Upper St. Clair posts 1st-half shutout vs. Mt. Lebanon in Week Zero win

By: Mitch Montani
Friday, August 22, 2025 | 11:58 PM

It didn’t take Upper St. Clair long to shake off the offseason rust Friday night. The Panthers scored the game’s first 35 points and opened the season with a decisive 35-14 road win over Mt. Lebanon.

A strong opening two quarters, resulting in 35-0 halftime lead, put the mercy rule into effect early.

“I think the key was the start,” Panthers coach Mike Junko said. “The defense set the tone with a number of three and outs. It gave us the opportunity to take some chances offensively.”

Senior quarterback Ethan Hellmann was the story for the Panthers. Hellmann had four touchdown passes, all coming in the first half. He was 17 for 22 for 273 yards through the air.

“Ethan’s a four-year starter, and he played like it tonight,” Junko said. “The best part of his performance was his decision making. He was throwing good balls, but he was throwing them in the right places.”

A big factor in the success of Hellmann was senior Nico D’Orazio, his top receiving target. D’Orazio had five catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns.

“Me and Nico have a lot of chemistry,” Hellmann said. “It started last year in the Peters (Township) game when he played a lot. It’s been like that all summer. We put it into this game, and that’s how it turned out.”

#HSSN Highlights: The Upper St. Clair Panthers got their season going on the right foot by defeating Mt. Lebanon 35-14 in Week 0. pic.twitter.com/GpvwkTxXvv

— TribLive HSSN (@TribLiveHSSN) August 23, 2025

Hellman’s additional touchdown pass was caught by Anthony Rozzo. Josh Snyder added a 10-yard scoring run. The Panthers defense held Mt. Lebanon to just 91 yards in a first-half shoutout. Caffery Duplessis picked off Blue Devils senior quarterback Pat Smith as well. Despite having some new faces, the Panthers came ready to play.

“We graduated some guys (last year),” Junko said. “We wanted to get some new guys out there and see what they could do. They didn’t disappoint.”

Mt. Lebanon scored the only 14 points of the second half. A 96-yard pass from Smith to Max Siegel got the Blue Devils on the board. Senior running back Kris Kambitsis followed that up with a 1-yard touchdown run. It will give the Blue Devils some momentum for next week, when they’ll take on Penn-Trafford at home.

The Panthers play their first home game next week. They’ll take on Canon-McMillan, another school from Class 6A. It’s the second of five nonconference games for Upper St. Clair to start the season.

“We had a lot of new guys who were playing Friday night football for the first time tonight,” Junko said. “We want to continue to build on that experience. We’ll watch these young guys grow these next few weeks and hope that they’re primed and ready for when we do start conference play.”

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Upper St. Clair