Hempfield ends nonconference schedule unbeaten with rout of Kiski Area

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, September 5, 2025 | 10:46 PM

From the start, Hempfield took control. Kiski Area had no chance.

Indeed, the Spartans rolled to a 43-10 victory Friday night at home.

Deron Hunter returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, Dominic Detruf threw four touchdown passes — two to Jack Kopas — and Class 6A No. 3 Hempfield (3-0) remained unbeaten.

The Spartans open Class 6A Conference play with momentum Friday at No. 2 North Allegheny (3-0), a 35-0 winner over Penn Hills.

“I’m just very proud of our effort,” Hempfield coach Nick Keefer said. “We played four good quarters. Our emphasis was playing fast and staying fast. We wanted to keep our foot on the gas.”

The Spartans were running on high octane.

“Yeah, they’re pretty good,” Kiski Area coach Colyn Haugh said.

“But any game is tough. No game is a layup, and we don’t think it’s going to be a layup.”

Class 5A Kiski Area (1-2) lost its second game in a row to a Class 6A opponent — the Cavaliers fell to Norwin a week ago — and will prepare for their Big East Conference opener Friday at Gateway.

“We’ve got to practice the right way,” Haugh said. “We’ve got to do a better job of practicing right and taking those learning periods seriously. We can’t allow ourselves to zone out and not pay attention to what the coaching points are. Our practice habits have got to be better. That’s our biggest challenge. We have a young team for the most part, and that’s going to be a maturity thing.”

Hunter fumbled the opening kickoff several times before securing the ball and getting his footing. He then raced through the middle of the field and all the way to the end zone to give Hempfield a 7-0 lead.

“It got us all pumped. It got me pumped, for sure,” said Hunter, a sophomore.

The Spartans quickly regained possession when Sawyer Leuthold recovered a Kiski Area fumble on the subsequent kickoff, but the Cavaliers defense held.

Several minutes later, Hempfield added a safety when Kiski Area quarterback Landyn Artman tried to outrace the Spartans defense but was downed in the end zone, upping the Spartans’ lead to 9-0.

“A heck of an effort by our defense,” Keefer said. “We caused some turnovers, and I thought we were all locked in.”

Hempfield made it 16-0 on Aiden Stinebiser’s 2-yard plunge and ended the first quarter ahead 23-0 on Troy Sebring’s 33-yard touchdown reception from Detruf on the final play.

Kiski Area finally got on the board in the second quarter on Andrew Finney’s 25-yard field goal.

Hempfield continued its onslaught, scoring twice in the second quarter on a pair of Detruf touchdown passes: 16 yards to Andrew Jones and 2 yards to Kopas, again on the final play of the quarter, to take a 36-3 lead.

Detruf misfired on a 2-point conversion attempt before halftime in an attempt to go ahead by 35 points and trigger a running clock to start the second half.

“I was taking some flack a little bit for that,” Detruf said, referring to his teammates’ reaction heading into halftime. “That’s something that I’ll remember.”

Detruf finished 14 for 17 for 214 yards, and Artman ended 15 for 26 for 219 yards for Kiski Area.

Keefer praised Detruf for his continual leadership. It was no different in Hempfield’s latest test.

“He’s wise above his years,” Keefer said. “He’s cool, calm and collected at all times. He’s actually involved in the game plan.

“We’ll watch film. We talk and we text each other to see what we like. We’re very blessed to have Dom Detruf leading us, and I think all the kids look up to him.”

Hempfield sent the scoreboard into a running-clock mode when Detruf hit Kopas in the third quarter with a 41-yard touchdown pass, the Spartans’ only second-half score.

On the next possession, Artman fired a 77-yard scoring strike to Aven Shirley for the game’s final score.

“We didn’t quit. That’s the group we have,” Haugh said. “Now, the next seven weeks are conference games. We’ve got to approach it with a different mentality: that it’s a conference game and that’s the difference between us making the playoffs and not making the playoffs.”

Tags: Hempfield, Kiski Area