CTK ’14: WPIAL AAAA Northern Eight Conference Preview

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, August 11, 2014 | 4:27 PM

The WPIAL realigns football conferences every two years, but the league kept the Class AAAA Northern Eight Conference intact from the past two seasons.

But really, the Northern Eight is the northern seven plus the big one from the city.

The conference has seven teams from the northern suburbs, plus the team from the Oakland area of the city that wears the helmets with horns. Pittsburgh Central Catholic will once again be a major player in WPIAL Class AAAA after winning the title a year ago. The Vikings also won the conference title a year ago, but they might have a tougher challenge to finish first this season.

Seneca Valley has a number of players back from last season’s team that finished second in the conference. Pine-Richland is loaded with seniors and should have its best team since moving up to Class AAAA. North Allegheny isn’t as strong as a few years ago when it had a run of WPIAL and state championships, but they are still the North Allegheny Tigers, meaning they will be near the top of the conference. And North Hills expects to be more than competitive.

Fox Chapel, Butler and Shaler round out the conference. Butler and Shaler both have first-year coaches.

Here is a look at the Northern Eight Conference:

BUTLER GOLDEN TORNADO

A number of coaches have tried to get Butler’s program going over the past two decades and now Rob Densmore will take his shot. Densmore is Butler’s first-year coach after a number of years as Pine-Richland’s defensive coordinator. He takes over a program that has made the playoffs only once since the start of the 1999 season.

The Golden Tornado finished 1-8 last season and must improve in a number of areas. The team scored only 9 points a game and gave up 43 a contest. But there is some experience on this team as five starters return on offense and five on defense. Senior Robert Burdine rushed for 263 yards on 63 carries and also caught 15 passes. Lucas Dubyak carried the ball some as a fullback. Junior Tim Vernick could emerge as one of the team’s top players at running back and linebacker.

Quarterback Tom Jendesky, the team’s leading rusher, graduated. Other top players returning are lineman Derek Gengler, fullback-linebacker Jeremy Hanford, receiver-defensive back Reed Werth, receiver-defensive back Jared Hinkle, receiver-defensive back Kelly Kuharic and lineman Michael Snow.

PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC VIKINGS

The Vikings lost some key players to graduation. Then senior running back Riley Redman lost his case for an age waiver to play this year. Both the WPIAL and PIAA refused to give Redman a waiver to the rule, making him ineligible to play. Redman turned 19 in June. Under PIAA and WPIAL rules, an athlete can’t play as a senior if he turns 19 before July 1.

But no one is feeling sorry for Central Catholic because the cupboard certainly is not bare. There are talented, experienced players still on this team. Plus, Central Catholic seemingly never has a bad team. The Vikings have won 10 or more games eight of the past 11 seasons and never fewer than eight during that time. This team is expected to be among the best in Class AAAA again.

Central Catholic has always relied heavily on a running game, so developing a few top running backs could be key to the Vikings’ success. Redman can’t play and leading rusher Luigi Lista-Brinza has graduated. Could Grant Foster be the main running back now? He showed some promise last year when he ran for 338 yards on 67 carries.

Central Catholic always seems to have a few good linemen and one of the best this year is Eric MicAllister, who was first-team all-conference offensive line a year ago. Rich Ryan also is back on the lines.

Graham Adomitis returns at tight end. He was the team’s starting quarterback at the start of the 2012 season, but moved to tight end last year when J.J. Cosentino was firmly entrenched as a starter. Cosentino is now at Florida State, but Adomitis will stay at tight end and leave the QB job to someone else.

On defense, Central Catholic features one of the most heavily recruited defensive backs in the WPIAL. John Petrishen has a number of Division I college scholarship offers. Pitt and Wake Forest are two of his favorite schools. Joe Tindal also returns at defensive back.

Central Catholic also has one of the best kickers in Class AAAA in Mitch MacZura.

FOX CHAPEL FOXES

The Foxes have an experienced quarterback in 5-10 senior Billy Urso, who completed 129 of 260 for 1,651 yards and 16 touchdowns a year ago. But the Foxes will still have a hard time cracking the top five in this conference.

Carrington Vaughn is a good-sized running back who could have a nice season. Receiver Greg Yaksich caught 19 passes last season. But a number of other key players graduated. Although the offense did some good things last year, the Foxes have to improve defensively. They gave up an average of 34 points a game a year ago.

David Brown returns at linebacker and figures to be one of the anchors of the defense.

NORTH ALLEGHENY TIGERS

The Tigers were an inexperienced team last year, but still finished 7-4 and third in the conference.

A number of key players graduated again, but look for this team to be near the top of the conference again. Jeff Clemens returns at quarterback. He won the starting job last year after a preseason battle with Cage Galupi. Clemens eventually was hurt near the end of the year and Galupi came on to be the starter, but Clemens showed promise. He completed 66  of 115 for 1,164 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Clemens’ top receiver, Elijah Zeise, is now at Pitt. Some new receivers are expected to develop. But developing a running game will be key. The top two rushers graduated but Josh Bergman ran for 303 yards on 63 attempts.

