Scholastic Notebook – 11/12/2010

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 12, 2010 | 12:00 AM

The Parkway Conference in Class AAA and the Eastern Conference in Class A were both 4-0 in WPIAL first-round football playoff games last week. That is impressive, but not unheard of in the WPIAL.

Now if either one of those conferences go 4-0 in this week's games, it will be a first.

The WPIAL Quarterfinals are Friday night at various sites throughout the district. Since the WPIAL started taking four teams from each conference to the playoffs in 1998, no conference has ever had four teams in the semifinals.

So, there is blank page in the WPIAL history book. Can the Parkway or Eastern write in its name? The four Parkway teams in the Class AAA Quarterfinals tonight are Montour, West Allegheny, Hopewell and Central Valley.

The four Eastern teams in the Class A Quarterfinals are Avonworth, Springdale, Bishop Canevin and North Catholic.

While no conference has had four teams make it to the Semifinals, it's fairly rare when three from one conference make it to the Semifinals. It's happened only seven times and hasn't happened since 2003 when Midwestern Conference teams Beaver, Aliquippa and Freedom made it to the Class AA Semifinals.

Here are the other years that three teams made the semifinals:

2001 – (Class AAAA Quad East Conference) Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Woodland Hills, McKeesport.

2001 – (Class A Big Seven) Monaca, Rochester, Farrell.

2000 – (Class AAAA Quad North) Mount Lebanon, North Hills, North Allegheny.

2000 – (Class AAA Big Seven) West Mifflin, Thomas Jefferson, West Allegheny.

1999 – (Class AAA Keystone) Belle Vernon, Elizabeth Forward, Thomas Jefferson

1998 – (Class A Big Seven) Monaca, Rochester, Farrell

Render-McCurry Memories

The North Hills-Upper St. Clair Quarterfinals in Class AAAA is getting a lot of attention tonight because of the coaching matchup – veterans Jim Render of Upper St. Clair vs. Jack McCurry of North Hills. They are two of the three winningest coaches in the WPIAL.

The first game Render ever coached at Upper St. Clair was against McCurry and North Hills in 1979. North Hills won, 12-0. But the McCurry-Render series goes back one more year and the outcome of the game is something you will never see these days in high school football.

In 1978, McCurry was in his first season as North Hills' coach and Render was Uniontown's coach. They met on a Friday night in Uniontown, and the game ended in a scoreless tie. There was no overtime back then.

Nowadays, there is overtime. Thus, there are no ties.

"If you live in Uniontown, you know the weather usually comes from the west," Render said. "But if the weather comes down from the mountain and from the east, you're in for a tough time. That's what happened that night. The wind came off the mountain. Neither of us could throw, and neither of us could do this or that."

Top Receiver – Again

Laurel Highlands has not won a WPIAL playoff game in the history of the school. But the Mustangs have a history of having a top WPIAL receiver.

Laurel Highlands' Matt Shull tied for the WPIAL lead in receptions this regular season with 54. That is the fourth time in 12 seasons a Laurel Highlands player has finished as the receptions leader. The three who finished first in the WPIAL were JuJuan Davis (66 caches in 1999), Gregg Forse (51 in 2005) and Randy Rankin (53 in 2006).

More Stats

It was a good year for Friday nights in terms of weather. Maybe that's why passing statistics were up this season in the WPIAL.

A year ago, it rained on a number of Friday nights in the regular season and maybe that affected passing. A year ago, the leading passer in the WPIAL was Seton-LaSalle's Anthony Rizza, who threw for 1,654 yards. This year, four quarterbacks in the WPIAL threw for more than 1,700 yards.

South Fayette's Christian Brumbaugh threw for 2,034 yards in the regular season. Over the past 10 seasons, a WPIAL quarterback has thrown for 2,000 yards in the regular season only 10 times. One of them, interestingly, was a kid named Matt Humbert of Laurel Highlands, who threw for 2,052 in 2001. Humbert was a first-year coach at Ringgold this season who guided the team to the first undefeated regular season in school history.

The other QBs who threw for 2,000 yards in the regular season since 2002 are: Sto-Rox's Adam DiMichele (2,016 in 2002), Seton-LaSalle's Bill Stull (2,262 in 2003), North Catholic's Jason Schanbacher (2,295 in 2004), Seton-LaSalle's Stull again (2,247 in 2004), Penn-Trafford's Tyler Huether (2,191 in 2005), Beaver Falls' Dom Henderson (2,175 in 2005), Shenango's Rocco Colavecchia (2,060 in 2006), Kiski Area's Josh Vick (2,110 in 2007), Seneca Valley's C.J. Brown (2,154 in 2008).

Coach Admits Paddling Players

A strange story out of Mississippi, where a boys' basketball coach is being sued by players he allegedly "whipped" in practice.

Marlon Dorsey of Murrah High School admitted earlier this week he "paddled" some players in practice. A cell phone video of Dorsey's actions is all over the internet and ESPN played it on Sportscenter Friday morning.

Dorsey was suspended from coaching by Murrah. According to the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Mississippi, Dorsey sent a letter to parents explaining his actions. The letter was printed in the Clartion-Ledger. Part of it said, "I took it upon myself to save these young men from the destruction of self and what society has accepted and become silent to the issues our students are facing on a daily basis," the letter states. "I am deeply remorseful of my actions to help our students."

Long Out

North Catholic will be without quarterback Martin Long for Friday night's playoff game against Avonworth. Long has a stress fracture in his leg.

Long had a great career at North Catholic, throwing for 5,048 yards. He is one of only 17 quarterbacks in WPIAL history to throw for 5,000 yards.

Long also is one of North Catholic's top basketball players and will miss part of that season.

Where Are They Now?

Ohio University has a chance to win the Mid-American Conference football championship this year and the Bobcats' leading receiver is from the WPIAL. Terrence McCrae is a former Connellsville player who has 26 catches this season.

Tags: Avonworth, Bishop Canevin, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Central Valley, Hopewell, Laurel Highlands, Montour, North Catholic, North Hills, Penn-Trafford, Springdale, Sto-Rox, Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny