WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – 11/19/2011

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 19, 2011 | 4:31 PM

Each Saturday during the high school football season, we look back at the top ten WPIAL performers from a busy Friday night of scholastic gridiron action. Except for this, the final edition of the Friday Night HighLights. On this edition, we take a look at the EIGHT players that were a key part to the EIGHT teams that advanced to play for District 7 gold next Saturday at Heinz Field.

Pete Coughlin – Upper St. Clair

On Semifinals Friday in the WPIAL at Chartiers Valley High School…a star was born. There weren’t to many folks outside of Upper St. Clair that thought Pittsburgh Central Catholic would lose when word spread that USC star quarterback/linebacker Dakota Conwell would miss the game with a broken bone in his foot. But eyebrows were raised throughout the WPIAL Nation when reserve quarterback Pete Coughlin rushed for 209 yards and scored the winning touchdown on a back-breaking 73-yard run, then added the icing on the cake on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wilcox as the Panthers stunned the Vikings 28-14.
Alex DeCiantis –North Allegheny

While defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Central Valley was falling to Montour, defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA champion North Allegheny was also in big trouble, trailing by three in the waning minutes against a surging Gateway team that had comeback to score 17 unanswered points. But NA is going back to the big house thanks in part to Alex DeCiantis, who rushed for 146 yards against a tough Gators defense while scoring on a five-yard run as the Tigers prevailed 21-17 in a thriller at Fox Chapel High School.
Dillon Buechel & Julian Durden – Montour

We have seen this one-two act before from Montour. In fact, these were the numbers from Quarterfinals Friday when the Spartans eliminated West Mifflin: Quarterback Dillon Buechel was 12 of 19 passing for 175 yards and three touchdowns while running back Julian Durden rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown. On Semifinals Friday, Buechel was 12 of 19 passing for 160 yards and a touchdown while Durden rushed for 182 yards and scored on a pair of touchdown runs as the Spartans got sweet revenge on defending champion Central Valley from losing last year’s title game with a 21-14 victory over the Warriors.
Kory Wood – Knoch

Trailing 7-6 with two and a half minutes left in regulation, things did not look good for Knoch after a Franklin Regional punt was downed at the two-yard line. However a big pass on first down by quarterback Ky Kenyon had the Knights Knoching on the door deep into Panthers territory. The drive eventually stalled at the FR 1-yard line with only three seconds remaining. Would Mike King go for the touchdown and risk being stopped short, or would he kick a field goal and risk a bad snap that led to a missed extra point on a Knoch first quarter touchdown. Coach King summoned Kory Wood to the field and the senior booted his teammates all the way to Heinz Field by connecting on a 19-yard field goal in a thrilling 9-7 win for the Knights over the Panthers.
Terry Swanson – Aliquippa

While there were many fantastic finishes around the WPIAL on Semifinals Friday, Martorelli Stadium in West View was not the site of one of them as Aliquippa put the pedal to the metal early and often in overwhelming Greensburg Central Catholic. Leading the way on the ground was Terry Swanson as the sophomore running back rushed for 111 yards and scored three touchdowns on runs of 7, 5 and 9-yards as the Quips remained undefeated and clinched their fourth consecutive trip to Heinz Field with a 35-0 rout of the Centurions in a rematch of the 2009 WPIAL Class AA Championship Game.
Demetrious Cox – Jeannette

In 2006 and 2007, the great Terrelle Pryor led Jeannette to back-to-back WPIAL football championships. Now it’s 2011 and Jeannette is headed back to Heinz Field behind another great quarterback. Demetrious Cox can beat you with his arm or his legs…his weapon of choice against Seton-LaSalle on Semifinals Friday was with his arm. Cox hit on 7 of 11 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown pass, plus he rushed for touchdown runs of 21, 4, 25 and 10 yards in a dominant performance that led the Jayhawks past the Rebels to the tune of 40-21.
Josh Beverly & Lenny Williams – Sto-Rox

Passing yards were tough to come by against an aggressive Bishop Canevin defense. So trailing at halftime, a ground attack seemed to be the way to go for Sto-Rox. So they not only had one, but two 100-yards rushers by the time the ‘dust’ settled with tailback Josh Beverly gaining 133 yards and scoring on a two-yard run that opened the scoring in the first quarter, while quarterback Lenny Williams rushed for 104 yards and closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter with a game-winning touchdown pass of 18-ayrds to Marzett Geter in the Vikings hard-fought 12-10 victory over the Crusaders at Moon Stadium.
Tyler Boyd – Clairton

In the blink of an eye after the opening kickoff to start the game, Clairton trailed Rochester 7-0 and suddenly three straight WPIAL championships, two straight PIAA crowns and a near record win streak of 42 in a row didn’t mean squat. So Clairton rolled up their sleeves, went to work and scored the next 43 straight points. Tyler Boyd continues to shine in the postseason as he rushed for 198 yards and scored four straight touchdowns as the Bears are back in the Class A title game following their 43-7 triumph over the Rams.

Tags: Aliquippa, Clairton, Jeannette, Knoch, Upper St. Clair