Cole McHenry (6-3, 270) could turn out to be one of the top linemen in the conference.

The defense will be led by senior Layne Skundrich, a starter since his sophomore year who figures to be one of the top linebackers in Class AAAA. Clay Byerly returns at defensive back.

NORTH HILLS INDIANS

After finishing 5-5 last year and nearly knocking off Gateway in the first round of the playoffs, optimism reigns at North Hills as Pat Carey begins his second year as coach. The questions of what it’s like taking over for Jack McCurry should subside this year as Carey has a team with some key players returning, but also question marks in some areas.

North Hills has lacked an explosive running back the past few years and how much the Indians develop a running game could be key to their season. Senior Brandon Wagner showed some promise as a slotback last year, and sophomore Nick Santucci is one to watch.

The Indians will probably rely on quarterback Jake Bruder to chew up some rushing yards. He showed some promise as the starter last year until breaking his ankle early in the season. Kindhal Taylor moved from receiver to quarterback and played the rest of the season under center. But Bruder is back, and Taylor has moved back to receiver.

The Indians have a few good-sized linemen. Jake Buccigrossi (6-4, 260) has been on the varsity since his freshman year and could be a force now as a junior. Zach Sammartino (6-3, 250) also is back.

Alex Carmody returns at linebacker and Andrew Bly at defensive back.

PINE-RICHLAND RAMS

The Rams have never finished higher than fourth place since moving up to Class AAAA from AAA in the 2008 season. But this is the season Pine-Richland has been pointing toward to make some noise.

Whether the Rams are indeed good enough to challenge for a conference title remains to be seen, but if experience means anything, then this team has a ton of potential. Ten starters return on offense and eight on defense for coach Eric Kasperowicz.

Pine-Richland figures to have one of the best offenses in Class AAAA, led by quarterback Ben DiNucci and running back Connor Slomka. DiNucci already has committed to Penn and Slomka to Army. A year ago, DiNucci was one of the leading passers in the WPIAL, completing 167 of 233 for 2,131 yards and 15 touchdowns. Slomka was a workhorse, carrying 201 times for 1,144 yards.

DiNucci’s top three receives return. D’ondre Gaston caught 64 passes for 766 yards, Mike Merhaut 35 for 484 and Anthony Battaglia 25 for 332. Also Brendan Burnham ran for 307 yards on 43 attempts.

Senior John Kohley and junior Matt Hampson are two linemen worth watching. Other returning starters are receiver-linebacker Joe Lieberman, fullback-lineman Austin Goncz, lineman Jacob Good, lineman Ben Zoeller and tight end-linebacker Luke Everett.

SENECA VALLEY RAIDERS

The Raiders were inexperienced last year and it was thought they might be a little down. But they broke through and finally beat North Allegheny and finished second in the conference. Seneca Valley ended with a 9-2 record.

Seneca Valley is expecting big things again this season and one of the main reasons is T.J. Holl. He might not be receiving tons of Division I college interest, but he is one of the best players in the WPIAL. The son of coach Don Holl, T.J. had more than 2,500 yards offense last year. He completed 117 of 188 for 1,804 yards and also rushed for 723 yards on 168 carries.

He is one of a number of returnees for Seneca Valley. Another top player is 6-5, 285-pound lineman Tyler Hudanick, who has some Division I college scholarship offers.

The top three receivers return from last year. Eric Mrkonja caught 30 passes for 530 yards, Mason DeHart 22 for 191 and Brad Hensler 18 for 311. Holl led the team in rushing, but second-leading rusher DeHart (425 yards on 97 attempts) also is back.

Hensler, a linebacker, will be one of the defensive leaders.

SHALER TITANS

New coach Jon LeDonne knows about winning. He played at powerful Aliquippa and was a member of a WPIAL championship team in 2000. But now he takes over a team that is stuck in losing.

LeDonne is in his first season as Shaler’s coach, taking over for Chris Siegle, who left to become an assistant at Duquesne University. LeDonne inherits a team that didn’t win a game the past two seasons and has a 22-game losing streak.

Improvement is needed in every area. Shaler scored only 13 points a game last season while giving up 46.

But there is optimism any time a new coach takes over. The Titans do feature one of the best linebackers in the Northern Eight in senior Tim Nickel, who was first-team all-conference a year ago.

Also back are receiver Rob Reinheimer and lineman Benji Kane, who was honorable mention all conference a year ago as a sophomore.

MSA SPORTS PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH:

1.      Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings

2.      Seneca Valley Raiders

3.      Pine-Richland Rams

4.      North Allegheny Tigers

5.      North Hills Indians

6.      Fox Chapel Foxes

7.      Butler Golden Tornado

8.      Shaler Titans

Tags: Butler, Fox Chapel