49 yards and a score.

Complementing the passing game was senior tailback Connor Flemm, who collected 93 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.

Kiski Area wraps up its season Friday against one-loss Armstrong, a 56-35 winner Friday over previously undefeated Highlands.

Dominant clinching

Freeport had a two-fold goal coming into Friday’s Allegheny 6 Conference clash at Valley.

A win would give the Yellowjackets at least a share of the conference title. It also would secure a home playoff game in the WPIAL Class 3A tournament.

Both were achieved in a big way as Freeport put up 62 points in a 62-19 victory that lifted it to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference.

The Yellowjackets, who have rolled to five straight wins since their only loss, a 49-7 setback to Class 4A Armstrong on Sept. 16, put up 60-plus for the second game this season.

Freeport raised its season scoring average to a conference-best 34.2 through nine games.

Senior Ben Lane ran for three touchdowns and threw another, and Gavin Croney, Brady Stivenson and Parker Lucas recorded TD receptions. Lane now has 15 rushing TDs on the season.

Cyp Sellinger picked off a pass and returned it 27 yards for a score.

Freeport can wrap up the outright conference crown next week at home against Deer Lakes.

Passing fancy

A pair of sophomore quarterbacks lit up the stat sheet Friday in Class A nonconference showdown.

Shenango’s Sam Patton and Leechburg’s Jayden Floyd threw for more than 300 yards. Floyd was 15 of 19 for 305 yards, and Patton was 13 of 19 for 301 yards.

Floyd got the better of Patton on the scoreboard with four touchdown passes: two to Tyler Foley and one each to Braylan Lovelace and Logan Kline. Leechburg came away with a 42-35 road victory.

Patton threw a touchdown pass and ran for another.

Lovelace completed an offensive trifecta, also running for a touchdown and throwing another to Foley.

Leechburg (6-2, 4-1), which has won four in a row since falling to Clairton on Sept. 23, caps the regular season Friday at Eastern Conference leader Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2, 5-0). The Blue Devils can clinch a share of the conference title with a win.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.