WPIAL Big Game Hunting – Week One 2014

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 | 11:11 PM

We’re back! MSA is delighted to begin their 16^th season of high school sports and I am very happy to continue in my second decade with the network and, can you believe it my 6^th year already of writing BGH. Where does the time go? Not a question we care to try and answer here in Big Game Hunting but, where should you go with your smart phone or radio dial in week one of the 2014 WPIAL football season? That we can definitely help with. So forget the time and let’s go Big Game Hunting!

AAAA Non-Conference:
Bethel Park Black Hawks (0-0)(0-0) at #3 Central Catholic Vikings (0-0)(0-0) Friday August 29^th at 7:30 pm @ Gesling Stadium on the Campus of Carnegie Mellon University broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Sam Hall and Steve Nagler

The Vikings open their defense of the 2013 WPIAL title at their sometimes home, in fact this will be the only game Central plays at CMU this season their remaining home games will all be played at Highmark Stadium on the south side.

Central was hit by graduation as Terry Totten begins his 10^th season as their head coach, but that never seems to really effect teams like Central. They have plenty of talent waiting in the wings although some of that talent was taken away when Riley Redman’s appeal for another year of eligibility is denied by both the WPIAL and PIAA this summer. Redman was expected to get the bulk of carries at tailback for the graduated Luigi Lista-Brinza. The Vikings will have to have some guys step up to fill some holes on offense at the skill positions. But Central always has athletes for that sort of thing. Junior Mike Navarro and senior Gunnar Ferrotte may both see time at quarterback early. Grant Foster returns from injury and will look to build on a solid start to his junior year at running back. Wide receiver saw Shafer Swann graduate but look for younger brother Braxton, a junior to make some big plays for the Vikings.

The Vikes offense might have some growing pains but with seven starters returning on a defense that was fantastic last year, the offense will be able to ease into the 2014 program as slowly as they like.

Look for a secondary featuring John Petrishen and Damar Hamlin to be one of the best in the WPIAL. Central held seven opponents scoreless last season in winning their fourth WPIAL championship. It says here that they will put up a bunch more goose eggs this year as well.

Jeff Metheny begins his 21^st year at the helm of Bethel Park. My guess is when he saw the schedule his teams faces for the first three weeks of the 2014 campaign he questioned whether he should have stopped at 20 years. The Hawks open with Central, Woody High and then USC. The heart of the ’27 Yankees lineup!

Bethel Park is the polar opposite of Central in that the Hawks return most of their big – time skill guys but will need to replace some of the beef up front on their offensive line.

Junior quarterback Levi Metheny returns for his third year as the starting quarterback, the lefty is a threat to run strong and has a “coach’s son” mentality when it comes to taking care of the football. Alexander Minton returns at tailback after leading the Hawks with 761 yards on the ground last year.

How Bethel responds to the brutal start to the 2014 campaign and how quickly a young offensive line comes together will determine if Bethel reaches the playoffs for the 14^th consecutive year in a row.

AAA Parkway Conference:
#1 West Allegheny Indians (0-0)(0-0) at #8 New Castle Red Hurricanes (0-0)(0-0) Friday August 29^th at 7:30 pm @ Taggart Stadium on the campus of New Castle high school broadcast on the MSA Sports Network and WKST-AM 1200 by Ken Hlebovy and Rob Gregory

The Parkway Conference has been a never-ending gauntlet of Friday night challenges  the last handful of years and that will continue again in 2014. West Allegheny, the two-time defending WPIAL AAA champion though is fully loaded and ready for a run at title number eight for Bob Palko.

The Indians did lose Tory Delmonico to graduation but other than that they were really not hit that hard. Armande Dellovade, Chayse Dillon, Sean Orsini, and Andrew Koester all return from last year’s team. Koester completed 104 of 162 passes last year for 1651 yards and 19 scores. Dillon led the Indians in rushing with 1203 yards and was second on the team in catches. He scored a combined 13 touchdowns on the season.

Orsini is a great offensive lineman and from middle linebacker anchored one of the best defenses in the WPIAL last year. That defense returns almost completely intact, a defense that allowed just 11 points per game last season in the Parkway conference including a total of 13 in a pair of victories over Central Valley.

The team that gave the Indians a battle and provided one of the best regular season games of the year last season was the New Castle Red Hurricanes. New Castle lost a thrilling 37-31 game to West Allegheny in week 7 at Taggart Stadium.

New Castle though was hit hard by graduation and in some key spots gone are quarterback Julian Cox and wr/db Malik Hooker. How some very young guys step in and learn on the go will be a key for Joe Cowart’s team.

