With winning record in 1st half of season, Quaker Valley moving in right direction

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, September 28, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Week 4 is the unofficial midpoint of the WPIAL high school football season.

Quaker Valley played four nonconference games in the first half and won three of them.

The Quakers defeated Valley in Week 4 by a score of 29-20 to add to earlier nonconference wins over Freedom and Keystone Oaks.

“We are making good steps in the right direction,” QV coach Tom Eshenbaugh said, “especially with our roster-size constraints. We are getting better at having less penalties and playing a more sound game.”

QV also lost to two undefeated opponents, Freeport in nonconference action and North Catholic in its Class 3A Western Hills Conference opener.

Overall, the Quakers were 3-2 through five games and 0-1 in the conference.

Atticus Barr, QV’s senior quarterback, completed 2 of 8 passes for 46 yards and a touchdown Sept. 19 against a winless Valley squad as the Quakers relied on a punishing running attack for most of the game.

“(Barr’s) confidence is definitely building as we progress through the season,” Eshenbaugh said. “He’s a great teammate and overall great locker-room guy.”

Barr said the Quakers were able to overcome a long TD jaunt by the home team on the game’s opening kickoff. The QV gridders never let up.

“I’m happy about the win especially because it’s given us the best record a QV team has had in a while,” Barr said. “However, there’s always room for improvement and areas to clean up. I’m proud of our team for staying together and fighting all the way until the end because we knew going in that it was going to be a dogfight and we would have to play tough all four quarters.”

QV and Valley were tied 14-14 at halftime. The Quakers outscored the Vikings 24-6 in the second half and held the home side scoreless in the fourth quarter.

“We made a few adjustments and tweaks to our game plan,” Eshenbaugh said. “Valley had a few players out, and we had to adjust for a few changes and wrinkles they didn’t show on film.”

The Quakers’ catalyst on defense is senior standout Rex Fatur, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound linebacker.

“With his move to inside linebacker this year, Rex has made some great plays for us,” Eshenbaugh said. “He’s our leader on defense and makes our (defensive) calls.”

Fatur owns outstanding size and strength for an inside linebacker.

“I thought the team played well,” he said. “I felt like a lot of us underestimated Valley because of their record, but we did what we needed to do to win. Just playing together and staying calm really helped us finish the game.”

The second half of the schedule may prove a bit more daunting for the Quakers; they face Hopewell, Avonworth, Central Valley and Beaver in conference play over the next four weeks.

All four are offensive juggernauts. Hopewell averages 38.4 points followed by Avonworth (36.8 ppg), Central Valley (31.2 ppg) and Beaver (26 ppg).

“I think the team has been playing good so far,” Fatur said. “Now that we are 3-2, I feel like a lot of people expect us to keep winning. This is the new Quaker Valley football.

“I think we’re prepared for these conference games. I feel like all the guys are ready and are making less and less mistakes every day, and that’s going to make us ready for the next half for the season.”

Avonworth is the defending WPIAL champion in 3A and started out 5-0 this year, including impressive nonconference wins against Class 4A powers Aliquippa and Thomas Jefferson, the defending WPIAL champion.

North Catholic and Central Valley led the early standings in the Western Hills Conference with 2-0 records. NC ranked among the leading offensive teams in the WPIAL with a 58.6 ppg scoring average.

“I think we’re continuing to build and improve as a team and are starting to click more and more,” Barr said. “We have a tough road ahead, but I believe if we play as a team and all do our jobs, we can make big plays and continue our momentum into conference play.”

Tags: Quaker Valley