Loaded Central Valley roster poised to return to championship form

By: Josh Rowntree
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 | 6:01 AM

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Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 23.

Mark Lyons isn’t exactly a big believer in silver linings or excuse making.

Lyons, entering his 15th campaign as Central Valley’s coach, is coming off a season in which his team’s four-year run of WPIAL title game appearances came to an end.

The Warriors, with only a couple of senior starters on the entire team, finished 8-4 in 2023, falling in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs to Mars, 24-14.

“Young or not, we didn’t play to our ability at the end of the year,” said Lyons. “We have to do a better job at getting better at that time of the year. We’re not looking for excuses. We just weren’t playing our best football.”

Playing their best late in the season has become a staple for Central Valley, which won titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021, reached the finals in 2022 and has missed the playoffs just once since the school opened in Lyons’ first season.

“The biggest thing we took away from last year is that we may not have been as hungry as Mars,” said Lyons. “They were entering new territory with going deep in the playoffs. I think we kind of took things for granted.

“But we don’t have to talk any more about it. I got their attention. They got each other’s attention. They know what they want to do.”

Lyons and his team now have to turn the page. They’ll do so while moving down into Class 3A’s Western Hills Conference, and with nearly their entire group of contributors back.

The Warriors bring back their top 13 rushing leaders, top five pass catchers, top five tacklers and, perhaps most importantly, an accomplished and improving quarterback in senior Steven Rutherford.

“He took great strides throughout the year last year,” Lyons said of Rutherford, who passed for 1,347 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 445 yards and 10 more scores. “He’s now learned to take exactly what the defense gives him.

“There will be more on his plate, but more freedom for him, too. He has complete control right now and our guys know that.”

Rutherford is one of three Central Valley players to rush for double-digit touchdowns last year. None was more impressive than the youngest, sophomore Jance Henry Jr., who rushed for 1,008 yards and 13 touchdowns in his freshman season and has picked up scholarship offers from a handful of Power 4 colleges, including Pitt and West Virginia.

“The one thing we’ve proven to ourselves and everyone else is that everyone is going to have a chance to touch the football,” said Lyons. “But, let’s understand something, Jance Henry has a chance to be really special. He’s proven that.

“He’s taken his game to another level, and that’s going to help us.”

T. Mason Dixon racked up 819 yards and 12 touchdowns last year, and Brandon Singleton rushed for 561 yards. In all, Central Valley averaged 265.8 rushing yards per game in 2023.

At receiver, Quinn Connolly, Kole Hiltz, Ethan Shearer, Jaiden Underwood and Mekhi Ahmed led the team in receiving yards and are all back.

“That’s probably our deepest room on the team right now,” said Lyons. “And it’s probably our most spirited group. They’re competing against each other, making each other better, and they’re pushing each other.”

Central Valley will have to replace a pair of offensive linemen this year, but have a terrific trio in place with Brendan Alexander, Tyler Ondrusek and Mike Bendekovic.

Ondrusek, a three-year starter, will be a leader in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Shearer, who led the team with 93 tackles in 2023, will pace the linebacker group.

Central Valley will be tested early, with nonconference games against perennial contenders Montour, Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon before jumping into play in the Western Hills Conference. It closes the regular season with a nonconference game against North Hills.

“That’s OK,” Lyons said of the difficult schedule. “I tell our guys that we’re going to be battle tested. We compete at practice every day. One thing we’re going to know is exactly what we need to do to get better early in the year.”

Lyons wants a group that embraces the challenges they’ll face weekly and feels that his team — fueled by last year’s disappointment and a renewed commitment — is ready.

“It’s a struggle to get to the top, but it’s an even bigger struggle to stay there,” he said. “You have to be at your best every day. Not just every game day. Every day.”

Central Valley

Coach: Mark Lyons

2023 record: 8-4, 5-2 in Class 4A Parkway Conference

All-time record: 144-35-0

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.23 at Montour, 7

8.30 Thomas Jefferson, 7

9.6 at Belle Vernon, 7

9.13 at McGuffey*, 7

9.20 Beaver*, 7

9.27 at Avonworth*, 7

10.4 North Catholic*, 7

10.11 at Quaker Valley*, 7

10.18 Hopewell*, 7

10.25 North Hills, 7

* Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Steven Rutherford

99-181, 1,347 yards, 11 TDs

Rushing: Jance Henry Jr.

144-1,008 yards, 13 TDs

Receiving: Quinn Connolly

13-264 yards, 2 TDs

FAST FACTS

• The only season Central Valley has failed to make the postseason, it had a winning record, going 6-4 in 2017.

• The Warriors have appeared in eight WPIAL championship games, winning titles in 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021.

• Lyons feels that, in addition to Class 3A runner-up Avonworth, Beaver will be a team to watch in the Western Hills Conference. North Catholic, Hopewell, McGuffey and Quaker Valley round out the conference.

• Power 4 schools to offer Henry are Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Pitt, Syracuse, UCF, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Tags: Central Valley