A-K Valley high school notebook: 9 A-K Valley teams to play Week Zero game

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, August 23, 2018 | 6:21 PM

Friday marks the third iteration of Week Zero since the PIAA began allowing football teams to start playing an optional nonconference game instead of a second scrimmage in 2016.

Count Plum coach Matt Morgan as a believer in the benefits of playing instead of scrimmaging.

The Mustangs opted for a second scrimmage in 2016, then lost their Week 1 conference opener to a Kiski Area team that played a Week Zero game. Last season, Plum played a Week Zero game against Penn Hills, and despite a loss, Morgan thinks it better prepared his team for the conference opener against Kiski Area, which ended in a 9-6 victory.

“You get a lot of mistakes out of the way in that Week Zero game,” said Morgan, whose team hosts Highlands on Friday. “You don’t want to make those mistakes in Week Zero because you obviously want to win. Your ultimate goal is to win the ballgame. We’ve been preparing for this all summer long.”

Nine Alle-Kiski Valley teams will play in Week Zero. Burrell hosts Valley in the Battle of the Bypass rivalry, Leechburg visits Apollo-Ridge, Knoch travels to Hampton, Fox Chapel goes to Baldwin and Kiski Area hosts Allderdice.

Apollo-Ridge and Leechburg have played in Week Zero since its inception, while Burrell, Fox Chapel and Kiski Area also are playing this week for the third consecutive year.

Valley is making its Week Zero debut after scrimmaging Southmoreland the last two years. Highlands and Knoch also are making their first appearance.

With many teams playing their conference openers next week, Friday can become an important way to gauge player readiness.

“We’re trying to get better every game, every quarter, every minute,” Burrell coach Shawn Liotta said. “Every rep, we’re trying to get better. We’re trying to stress that to our kids. We’re trying to have constant and never-ending improvement here in this program, and this is another step in that direction.”

Making a state-ment

Valley picked a notable opponent for its first scrimmage: defending WPIAL and PIAA Class A champion Jeannette.

Vikings coach Muzzy Colosimo’s relationship with the Jayhawks dates back to his days as coach at Greensburg Central Catholic and the schools’ big rivalry. Many of those years those two teams battled for conference and WPIAL titles.

There wasn’t quite as much on the line in last week’s scrimmage, but Colosimo liked testing his team against the defending state champs.

“They still play like they’re state champs,” Colosimo said. “They don’t lighten up, they come at you all the time. I think it’s pretty good to play a team like them because they always have that confidence.”

Another scrimmage state-ment

Springdale won’t play a Week Zero game Friday after taking on Burrell each of the last two years, but the Dynamos still will provide themselves a test in their second scrimmage, hosting defending WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion Quaker Valley.

The Quakers made a surprise run to their first WPIAL title last season, upsetting powerhouse Aliquippa in the championship game.

Both Springdale and Quaker Valley suffered big graduation losses in the offseason, providing opportunity for experience Friday.

Deer Lakes will host former Allegheny Conference rival Shady Side Academy in its second scrimmage. The Indians are one of the favorites to win the WPIAL Class 2A title.

Other A-K Valley scrimmages include Freeport hosting Riverside and Riverview visiting Cornell.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski School, Knoch, Leechburg, Plum, Riverview, Springdale, Valley