Power 4: Westmoreland County standouts, friends, foes eyeing Division I college careers

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, August 17, 2025 | 7:01 AM

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Samir Crosby and Kymon’e Brown have been exchanging jabs since they began playing Madden against each other in grade school.

They are the ultimate friends and foes.

They’ve shared dustups and daps, stories of big games and college visits, and a bitter dislike for one another that lasts a few hours on select Friday nights.

Former Jeannette Midgets teammates and close friends into their high school years, the local football headliners — skilled athletes who have played quarterback for rival schools — are primed to cap their prep careers with electrifying senior seasons.

Crosby, who is set to move to receiver, is from Jeannette but has played at Greensburg Central Catholic his entire career, while Brown leads Jeannette.

“Samir is a Central kid,” GCC coach JT Thompson said. “He is an unbelievable talent.”

Said Jeannette coach Tommy Paulone: “Kymon’e keeps evolving at quarterback. It’s really Year 2 for him in the system. He didn’t take over (at QB) until the first half of our opener last year — unleash the beast.”

Crosby and Brown went to school together from kindergarten through eighth grade, always part of the same home room roll call and always attached at the hip.

“We’d always worked out together or run routes,” Brown said. “Man, so many memories hanging out. We’re not as close during the season.”

Before they were slippery playmakers in the WPIAL, Crosby and Brown used to throw touchdown passes to one another in youth football. But now they are hatching plans to face off again in the Class A Eastern Conference and maybe beyond, like last year when they met in the WPIAL playoffs.

Crosby and Brown are two of four Division I-caliber players suiting up for Westmoreland teams this fall, joining Hempfield lineman Brock Heisler and Latrobe receiver/defensive back Andy Tatsch.

Crosby and Brown, who also go against each other in basketball, have a number of Division I offers but are mulling them over with the hopes of committing before the season.

Heisler and Tatsch are verbally committed, Heisler to Harvard and Tatsch to Lehigh.

A story of a Gronk wanna-be who changed positions is what follows Heisler, whereas Tatsch’s tale is one of realization and belief that he could follow in his brother’s footsteps and carve his own path.

Rematch time

After GCC thumped the Jayhawks, 44-27, in Week 6, Jeannette dumped the Centurions in the rematch 29-23 to reach the semifinals as a No. 13 seed.

“I don’t think we gave them our best game last year (in the playoffs),” Crosby said. “We played a little down. After the game, I couldn’t even watch the film. I didn’t pull any highlights for my film. Now we have to get our get-back.”

GCC and Jeannette could be on another collision course, and Crosby and Brown are all for it.

“We talked about it,” Brown said. “You know there is a chance we could play each other to get to the WPIAL championship.”

Measuring up

Crosby and Brown share more than a lifelong friendship. They are both fighting stigmas as they make their way through the college recruiting process.

While their highlights are worth a rewind, their roster specs leave something to be desired.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Crosby is too small to play wide receiver at the Division I level, college coaches say. Brown, on the other hand, needs to put weight on his 6-foot, 160-pound frame to match hits with next-level talent.

“Kymon’e is a picky eater,” Crosby said. “Chicken tenders and french fries is all he eats. He has to expand his palate.”

Brown retorts with, “Samir eats like crazy; he eats everything. He can maintain his weight. It’s harder for me to gain it.”

Added Brown: “You can’t just eat eight times a day at the crib. It’s not easy to just gain all that weight. They usually add weight when you get to college.”

Last year, Crosby threw for 1,483 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 1,060 yards and 18 scores. A do-it-all playmaker during his high school years, he could be moving to receiver for his final season, allowing him to make more plays with his hands and legs than his arm.

“He is explosive and really strong,” Brown said. “He will run you over. I am more elusive; turn nothing into something.”

In a similar happenstance, Brown last season started out as a receiver before moving full time to quarterback, where he passed for 1,844 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 1,257 yards and 15 TDs.

“Kymon’e has always been special,” Crosby said. “He could always do everything.”

Brown’s recruiting is a conundrum to those in his camp.

“I am as shocked as anybody he doesn’t have more offers,” Paulone said. “The schools that passed on him, he keeps the receipts.

“It gives me chills to think about his game and how selfless he is and how he approaches things. He wants to be the best QB he can be.”

Brown is becoming more comfortable in the pocket, extending plays and throwing on the run.

“I like to spread the ball around,” Brown said. “I like to see my teammates shine.”

With Crosby moving to receiver, he and Brown could go one-on-one again.

“We first did that sophomore year,” Brown said. “I lined up at safety.”

Fellow defensive backs, Crosby had 67 tackles and five interceptions, Brown 40 stops and two picks.

“Samir is the ultimate competitor, and he is motivated,” Thompson said. “People say he’s not tall enough, but that makes no sense to me. He has that ‘it’ factor. It’s cliche, but you can’t measure heart. He has intangibles you can’t see on film.”

