Controlling tempo key for Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park in Allegheny 6 opener

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, September 11, 2020 | 7:30 AM

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Mike Junko doesn’t make his team run gassers, suicide sprints or whatever other name the exhausting workouts are called.

He prefers to wear out opponents.

With the second-year coach calling plays, Upper St. Clair’s offense has maybe the quickest no-huddle tempo in the WPIAL. So, rather than run sprints all day in the summer heat, the Panthers just practice how they play.

When one play ends, they line up quickly and snap the football again.

“Running gassers is not fun,” Junko said. “Playing football is fun. So, if you can get your conditioning playing football, that’s better for your body. It’s used to the rhythm of playing football.”

That quick tempo will be on display Friday when Upper St. Clair hosts Allegheny 6 rival Bethel Park at 7 p.m. The rapid-fire approach will test USC’s own fitness after a shortened offseason that didn’t start until June.

But more importantly for the Panthers, they hope Bethel Park and every other opponent isn’t prepared to run with Ethan Dahlem, David Pantelis and the rest of the roster. Dahlem, a 2,200-yard passer, and Pantelis, a 1,100-yard receiver, are one of the WPIAL’s top quarterback-wideout combinations.

“The biggest thing for St. Clair is getting ready for their tempo,” Bethel Park coach Brian DeLallo said. “They go so fast. Last year they were kind of like the Pantelis and Ethan Dahlem show. This year their supporting cast is a lot better. I know that Mike is really going to make an effort to make us really defend the entire field.”

Drawing USC in Week 1 isn’t ideal, DeLallo said. The Black Hawks defeated USC in Week 9 the last two seasons while playing in the chill of October. By that time in the year, opponents have played themselves into better shape.

“When you talk to people who play them early in the season, they tell you they wear you out,” DeLallo said. “By the end of the game, you’re on the ropes because you’re out of gas.”

Bethel Park wants to avoid that outcome by disrupting USC’s tempo. The Black Hawks return one starter from last year’s team that went 7-4 and defeated USC, 14-13. Linebacker Gavin Moul is back for his sophomore season as one of eight 10th graders starting on defense.

Trying too hard to prepare them for USC’s tempo can be a mistake, DeLallo said.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” he said. “You want to go fast at practice but you also don’t want to wear your kids out through the week because every practice is like a track practice. They’re running all over the place.”

DeLallo and his assistants tried to find a happy medium this week as temperatures reached the 90s.

“We didn’t want to wear out our legs too much,” he said, “so you walk a fine between preparing for the tempo and making sure that your kids aren’t so fatigued and have dead legs on Friday night.”

Junko has run an up-tempo offense since his days as Mt. Lebanon’s offensive coordinator. His strategy received a boost last season when high school football changed its play clock rules. The switch encouraged officials to spot the ball quicker.

“We used to have to wait for the referee to ‘chop’ it in,” Junko said. “We used to yell and scream at these poor officials to chop it in. With the new 40-second play clock rule, we no longer had to wait for that official. Credit to a lot of the officials in the WPIAL because they got much more efficient in getting the ball set.

“Last year, it was my assistants and my players yelling at me to get a call in faster.”

Upper St. Clair went 7-5 last season and reached the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals. It’s only Week 1, but this game already carries playoff implications.

The WPIAL is planning to use only an eight- or four-team playoff bracket in Class 5A. A team could fall out of the postseason race quickly, especially in a deep conference like the Allegheny 6.

“All week we’ve tried to stress to our kids that this is a conference game,” Junko said. “It carries a lot of weight for our program. We haven’t enjoyed a victory over Bethel Park for a number of years over here, so our kids are very aware of the weight of the game.”

Bethel Park enters Friday night with two quarterbacks, Max Blanc and Jason Nuttridge. Both will see snaps against USC. Blanc is a 6-foot-5 junior with a big arm. Nuttridge is a 5-11 sophomore who runs well. They’ll be asked to keep USC’s offense on the sideline.

“One thing most teams do to us is they’ll run the 40-second clock down to almost zero when they’re on offense,” Junko said. “The idea, of course, is we’re going to keep your offense off the field and not let you wear us out. As good of an ally that 40-second clock is to us, they’ll use it as a weapon when they’re on offense.”

Check out a live video stream of Friday night’s game on Trib HSSN.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair