MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights – Week Ten

By: Bruce Markey
Friday, November 5, 2010 | 12:00 AM

The orange cones were taken away, the ribbon was cut and the curtain was raised on the Highway to Heinz…the 2010 WPIAL Football Playoffs on Friday night. While teams like Ringgold, Deer Lakes, Ellwood City and Cornell saw memorable seasons come to an end, 32 teams have advanced to the Quarterfinals…ten of them thanks to huge efforts by these gridiron performances.

Austin Miele – Mars

WOW!!!! Austin Miele may still be running after he could not be stopped Friday night in the greatest rushing performance in WPIAL playoff history in leading Mars to an out of this world victory over Hollidaysburg. Miele ran for 448 yards on 29 carries, seven yards short of the all-time WPIAL single game rushing record held by Marcus Furman of Connellsville, plus he scored three touchdowns as the Fighting Planets move on following a 52-20 whooping of the not so Golden Tigers.

Thomas Woodson – Gateway

You could say Gateway sophomore quarterback Thomas Woodson could do it all, because Friday night, that's exactly what he did. Woodson rushed for 219 yards and scored on two touchdown runs, PLUS he was 11 of 15 passing for 135 yards and a touchdown pass in leading the Gators past the Erie McDowell Trojans 37-21 as Terry Smith improves to 9-0 in First Round playoff games at Gateway High School.

Lafayette Pitts – Woodland Hills

Woodland Hills running back Lafayette Pitts, a Pitt recruit, made life the Pitts for the visiting Norwin defense. Pitts rushed for 232 yards on only 11 carries, four of which ended up in the end zone for touchdowns as the Class AAAA defending champion Wolverines bullied their way past the Knights by a score of 45-7.

Damion Jones-Moore – Pittsburgh Central Catholic

After missing some time due to injuries, Damion Jones-Moore once again claimed that primetime was hit time to shine as he helped his top-seed teammates run past Pine-Richland. Jones-Moore rushed for 215 yards and scored four touchdowns, three coming in the second quarter when the Vikings pulled away in what would turn out to be a 37-10 victory over the Rams.

Connor Scott and Dakota Conwell – Upper St. Clair

Penn Hills ran smack into a bad case of double trouble Friday night in a second straight opening round trip to Upper St. Clair. USC running back Connor Scott rushed for 154 yards and scored two touchdowns while quarterback Dakota Conwell banged out 125 yards on the ground with a score as the Panthers extracted sweet revenge from last years 14-7 loss to the Indians with a 37-21 victory over Penn Hills.

Anthony Cinello – Bethel Park

Just when it looked like 2008 champion Bethel Park would go quietly into the cold night, quarterback Anthony Cinello bookended a 24-point rally in the final two quarters. Cinello completed only six passes for 102 yards, but two of them went for scores, a 25-yard pass to Lewis Dibble to crack the scoreboard for BP and a 6-yard pass to Christopher Rizzo with only 17 seconds left in the game to lead the Black Hawks to a 24-21 upset of the 4th-seed McKeesport Tigers.

Kyle Edgar – Indiana

In an offensive shootout between 9th-seed Indiana and 8th-seed Belle Vernon, the Little Indians had the final shot and they made sure they didn't miss. Indiana quarterback Kyle Edgar finished 7 of 12 passing for 242 yards, an average of nearly 35 yards a completion, plus he threw for three touchdowns, including a 56-yard scoring strike to Tyrel Venay with just over three minutes left that proved to be the game winner in a wild 42-38 victory over the host Leopards.

Matt McCann – Keystone Oaks

Sometimes you don't have to put up mind-numbing numbers on the stats sheet to be invaluable in a surprising outcome. Defending Class AA champion Greensburg Central Catholic held Matt McCann to 91 yards rushing, 38 below his average, but when push came to shove; GCC could not keep him out of the end zone. McCann scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, one on a 25-yard pass from Matt Buckley and the other on a 33-yard run with under two minutes remaining as the Golden Eagles advanced with a stunning 20-16 victory over the Centurions.

Ryan Schmid – Avonworth

The old-saying on a punt return is you never field the ball inside your own ten-yard line. Avonworth fans are thrilled that Ryan Schmid doesn't adhere to old adages. With just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter and trailing 21-20, Schmid returned a Brentwood punt 95-yards to the house in what proved to be the game winning score as the Antelopes prevailed in a 28-21 victory over the Spartans.

Jasson Adamson – Rochester

In a perfect season thus far for Rochester, you could say that in the opening round of the playoffs, their quarterback was…perfect. Jasson Adamson was 6 of 6 passing for 159 yards and three touchdowns as the Rams improved to 10-0 with a 42-7 victory at home over the California Trojans.