Deer Lakes on verge of clinching playoff spot, but dangerous East Allegheny stands in the way

By: George Guido
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 | 5:12 PM

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After narrowly missing out on a WPIAL playoff spot last season, Deer Lakes is on the brink of securing a postseason berth this time around.

The Lancers (4-3, 2-0) have won three in a row and can clinch with a win over East Allegheny on Friday and a loss by either Valley or Knoch.

Deer Lakes, seeking its third WPIAL playoff trip in school history, will have its work cut out against an explosive Wildcats team.

East Allegheny (4-2, 1-1) kept Freeport close for the first half last Friday, but the Yellowjackets took over in the second half, wearing down the Wildcats front seven that was missing some key players because of injuries.

Meanwhile, the Lancers won a 7-2 decision at Valley. The Deer Lakes defense hasn’t yielded a touchdown in two of the last three games, blanking Southmoreland on Sept. 23 before outlasting Knoch, 36-35, on Sept. 30.

“Each game’s a surprise in terms of things that are positive,” Lancers coach Tim Burk said. “We beat a darn good team in Southmoreland, 9-0, then we’re in a shootout against Knoch before we go back to a grind. If we could put it all together, we’d have a lot of success. But it’s just tweaking things and finding what fits for the week.”

Gameplanning against an explosive team like East Allegheny isn’t easy. Take Michael Cahill. The Wildcats junior quarterback passed for 104 yards against Freeport, ran for 82 yards, boomed several punts and recovered a Yellowjackets fumble.

Don’t forget his touchdown reception from freshman Prince Tarrant when he lined up as a receiver.

Junior receiver Steve Yusko caught six passes for 70 yards.

“A lot of sleepless nights this week,” Burk said of game prep. “They are dynamic. They have a lot of weapons. We understand that having the opportunity after beating them there last year and them losing to Freeport last week. I’m sure they’re rallying the troops there and we need to weather that storm.”

Burk credits his defensive coordinator, Brian Palmieri, a member of the first Deer Lakes playoff team from 2010 and Valley News Dispatch Player of the Year that season, for the success of the defense.

Said Burk: “I promoted Brian to defensive coordinator two years ago, and he’s been phenomenal. We also brought on Rob Kelly, defensive coordinator at Springdale last year, and Patrick Jones, the 2010 quarterback, is our defensive backs coach, and my brother-in-law, Jeff Rommes, who played here and at Robert Morris, has been putting the work on defense.”

One of the players making his mark this season is sophomore linebacker Sam Guthrie.

“Our defensive coordinator preaches every person on the field getting to the ball,” Guthrie said. “Everyone on the field, 11 hats to the ball. We really try to limit big plays.”

Burk’s son Derek, a junior, is again among the WPIAL passing leaders with 1,047 yards on 62 completions. He also has 295 rushing yards.

Series history

East Allegheny holds a 6-4 lead in the all-time series against Deer Lakes.

1986: East Allegheny 7, Deer Lakes 0

1987: East Allegheny 20, Deer Lakes 10

1988: Deer Lakes 20, East Allegheny 0

1989: East Allegheny 7, Deer Lakes 0

1998: East Allegheny 40, Deer Lakes 0

1999: Deer Lakes 20, East Allegheny 10

2012: Deer Lakes 23, East Allegheny 22

2013: East Allegheny 35, Deer Lakes 6

2020: East Allegheny 35, Deer Lakes 0

2021: Deer Lakes 9, East Allegheny 7

Tags: Deer Lakes, East Allegheny