PITTSBURGH – Mt. Lebanon scored the game’s first 30 points on its way to a 36-21 upset of highly touted Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Saturday afternoon at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Blue Devils (2-1) came into the game ranked 141st in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps.com and were coming off a 28-7 loss to North Allegheny, while PCC (2-1) was ranked ninth.
But Saturday was all Mt. Lebanon, as six different Blue Devils found the scoreboard en route to the upset win.
"It’s a big win for our kids," Mt. Lebanon head coach Chris Haering told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We were disappointed last week in execution in crunch time. The nice thing about today’s win is our guys made some plays when the tide was turning, which we didn’t do a week ago."
Photo by Richard Rector
Mt. Lebanon players run off the field following their 36-21 win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Saturday.
Trailing 30-0 in the second quarter, the Vikings tried to rally, scoring the game’s next 21 points to cut the deficit to 30-21 heading to the fourth quarter. But Mt. Lebanon got a touchdown run from Luke Alberts in the final frame to seal the victory. It was Alberts' second touchdown of the day, and he ran for 126 yards on just 13 carries.
"We knew the second half was going to be tough," Haering told the Tribune-Review. "Central’s come back before already this season. Our guys responded in the fourth quarter."
No. 22 Upper St. Clair rides leg of Court, defense to win over North Allegany
Upper St. Clair, which moved into the MaxPreps.com Pennsylvania Top 25 for the first time this week, rode the leg of senior kicker David Court and a strong defensive performance to stop upset-minded North Allegany 23-14 Friday night.
Court went 3-for-3 in field-goal tries, hitting from 32, 25 and 23 yards, and also connected on a pair of extra points, while the Panthers’ defense recorded six takeaways, including a pair of fumble recoveries by Matt Doman and an interception and a fumble recovery by Montgomery Scott.
Jacob Siwicki scored both of Upper St. Clair’s touchdowns on the ground while rushing for 77 yards. He now has seven scores (six rushing, one receiving) on the season. Alex Park added 137 yards of offense, including 77 passing and 60 rushing, while Connor Scott had 10 tackles, an interception and 55 yards rushing.
Drew Newman led the defense with 11 stops, while Doman added nine and a pair of sacks, giving him four sacks on the season. Doman is averaging 11 tackles per game.
No. 18 Gateway uses balanced attack to beat Latrobe
Thursday night, Gateway, ranked 18th in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps.com, showed why on regional television, using a balanced attack to fly past Latrobe 49-0.
Orne Brey led the Gators with 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while Markie’d Jones added 81 yards rushing and a score and Robert Kalkstein was 7-of-9 passing for 114 yards, including a scoring pass to Steve Vranka, who had two catches for 61 yards. Kalkstein is now 27-of-43 on the young season for 545 yards and four touchdowns, with Vranka catching nine balls for 208 yards and a pair of scores.
Delbert Taylor (11 tackles) and Sascha Craig (five tackles, three sacks) led the Gateway defense.
Other Western PA Top 25 teams all win
The other four Western Pennsylvania teams ranked in the MaxPreps.com Top 25 were also victorious over the weekend, although three of the games were tight.
No. 7 Bethel Park rallied from a 10-7 fourth-quarter deficit to beat North Hills 21-10 on the road Friday night. Bre’ Ford scored the two fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Blackhawks and finished the game with 145 yards rushing and three scores.
Eighth-ranked Wilmington also had to use a fourth-quarter rally to beat Grove City on Saturday. The Greyhounds trailed 14-13 going to the final 12 minutes but scored 21 unanswered points to secure the victory. A pair of touchdowns 14 seconds apart in the fourth quarter got Wilmington rolling, and Jake DeMedal finished 11-of-14 passing for 138 yards and three scores while also rushing for a touchdown. Derrick Burns added a pair of touchdowns, one receiving and one running.
No. 11 Beaver Falls got all it could handle from rival Aliquippa on Friday night before Admire Carter returned a kickoff following a third-quarter Quips touchdown 92 yards for the eventual winning touchdown in a 21-14 Tigers win. Cody Cook was once again the hero for Beaver Falls, rushing 41 times for 235 yards and two touchdowns.