Crosby has 10 Division I offers, from the Mid-American Conference, Ivy League and Patriot League.

“It motivates me for sure,” he said of his questionable size. “But I know I can play at that level with the ability I have. It hit me my sophomore year. Things started to become easier.”

Former Jeannette athletes who played quarterback because of their skill set inspired Crosby in Gio Vonne Sanders and Robert “Poogie” Kennedy — Brown’s cousin.

“Those are two names I want to hold up to,” Crosby said.

Brown, who also has aspirations to play wideout in college — he has an offer from Navy — said numerous coaches have told him to gain weight.

Schools from the American Athletic Conference and ACC told Brown he’d get a scholarship if the scale showed a higher number.

“A lot of them said they’d offer if I was 172 or 175,” Brown said. “I am trying to get to 172. I am always in the weight room.”

Brown wishes Crosby would have attended Jeannette so they could share big plays and wins together, rather than trade barbs as rivals. But Crosby harbors no regrets about his decision to play for the Centurions.

“I wouldn’t take it back now,” he said. “Who knows what happens if I go to Jeannette. People talk about, oh, you guys could win so many games, so many championships. But I like it at Central. I am taking three AP classes here.”

Brown said he was upset with Crosby at first.

“I didn’t believe him when I heard he was transferring,” Brown said. “I mean, you’re leaving your brothers. He has his reasons, and that is fine. It took me time to get used to it.”

Team guy

If you opened a window into Heisler’s soul several years ago, you would have seen a blossoming, pass-catching tight end with an edge to him. A kid who envisioned shredding cornerbacks in the end zone and spiking the ball with a thud.

“I wanted to play tight end,” said Heisler, now a 6-foot-3, 260-pound two-way tackle with a future in the Ivy League. “I didn’t picture myself as a lineman. I moved to tackle my sophomore year and didn’t like it at first. We have our skill guys on one side of the locker room and the linemen on the other. I changed sides, and I love it.”

The faith that he could play on the line stemmed from his size, yes, but also from coaches telling him he projected as a lineman in college.

“I began to tell myself I can do this,” he said. “I am a big team guy; I play for the guy next to me. As much as I’d like to score a touchdown, I would be just as happy for my buddy if he scored one.”

Hempfield coach Nick Keefer is also a teacher and first had Heisler in class when the bruiser was in sixth grade.

“In middle school, he was immature,” Keefer said. “He was like a big deer who didn’t know how to use his body. He wanted to be a skill guy, a tight end or edge. We moved him to tackle, and he embraced it. He went from 190 pounds as a freshman to 260 now.”

You serious, bro?

Tatsch didn’t always see himself as a Division I football player.

The germ of the idea was his older brother’s recruiting journey to Penn State. Alex Tatsch, a gifted linebacker from Latrobe, pulled in more than 20 offers, many from Power 4 programs, before pledging to James Franklin and the Nittany Lions.

When Alex Tatsch picked up his first offer, Andy Tatsch became — envious isn’t the right word — motivated to follow suit.

Before long, eight Division I schools offered, including West Virginia and a few Ivy League teams. Like Heisler, he overcame the gravitational pull of major college football and put emphasis on an academic-first approach.

Tatsch’s “hello world” moment came at a 7-on-7 tournament at West Virginia last year.

Coaches were scouting Alex Tatsch and John Wetzel when they saw Andy Tatsch making plays.

“The first game, he started making catches and was the go-to receiver,” Latrobe coach Tom McIntyre said. “He dominated. They offered.”

McIntyre said coaches are impressed with the imposing Tatsch before they even see his film. He has long limbs, a long neck and a commanding presence.

“They come in and see him and they are like, wow, I didn’t realize you were this big,” McIntyre said. “They can’t believe it.”

The evaluation and praise from college coaches sold Tatsch, and he quickly believed he belonged at the next level.

His brother had always pushed him, the two jockeying for position to beat one another at any game while also showing respect to and learning from the other.

“We’ve always competed with each other and lifted,” the younger Tatsch said. “I think we have that internal competitiveness.”

Andy Tatsch, who played defense only as a sophomore before becoming a two-way threat last year, led Latrobe last season with 26 receptions for 438 yards and four touchdowns. He had 67 tackles and an interception.

His role this year could run from prime pass catcher to bulldozing ball carrier to decoy.

He said he wants 700 receiving yards and at least 10 touchdowns, along with four or more interceptions and 60-plus tackles.

“The thing with Andy is he can draw attention away from other guys,” McIntyre said. “We know he is going to get a lot of (defensive) attention.”

Athletics run in the Tatsch family. The brothers’ father, Bob Tatsch, played football at Greensburg Central Catholic and was an All-American defensive tackle at Allegheny College. Their mom, Emily (Marini) played basketball at Mercyhurst Prep and Penn State Behrend.

And the family tree keeps extending. College coaches take notice: There is a third Tatsch brother coming up. Tony is in eighth grade.

“He might be the fastest of the three,” McIntyre said.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe