MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Three

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 17, 2016 | 9:54 AM

Every Friday night, there are hard decisions to make to whittle down many of the great performances from around the WPIAL into our Top Ten HighLights package. But this Friday night was probably the toughest since it was the busiest night game wise of the entire 2016 season. Of the possible 61 WPIAL football games, 60 were played on 9/16, thus the difficult becomes even more so. Here’s what we came up with on a pleasant evening weather wise for the Week Three HighLights.

Jordan Crawford – Pine-Richland

Committing to Notre Dame even before your junior year says a lot about…wait, we are tipping our cap to a Pine-Richland player NOT named Phil Jurkovec? Oh it’s true, it’s darn true. The depth of P-R was on display Friday in a big Class 6-A Northern Seven Conference showdown at Penn Hills and Jordan Crawford was not shy as he rushed for 156 yards four touchdowns on runs of 10, 6 and 5 in the opening quarter alone, then added a 67-yard jaunt in the second quarter of the Rams 52-21 victory over the Indians.

Ryan Shope – Altoona

How about a little love for our friends way out east in Blair County. Now that Hollidaysburg has returned to District 6, Altoona is on an island as a football member of District 7, but an island can be a nice place to return after a big win and a long boat trip, errrr, I mean bus trip back to Altoona. The trip home form the South Hills of Pittsburgh was made sweet thanks to quarterback Ryan Shope, who connected on 26 of 47 for 337 yards and five touchdown passes, including the game winning 10-yard score in the fourth quarter as the Mountain Lions beat the Peters Township Indians 40-37 in a Class 6-A Southeastern Conference thriller.

James Stocker – Mount Lebanon

A promising season was starting to slip a bit as Mount Lebanon lost two in a row, including their conference opener in Week Two at Hempfield. But after a scoreless first half, quarterback James Stocker went to work, ending up with 229 yards on 20 of 34 passing with two touchdown tosses of 15 and 34 yards to go along with a one-yard scoring plunge as the host Blue Devils knocked off the Canon-McMillan Big Macs 32-7 in a Class 6-A Southeastern Conference football game that evens both their conference (1-1) and overall (2-2) records.

Cam Laffoon – Penn-Trafford

Last year, big brother Brett Laffoon was the ‘hit-man’ on the Friday night HighLights article almost on a weekly basis as he helped Penn-Trafford come to within one win of a district championship. Now a little ‘dab’ will do you as we tip our cap to little brother Cam. The P-T signal caller hit on 15 of 23 passes for 253 yards and a pair of touchdown passes of 6 and 33 yards as well as a short 2-yard scoring run as the Warriors remained undefeated with an impressive 26-7 triumph over the visiting Woodland Hills Wolverines in a Class 5-A non-conference game. 

Mike Fine – Belle Vernon

The ‘Big Four’ in the Class 4-A Big Nine Conference are off and running strong out of the gates again this season as they have the last few years. Thomas Jefferson, Belle Vernon, Ringgold and West Mifflin were all unbeaten going into the season first head-to-head matchup. That first clash turned out just Fine for BVA. Quarterback Mike Fine was 9 of 11 passing for 148 yards and two touchdowns, plus he rushed for 117 yards as the visiting Leopards remained undefeated with a 31-10 triumph over the Ringgold Rams.

Joey Koroly – Trinity

Trinity struggled to a slow start in the first two weeks of this season, losing both conference games by a combined total of 84 to 16. But don’t bury the blue and white just yet as Joey Koroly used his huge game on the ground to jump start his team on offense. Koroly rushed for 333 yards and scored all SIX of his teams touchdowns on runs of 3, 9, 55, 37, 39 and 64 yards as the Hillers cruised to a 40-7 rout of the host Laurel Highlands Mustangs in a Class 4-A Big Nine Conference matchup.

Lionel Deanes – Seton-LaSalle

After a disappointing home loss in Week Two to Valley, Seton-LaSalle jumped on a ‘Lionel’ train in their trip to the Alle-Kiski Valley Friday in an effort to help right the green and gold’s ship. And right the ship they did thanks to the massive night on the ground by Lionel Deanes as he gained 260 yards and a touchdown on a 57-yard second quarter jaunt to the end zone as the visiting Rebels knocked off the Burrell Buccaneers in a Class 3-A Allegheny Conference fray by a score of 27-16, thus handing the Bucs their first conference loss. 

Alex Smith – Keystone Oaks

It has been a big week for Keystone Oaks quarterback Alex Smith. Earlier he made his college choice with a verbal agreement to Duquesne University. Then on Friday, he followed that big announcement with a big night through the air. Smith connected on 17 of 25 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown pass of 45 yards to Dylan Knorr (who also had a pick-6 of 55-yards to open the scoring) as the Golden Eagles remain perfect with a 46-21 Class 3-A Allegheny Conference triumph over the host Deer Lakes Lancers.

Darius Wise – Beaver

It took three Wise men to deliver the gold in Bethlehem ohhh so many years ago. Here in 2016, it may only take one Wise man to bring gold to Beaver High School. Talented Darius Wise rushed for 203 yards and scored on three long touchdown runs of 52, 20 and 48 yards as the Bobcats, fresh off their upset of the defending champion Aliquippa Quips last week, did not suffer a letdown as they cruised to a 38-14 victory over the previously undefeated Quaker Valley Quakers in a key Class 3-A Beaver Valley Conference game.

Dylan Rush – Mapletown

Every time Mapletown High School wins a football game, we try to get creative with the name of standout running back Dylan Rush. Not this week. No, we just simply tip our cap to the Plow Master General of Greene County after he had a night for the ages, rushing for 388 yards on 42 carries and scored five touchdowns on runs of 89, 4, 3, 56 and a 25 yard fourth quarter jaunt that turned out to be the difference in the Maples wild 39-33 victory over the visiting Avella Eagles in a Class 1-A Tri-County South Conference thriller.

BONUS – Carlynton Cougars and Summit Academy Knights

In a matter of minutes, the second and third longest current losing streaks in the WPIAL which both dated back to 2013, were wiped away. The Carlynton Cougars snapped a 24-game losing skid with a 27-26 win over the South Allegheny Gladiators. Also Friday, the Summit Academy Knights rolled past the Cornell Raiders 58-12 to end a 22-game losing streak.

Tags: Altoona, Beaver, Belle Vernon, Carlynton, Keystone Oaks