Pat Minenok will be a dual threat at quarterback for the Hurricanes. A newcomer will see a lot of reps in the backfield. Sophomore Geno Stone will take some snaps at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Juniors Nick Treloar and Joe Gunn will see some carries in the backfield.

Watch out for a freshman with a familiar name, Marcus Hooker is expected to be in the lineup at some point this season. Hooker is the youngest brother of Malik. Senior tight end D’Marcus Blanchard will help with the receiving corps and blocking on the end.

Steven Wethli is a three year starter on the offensive line. Cowart has been extremely pleased with the line during the first few days of camp, including senior Braden Mancini.

AA Century Conference:
East Allegheny Wildcats (0-0)(0-0) at #1 South Fayette Lions (0-0)(0-0) Friday August 29^th at 7:00 pm @ South Fayette Stadium on the campus of South Fayette high school broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Nick Farrell and Adam Hoerner

The Lions will begin defense of their WPIAL and PIAA titles almost entirely intact from last season at the skill spots, excepting the loss of leading rusher Grant Fetchet.

Senior quarterback Brett Brumbaugh could theoretically overtake Lenny Williams as the all-time leading passer in the history of the WPIAL. Check that, barring injury he WILL become the all-time leading passer in WPIAL history. Williams threw for 8,508 yards and Brumbaugh has thrown for 7,326 so far, a difference of 1,182 yards. Considering that Brumbaugh threw for nearly 4,000 in his junior year, it is a pretty safe bet that the record falls around week four or five, it says here it happens during week four.

I think it happens quickly because the entire receiving corps returns for Brumbaugh, one thing that could slow him down might be losses to graduation in the offensive line. Anthony Davidson and Zach Radinick will do their best to help the younger guys along though and Brumbaugh gets the ball out so quickly to begin with I don’t think teams will be able to put too much pressure on him.

J.J. Walker and Hunter Hayes will be looked to for picking up blitzes and carries from the running back position with the loss of Fetchet.

The Wildcats get thrown immediately into the Century conference fire after moving over from a 5-5 season in the Allegheny last year.

Second year coach Dom Pecora has seen Shabazz Washington and Kyle Whipple graduate and now turns to junior Deon Smith at quarterback.

Smith’s main threat at wide out could be Rocco Dunn. The Wildcats though might be better served against some of the high-powered offensive attacks in the Century, including South Fayette, to rely more heavily on a ground attack.

Taizion Brown is back after a nearly 1,000 yard junior season that led the Wildcats and they have some serious size up front.  They say that sometimes the best defense is a ground control offense and the Wildcats could use some of that after giving up more than 30 points per game last season, if they don’t shore that up against teams like South Fayette, it could get ugly in a real hurry.

A Black Hills Conference:
#1 Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans (0-0)(0-0) at Northgate Flames (0-0)(0-0) Friday August 29^th at 7:00 pm @ Northgate Alumni Stadium in Bellevue, Pennsylvania broadcast on the MSA Sports Network by Matt Vandriak and Brandon Showers

The Trojans return almost all of their skill guys from last season in fact they get an extra one with the return of quarterback Adam Sharlow who went down in week eight with a season-ending injury.

P.J. Fulmore filled in for Sharlow and Jerome Turner filled in for P.J. at running back, all were fantastic, all are state champions riding a 16 game winning streak and most importantly for Trojans’ fans, all are back and healthy for this 2014 campaign.

Fulmore threw for 388 yards and rushed for 1213, he scored 14 touchdowns. Turner rushed for 1151 yards and scored a team-high 24 touchdowns. Sharlow, despite missing more than eight games, completed 58 of 105 passes for 877 yards and eight touchdowns. Latronica rushed for 566 yards in just 76 attempts.

Nick Nyman will anchor the lines for the Trojans who will need other linemen to step up on both sides of the ball to make up for some graduated players. Also keep a close eye on sophomore Mario Latronica who played splendidly during the post season run last year and has the look of a kid who might be the next superstar for the Trojans.

For Northgate it will be a homecoming of sorts as T.J. Wiley returns after a short one-year trip to Deer Lakes to coach the Flames whom he coached in 2011 and 2012.

The Flames are coming off a forgettable 2013 campaign which saw them win just twice but they are also returning there best offensive players and have a roster loaded with senior leadership.

Look for senior quarterback Johnny Camello to be the engine that makes the Flames offense run as a quarterback who can beat you with his arm or his feet. Running back Romello Snyder is also a big-play threat catching the ball.

Up front  Shane Adams will be the leader in the trenches and on defense at linebacker.

Tags: Bethel Park, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, East Allegheny, North Catholic, West Allegheny