Deer Lakes, Southmoreland each chasing 1st WPIAL playoff victory
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Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | 5:52 PM
Deer Lakes’ Wayne Love pulls in a long pass past Freeport’s Madden Wisniewski to set up a second-quarter touchdown Friday, at Deer Lakes High School.
Freeport’s Brady Sullivan keeps Deer Lakes’ Ryan Cochran out of the end zone in the first quarter Friday, at Deer Lakes High School.
Deer Lakes’ Zach Grant avoids Freeport’s Cyprian Selinger in the first quarter Friday, at Deer Lakes High School.
Deer Lakes’ Zier Williams celebrates with Ryan Cochran after Cochran’s 62-yard touchdown against Freeport in the second quarter Friday, at Deer Lakes High School.
Southmoreland’s Ty Keffer runs as Elizabeth Forward’s Charlie Nigut (1) defends Sept. 29.
Southmoreland’s Da’sjon Craggette outruns Elizabeth Forward’s Charlie Nigut for a touchdown Sept. 29.
When Deer Lakes and Southmoreland met for a nonconference game in Week 4 at Southmoreland, the Lancers came away with a 24-7 victory, scoring 17 second-half points to break open a game that was tied at halftime.
The teams will do battle again Friday, this time in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round contest at Deer Lakes. The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds seek their first-ever playoff victories, and Lancers coach Tim Burk said he expects another physical battle that could go down to the wire.
“It is a challenge to beat a team twice in one season,” said Burk, who saw his team clinch a spot in the playoffs last Friday with a dominant 35-0 home victory over rival Freeport.
“Obviously, everyone is going to go back and look at the film of the first game and tweak some things and make adjustments because I know that is what we are doing in terms of offensive and defensive schemes. You have to find ways to be different at this point.
“Southmoreland definitely does pose a challenge the second time around, for sure. They are a good football team, and that is the case with everyone we could face from here on out. Our sole focus is on these guys and what they are able to do. We’ve been preaching to our kids that nothing is easy.”
Southmoreland (6-4) won three of four to end the regular season and finish 3-2 in the Interstate Conference. The only loss in that stretch was to No. 1 Belle Vernon.
The Scotties bounced back from the loss to the Leopards with a 40-3 rout of Mt. Pleasant last Friday behind a big game from senior Da’sjon Craggette.
He carried20 times for 335 yards, a single-game school record, and four touchdowns.
Quarterback Kadin Keefer added a touchdown pass to Ty Keffer, and Jake Kaylor booted a pair of field goals.
“I thought we played well in all phases of the game,” second-year Southmoreland coach Tim Bukowski said.
“Offense, defense and special teams, we were solid. We expected a lot closer game, but we took it to them and really got the run game going. If you can do that, usually good things happen.”
Bukowski said his players hope to ride the momentum from that game into Friday’s contest.
“The kids are excited to get the playoffs started,” he said. “They know what is in front of them. They want that first playoff win just like Deer Lakes does. They also want redemption from the first game. But Deer Lakes is also the team in our way of our first playoff victory and moving on to the quarterfinals.
“The one thing I cautioned the guys about what that we can’t let Mt. Pleasant be our Super Bowl. We have to stay focused this week. When you have an 8-9 matchup, it’s going to come down to a couple of key plays and who wants it more.”
During the first matchup Sept. 23, Craggette was limited to 32 yards on 14 carries. He scored the Scotties’ lone touchdown. Keefer threw for 119 yards but was picked off by junior Zach Grant and senior Aiden Fletcher.
“We definitely changed from the first game,” Bukowski said.
“We’ve grown up a lot with young guys gaining good experience and have gotten better in a number of areas. There were no excuses. Deer Lakes outplayed us, especially in the second half. We’ve also gotten a few guys back who were injured the first time. We were missing a defensive lineman (Jarrell Braxton) and a linebacker (Stanley Chapman), and that helped them establish the run on us, and they did a great job with that. We need to make sure we can stop (junior Zier) Williams, but they are so diverse with the run and the pass. They are so balanced. They have so many weapons they can beat you with.”
Williams had a big day against Southmoreland with 199 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries.
Senior Derek Burk threw for 226 yards and a touchdown to senior Ryan Cochran, but he also was intercepted twice.
Burk tallied 200 yards and three touchdowns in Friday’s win over Freeport. He now is the Alle-Kiski Valley’s all-time leader in single-season passing yards with 5,122 and counting.
The win over the Yellowjackets put Deer Lakes in sole possession of third place in the Allegheny 6 Conference at 3-2 behind East Allegheny (5-0) and Knoch (4-1).
“The kids have definitely embraced the chance to play one more home game,” Coach Burk said.
“We are very grateful that the WPIAL awarded us that. We’ve only had one other home playoff game in school history. I talked with Derek about it, and we joked about it because he was only 5 at the time (2010). He has little to no memory of it. So this is special for him and all the guys. I expect our community to be electric just as it has been so far. That is what you want.”
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.
Tags: Deer Lakes, Southmoreland
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