Western Beaver starts 6-0 for 1st time in 20 years — 5 things we learned in Week 5

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, September 28, 2025 | 1:44 AM

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Western Beaver football is shining brightly nowadays and it’s not just the new lights above Rich Niedbala Field.

The team is 6-0 for the first time in 20 years. That’s thanks in part to a running back with the perfect first name for starring in a “Western.”

Instead of a six shooter, Wyatt Sparbanie scores touchdowns seven at a time.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound junior rushed for 265 yards and seven touchdowns Friday night in a 48-19 conference victory over Riverside. The win kept Western Beaver (6-0, 3-0) undefeated and alone atop the Class 2A Midwestern standings.

If Sparbanie’s speed was ever a question, he has a WPIAL bronze medal in the 100 meters as proof he’s fast.

“A lot of track guys don’t translate to football but he’s a football player who runs track,” Western Beaver coach Ron Busby said. “He doesn’t lose a step with pads on. He might get a little bit faster.”

Sparbanie carried 20 times and scored on runs of 75, 8, 8, 19, 40, 34 and 18 yards. The seven-touchdown game broke a school record, adding to what is a historic season in more ways than one.

Western Beaver is playing home games on Friday nights for the first time after decades of Saturday afternoon kickoffs. So there already was buzz about the new lights, and now the team has started with six straight wins for the first time since 2005.

“The level of excitement and the crowds we’re getting are fantastic,” said Busby, a fifth-year coach who works as an elementary school principal in the district.

Promoted to head coach in 2021, Busby provided stability to a program that had three coaches in three years. He deserves to share credit for the team’s success but would rather highlight the linemen that block for Sparbanie.

The five starters are center Tyson Davis (6-1, 240), guards Logan Cain (5-10, 215) and Damian Lutton (6-0, 245) and tackles Aiden Hall (6-2, 230) and Blaine Crislip (6-3, 290). The group includes two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore.

“We’re really, really proud of those guys,” Busby said. “We were watching film this morning of Wyatt’s runs and you’re seeing five linemen engaged two seconds into the play. They’re seven yards down field and we’re still on people and we’re running our feet. There’s not a lot of glory playing in the trenches, but those guys are having a fantastic season.”

Dual-threat quarterback Amari Marshall guides an offense that averages 41 points.

After six games, Western Beaver is one of only nine undefeated WPIAL teams, joining Peters Township, Freeport, Imani Christian, Southmoreland, Avonworth, South Allegheny, Fort Cherry and Jefferson-Morgan.

Western Beaver is a small school with 96 boys in grades 9-11, according to PIAA enrollment data. But it takes advantage of a PIAA policy that lets two schools form a combined team. Students at nearby Lincoln Park have played football for the Golden Beavers since 2018.

Busby called the co-op agreement “fantastic.”

He said of the 40 players on the roster, about half attend the charter school in Midland. Sparbanie is one of those players who goes to Lincoln Park. But on the football field, there’s no distinction.

“It’s an afterthought at this point,” Busby said. “When this co-op first started, we’d get kids as a sophomore or a junior. … Now, most of these kids come to Lincoln Park in seventh or eighth grade, so they’re playing in our junior high program.

“They come up through our program, which is a real key to our success.”

Quips missing QB

Aliquippa’s Marques Council Jr. is one of the WPIAL’s top quarterbacks, but the Quips played Friday without the Yale recruit.

Coach Mike Warfield said Council had a knee issue during the week and didn’t feel able to play. The 6-foot-2, 191-pound senior has 831 passing yards and seven touchdowns in four games.

His absence factored into the team’s 18-12 loss at New Castle. Aliquippa hadn’t lost to the Red Hurricanes since 1987, snapping a streak of 10 consecutive wins in the years since.

Senior wide receiver Qa’lil Goode started at quarterback in his place.

Council’s absence came a week after his late-game heroics lifted Aliquippa to a 21-16 win over Penn Hills. He passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns in that game, including a 28-yarder with no time left.

Aliquippa (3-2, 0-1) next visits West Allegheny.

Multiple-choice answers

Freeport’s Amos Glenn proved once again there’s more than one way to reach the end zone.

The Yellowjackets’ star senior scored on an 85-yard kickoff return, a 53-yard punt return and added two rushing touchdowns Friday in a 42-7 win over Valley. The running back upped his season total to 20 TDs, which he scored in four different way.

But Glenn wasn’t the only player who scored multiple touchdowns in multiple ways in Week 5.

• A 91-yard punt return highlighted a four-touchdown day by Woodland Hills’ Scoop Smith, an effort that also included two receiving touchdowns and one rushing. The Wolverines defeated Latrobe, 33-9.

• Mt. Pleasant’s Dane Firmstone rushed for two touchdowns, passed for another and returned a blocked punt three yards for a score in a 41-7 victory over Yough.

• Along with rushing and passing touchdowns, Washington’s Tristan Reed returned an interception 52 yards for a pick-six in a 48-7 win over South Park.

Not sitting a Spell

McKeesport junior Kemon Spell played his first full game since Week Zero and the Penn State-bound running back found the end zone three times.

Slowed this season by an ankle injury, Spell was back on the field for the Tigers’ conference opener Friday. He rushed for 122 yards on 16 carries and scored on runs of eight, 15 and 65 yards in a 46-7 win over Hampton.

Recruiting websites rank the 5-foot-11, 211-pounder as the top running back recruit nationally in the junior class. The WPIAL hasn’t seen much of him this fall because Spell has missed three games.

Expectations were extremely high after Spell rushed for 295 yards and scored five touchdowns in Week Zero, but he missed the next week against Peters Township with an ankle injury. A Week 2 return against Thomas Jefferson lasted only a few carries, leading Spell to sit out games against Belle Vernon and Upper St. Clair.

McKeesport (3-3, 1-0) has four Greater Allegheny games ahead including next week at West Mifflin.

City dominance

Westinghouse has gone more than six years without losing a regular season game to a City League foe.

The Bulldogs ran their streak to 27 in a row with a 44-16 victory over Allderdice this week. The last time a City League opponent beat them in the regular season was a 32-22 loss to USO on Sept. 5, 2019.

The City League has five teams. Westinghouse is 3-0 in the league with a game remaining against USO on Oct. 10.

Staff writer Don Rebel contributed.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.