Westmoreland County high school football notebook: Jeannette, Ligonier Valley players suspended

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, September 12, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Jeannette and Ligonier Valley will be down two players each for the next two games because of ejections that happened last Friday night.

An altercation between the teams at last week’s game in Ligonier prompted ejections of all four players.

PIAA rules call for a two-game suspension for ejections involving physical contact.

Ligonier Valley had the ball in the third quarter. After a tackle was made and the whistle was blown, pushing by both teams occurred behind the Ligonier Valley sideline and on the track before coaches, officials and police broke it up.

The WPIAL did not request a hearing with the schools over the incident.

Brunot back

Senior Kai Brunot’s return this season has given the Greensburg Salem rushing attack a boost.

Brunot was injured in the fourth week last season against Deer Lakes and missed the next six games with a lacerated kidney.

He was hit in the side by an offensive player while trying to make a tackle from his safety spot. He was out of action for six months.

“I couldn’t wait to get back,” Brunot said last week after rushing for 72 yards and two touchdowns and blocking a punt in a 50-14 win over Valley that moved the Golden Lions to 3-0 for the first time since 2011. “We didn’t have a lot of energy last year. We thought everything was going to be handed to us. Now, we want to get to the playoffs.”

Brunot recently was named the PennLive state player of the week, via online fan voting.

Brunot rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown as the Golden Lions defeated Ligonier Valley, 43-14. Of the 17,512 votes cast, Brunot received 7,990.

Polk anniversary

This season marks 30 years since Penn-Trafford alum Jodie Polk made history.

Polk became the first female player in the WPIAL to score a point, kicking an extra point after the Warriors’ Jim Moore ran in a touchdown on Sept. 2, 1994, during the team’s season opener.

A recruit from the girls soccer team, Polk had taken up the sport only two weeks earlier.

That season, she made 15 of 17 extra points. Her point-after was the difference in a 7-6 victory over Norwin.

Polk, who inspired future female kickers at Penn-Trafford and around the WPIAL and helped make the concept more common, has her game jersey on display at the Heinz History Center.

1 yard short

Latrobe running back Alex Tatsch had a career game last week, rushing for 251 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries in a win at Norwin. Turns out, he was a yard short of the school single-game record.

Robert Fulton ran for 252 yards and four TDs in 2022 when the Wildcats edged Franklin Regional, 36-33, in double overtime.

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

Tags: Greensburg Salem