WPIAL Friday Night HighLights for Week Eight

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, October 19, 2013 | 9:14 AM

There was a playoff feel to Week 8 Friday night. Yeah, the weather had a lot to do with it on a crisp, clear evening, however the quality of play and the excitement of the action seemed to be ratchet up a notch or two. In a season drenched with blowouts, there were a lot of tight games that prove the postseason is just around the corner. Here are the players that shined the most on the field while an eclipse was going on over the field.

T.J. Holl – Seneca Valley

Most coaches don't like to play games out of section late in the regular season, however the Week 8 scheduled showed three battle of Top 10 teams in non-conference games, including in Class AAAA as #6-ranked Seneca Valley visited #8 Bethel Park in a battle where sons of the coaches squared off under center. When the smoke cleared, it was the visitors cruising away to the convincing 'W' thanks in part to quarterback T.J. Holl, who hit on 18 of 24 passes for 301 yards with two second half scoring tosses of 13 and 75 yards as the Raiders beat the Black Hawks 39-3.

Eddie Jenkins – Mount Lebanon

Desperate times, desperate measures. Facing an elimination game with a loss, Mount Lebanon turned to their third quarterback of the season in sophomore Eddie Jenkins and youth was served. Jenkins connected on 15 of 21 passes for 233 yards and threw two touchdown passes of 5-yards to Shane Lefever and 3-yards to Troy Apke, plus with his team down 14-0 early, he scampered 9 yards for the first score of the game and a momentum changer as the host Blue Devils kept their playoff hopes alive into Week Nine with a 24-21 victory over the Penn Hills Indians in a Class AAAA Southeastern Conference eye-brow raiser.

Dom McKinley – Greensburg-Salem

It is never a good thing when you are headed into the eighth week of the regular season and when you look up in the standings, you see seven teams in front of you. Getting into hurdle mode with only one conference game left was Greensburg-Salem job and fortunately for them, Dom McKinley was in leaping mode Friday night. McKinley rushed for 336 yards and set a school record with five touchdowns on runs of 61, 41, 86, 1 and 17 yards as the Golden Lions kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 56-6 rout of the host Derry Trojans as they now do some Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference scoreboard watching in Week Nine.

Karlyn Garner and Jimmy Wheeler – West Mifflin

What better way for west Mifflin to tune up the band before their big Week Nine Class AAA Big Nine Conference championship game against rival Thomas Jefferson than to have two of your most talented musicians bang the drums slowly to the beat of a combined 428 yards on the ground. it was a sweet tune that the duo of quarterback Karlyn Garner and running back Jimmy Wheeler were whistling as they ripped through the Trinity defense. Garner rushed for 220 yards with a touchdown run and a scoring pass while Wheeler ran for 208 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Titans cruised past the Hillers 43-28.

Julian Cox – New Castle

In a wild game that went down to the wire, New Castle got some late game heroics from their quarterback to beat Moon in another Class AAA Parkway Conference classic. Julian Cox was 12 of 25 passing for 210 yards and three touchdown passes, including a 22-yard strike to Stew Allen with 55 seconds remaining, plus Cox scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter and scored the games decisive points on a two-point conversion run that turned out to be the difference as the Red Hurricane outlast the host Tigers 43-42 to secure third place in the conference.

DiMontae Bronaugh – Hopewell

For years, there was a certain running back from Hopewell High School that seemed to make a splash on this HighLights article every Friday night. But while they have no longer play the Shell game at Hopewell High School, they are also no longer winless in what has been a long campaign. DiMontae Bronaugh gained 286 yards on the ground and scored five touchdowns on runs of 53, 11, 11, 4 and 4 yards as he started the scoring and capped the offense as well in what would be a 55-20 victory for the Vikings over the visiting Freedom Bulldogs in a Class AAA vs. Class AA non-conference contest.

Terry Swanson – Aliquippa

A crazy play capped off a strong night in one of the top games of the year. Aliquippa running back Terry Swanson rushed for 162 yards on 13 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns, one in the second quarter on a 34-yard run that helped tie the game at 14-14 before halftime, the second on a controversial 58-yard run in which many thought Swanson was down and players from both sides stopped, however Swanson was ruled to have never made contact with the ground after landing on a player, and ran into the end zone in the fourth quarter with what proved to be the game winning points in the Quips 34-28 victory over the host Beaver Falls Tigers in the Class AA Midwestern Conference championship game.

Tyler Donahue – Yough

Facing a must-win to keep their playoff hopes alive, Yough quarterback Tyler Donahue was electric in igniting the Cougar Mountain Stadium crowd into sheer bedlam at games end. Donahue delivered both on the ground and in the air and he rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown on a 64-yard run, plus he hit on 20 of 30 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns, including a 42-yard Hail Mary pass into the end zone on the final play of the game that was ruled caught by Jordan Bryan as the Cougars control their own playoff destiny with a 38-31 victory over the visiting Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions in a Class AA Interstate Conference thriller.

Aaron Bailey – Southmoreland

It has been another long season for Southmoreland, partly because of only two wins in their first seven games and also due to a season on the road after the turn at Russ Grimm Stadium was ruined by a late August flood, forcing the team to play their home games at California University of Pennsylvania. However very slim playoff hopes remain going into the final week of the season thanks in part to Aaron Bailey, who rushed for 138 yards and scored tow touchdowns on a 45-yard run in the third quarter and with a 78-yard kickoff return for a score after Charleroi had taken a late 27-23 lead as the Scotties comeback to beat the host Cougars 30-27 in a Class AA Interstate Conference thriller.

Brett Brumbaugh – South Fayette

It was just another day at the office for this super South Fayette team led by a super junior quarterback. Brett 'The Hitman' Brumbaugh connected on 16 of 21 passes for 270 yards and threw a 28 yard touchdown pass to Grant Fetchet in the first quarter and a 62 yard scoring strike to Justin Watson in the second quarter as the Lions remain undefeated and clinch the outright Class AA Century Conference championship for the fourth time in the last five years as the Lions roared to a 48-0 drubbing of visiting South Park, ending the Eagles five game win streak.

BONUS – Summit Academy Knights and West Shamokin Wolves

Ten years is a long time. Twenty-five years is a real long time. so it's always a good story when long playoff droughts come to an end. You know what else is a long time? How about NEVER! It's one thing to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time in a long time, its completely another to clinch a postseason berth for the first time EVER. On the same night in two difference fashions, that is what Summit Academy and West Shamokin accomplished. The Knights lost to host Shady Side Academy 38-8 in a Class AA Allegheny Conference fray, but then learned they had clinched after Burrell lost to East Allegheny. Meanwhile, the Wolves earned their stripes with their record sixth victory of the season after beating visiting Leechburg 36-6 in a Class A Eastern Conference tilt that erased all memories of a district record 44-game losing streak that just ended last year. Huzzah to both!

Tags: Aliquippa, Greensburg Salem, Hopewell, West Mifflin, West Shamokin, Yough