WPIAL Friday Night HighLights – Week Three 2017

By: Don Rebel
Saturday, September 16, 2017 | 4:01 PM

September WPIAL Friday night football continues to shine, both above and on the playing fields. Mother Nature bestowed another picture perfect evening weather wise and these young men took full advantage in leading their teams to victory, including one record smashing performance. Here is a look at some of those standout performances in Week Three of the 2017 scholastic football campaign.

Dylan Rush – Mapletown

Apologies to the Rolling Stones, but you could almost hear Mapletown star running back Dylan Rush singing, “Don’t you know my yardage is going up, up, up, up! That running record is now in tatters. Shadoobie, it has been shattered.” Well, maybe not, but that is exactly what Rush did against Avella as he gained 524 yards on the ground, eclipsing the not so old WPIAL single game rushing record set last year by Zane Dudek of 492 yards. Rush ended up with 7 touchdowns too in the Maples 48-32 Class 1-A Tri-COunty South Conference win over the Avella Eagles.

James Stocker and Aidan Cain – Mount Lebanon

tocker to Aidan Cain – Mount LebanonOK, it wasn’t the 267 catches he had two weeks ago (slight exaggeration), but Aidan Cain continues to put up AB like numbers in his comeback season for Mount Lebanon. Cain had ten receptions for 212 yards aiding the numbers put up by his quarterback James Stocker who connected on 14 of 23 passes for 248 yards as the two hooked up on scoring passes of 73 and 51 yards in the BLude Devils 24-17 victory over the host Canon-McMillan Big Macs in an early season battle for first place in the Class 6-A Southeastern Conference.

Brady Walker – Gateway

He’s a man named Brady and he chucks the pigskin around at a high skill level, how can you not expect big things from the much younger version of a certain successful signal called? This version is Brady Walker, and he has his Gateway team on top in the Class 5-A Big East Conference thanks to another big night in which he connected on 11 of 17 passes for 342 yards and five first half scoring passes as the unbeaten Gators cruised to a 54-13 drubbing of the visiting Armstrong River Hawks.

Dakota Sunday – Plum

It is not easy to make it on the weekly FRIDAY Night HighLights here on The Network, especially if you were named for a different day of the week. But although his name is Sunday, he earned a spot on this Friday list as the Plum running back scored on touchdown runs of 1, 4 and 2 yards, plus he caught a 7-yard scoring pass from teammate Anthony Little to put the Mustangs up for good in what turned out a be a 33-7 conquest of the previously unbeaten Franklin Regional Panthers in a Class 5-A Big East Conference eyebrow raiser.

Domonick Lewellen – Albert Gallatin

West Mifflin is expected to make the playoffs and challenge for a conference championship. The expectations for Albert Gallatin are not as high as winning a couple of games and competing on a weekly basis could be deemed successful. so the outcome between these two teams in a Class 4-A Big Nine Conference contest were very predictable, correct? That’s why they play the game! Sophomore quarterback Domonick Lewellen connected on 21 of 33 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns as the Colonials STUNNED the Titans 28-27.

Justin Vigna – Thomas Jefferson

Here is shocking news. Thomas Jefferson may be the team to beat in the Big Nine Conference and could possibly be the team to beat in all of Class 4-A. I know, hard to believe. In what was supposed to be TJ’s first real challenge, the black and gold passed with flying colors as Justin Vigna rushed for 213 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 4 and 13 yards as the Jaguars cruised to a 48-0 whitewash of the host and much improved Greensburg-Salem Golden Lions.

Ricky Guss – Quaker Valley

Quaker Valley was off to a 3-0 start, but had yet to play a game in the ultra tough Class 3-A Beaver Valley Conference. They hosted #4 Beaver in the conference openers and thanks to another trip on the Guss Bus, you could say they didn’t Quake under pressure. Ricky Guss had over 200 yards in total offense, including 134 yard passing and a touchdown toss to go along with his four socring runs of 1, 12, 2 and 13 yards and the Quakers rolled past the Bobcats 45-21.

Trey Karfelt – Steel Valley

While defending Class 2-A WPIAL and PIAA state champion Steel Valley may not be the Nation of Domionation they were in 2016, they are still pretty darn good as they upped their winning streak to 18 game sin a row. Quarterback Trey Karfelt competed 13 of 22 passes for 308 yards and four long touchdown passes of 46, 50, 18 and 19 yards as the Ironmen improved to 3-0 with a Non-Conference 40-14 conquest of the visiting Valley Vikings.

Brandon Nolder – South Allegheny

Who would be the King of the Crown household in this Class 2-A Three Rivers Conference contest featuring South Allegheny first year coach Mike Crown and Carlynton quarterback Hunter Crown. The jeweled lid goes to Dear ole Dad thanks to the big plays delivered by his quarterback, Brandon Nolder who completed all four of his passes for 206 yards with three of them going all the way to the house for touchdowns of 61, 13 and 99 yards as the Gladiators crushed the Cougars 54-6.

Ryhan Culberson – Fort Cherry

The high hopes this season for Fort Cherry took a hit in Week One when they were thumped big by California and star quarterback Ryhan Culberson was injured. Well let those hopes rise again as Culberson is back with a purpose. Culberson rushed for 259 yards and scored on a pair of touchdown runs of 80 and 4 yards, plus he tossed a short touchdown pass in throwing for 116 yards as the Rangers rolled to a 33-6 victory over the visiting Monessen Greyhounds in a Class 1-A Tri-County South Conference contest.

Tags: Albert Gallatin, Fort Cherry, Gateway