Thomas Jefferson, which dropped nine places to 17th following a closer-than-expected win over Uniontown last week, had no trouble topping Trinity 34-7 Friday night. Sam Johnson threw for three touchdowns while going 9-of-15 passing for 150 yards while also running for a touchdown.
District 10: Titus has huge game for Sharpsville
In District 10 action, Sharpsville got a huge game from Nate Titus in a 38-13 win over West Middlesex. Titus ran 11 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns.
Also in District 10, Trevor Litwiler ran for 168 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 105 and a score in a 41-28 Linesville win over Lakeview, while Erie Cathedral Prep’s Shyquawn Pullium also had a monster game in a 55-14 win over DuBois Saturday. Pullium ran seven times for 225 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 73 yards and two scores.
On Friday night, Mercyhurst Prep got big games from Tim Schwenk (169 yards rushing, 2 TDs) and Aaron Horton (165 yards rushing, 3 TDs) to beat Youngsville 42-7. And Jason Shesterenko averaged a silly 58 yards per carry on three carries (173 yards), scoring on all three of his totes in a 56-9 General McLane win over Maplewood.
District 9: Clarion, Cameron County score big wins
In District 9 play Friday night, both Clarion and Cameron County scored big conference wins over unbeaten foes.
Clarion knocked off rival Keystone 21-12 behind a huge night from senior running back Bubba Rue, who ran for 261 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, including a 59-yard touchdown run where he broke through at least four tackles after appearing to be stacked up at the line of scrimmage.
At Brockway, Cameron County needed the legs of quarterback Jason Blose to score a come-from-behind 28-20 win over the Rovers. Blose scored two late, fourth-quarter touchdowns to give the Red Raiders the win and finished with 113 yards rushing and two scores while also intercepting a pass on defense. Mike Vervoort had a monster game in defeat for Brockway with 12 catches for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Elsewhere in the district, Clearfield rode the arm and legs of quarterback Curtis Frye to a comeback 48-33 win over Indian Valley. Frye was 12-of-24 passing for 267 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions while also running 10 times for 62 yards and three scores. Senior receiver Trey Campman continued to shine, catching five balls for 132 yards and a touchdown and running for 23 yards and a score.
Elk County Catholic scored a big 42-7 win over Smethport thanks to 19 carries for 286 yards and four touchdowns from Ricky Pearsall, while Punxsutawney downed Moniteau 45-16 thanks to Zach Weaver, who was 8-of-9 passing for 217 yards and two scores while carrying the ball three times for 70 yards and a touchdown.
WPIAL: Jones rallies Sto-Rox to win in first appearance of the year
Penn State recruit Paul Jones, who missed the first two weeks with an injury suffered in the offseason, had a monster return to the gridiron for Sto-Rox, completing 20-of-34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns – he was also picked off three times – in a come-from-behind 42-15 win over Quaker Valley. Sto-Rox trailed 15-8 at halftime but scored 34 unanswered second-half points, including 28 in the third quarter, as Jones threw a pair of scoring passes in the quarter.
Fleo comes close to 300 yards on the ground in New Castle win
New Castle running back Justin Fleo came just a few carries shy of reaching the 300-yard mark in a 33-7 Red Hurricanes win over Blackhawk. Fleo rushed for 276 yards and four scores in the victory.
Riverside’s Jared Desensi and West Allegheny’s Mike Caputo also had big nights on the ground. Desensi ran for 251 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Riverside’s 32-28 win over Mohawk, while Caputo ran for 240 yards and a pair of scores in West Allegheny’s 46-6 win over Moon.
Desensi wasn’t the only player to have a big game in the Riverside-Mohawk game, as Mohawk’s Johnny Beatty threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns while running for 175 yards and a pair of scores.
Deer Lakes’ Mitch Martin had a big game receiving in a 28-21 loss to Ford City, grabbing seven passes for 196 yards, including a pair of long touchdown catches. But the Sabers got a touchdown catch and a touchdown run from Caleb Berrett to secure the victory.