By Chris Rossetti, www.d9sports.com
MaxPreps.com
BRADFORD, Pa. – Pennsylvania used a strong rushing attack and a stifling defense to shutout New York 27-0 in the 35th Edition of the Big 30 Raabe Charities Classic Saturday night at newly renovated Parkway Field.
Pennsylvania outgained New York 404 yards to 62 while avenging last year’s 22-21 nail-biting loss to New York in the all-star game that pits the best of the northwestern central area of Pennsylvania vs. the best of the southwestern central area of New York surrounding the towns of Bradford and Olean, N.Y.
The 62 yards gained by New York were a record low for the game, which has raised over $1.2 million dollars for local charities since its inception in 1974.
“We weren’t coming off the ball,” New York quarterback Kameron Konert of Bolivar-Richburg High School told the Olean (NY) Times-Herald. “And their defensive line was in on us extremely fast. It was very frustrating.”
While Konert and the New York offense was being frustrated, the Pennsylvania offense, utilizing the Wing-T that Bradford has rode to enormous success over the last decade, was piling up a ton of rushing yards – 327 to be exact.
Ridgway’s Jerico Weitzel, who is better known for his baseball ability (he is attending the University of Florida on a baseball scholarship next year), led the way with 13 carries for 107 yards and one catch for 24 yards and a touchdown (he has had a 54-yard punt return for a TD called back by a penalty). Meanwhile, the Bradford duo of Taylor O’Brien (18 carries, 89 yards) and Nick Johnson (9 carries, 72 yards) combined to rush for 161 yards and three touchdowns with O’Brien getting two of the scores.
O’Brien credited the offensive line for the success of the running game.
“The blocking for the Wing-T is a hard concept to grasp,” O’Brien told the Times-Herald. “But we came together and figured it out. Once the line figures out how the blocking scheme goes, it’s easy to run behind.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Pennsylvania took a 13-0 halftime lead thanks to a 4-yard scoring run by O’Brien and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Kane’s Zach Anderson to Weitzel.
The game remained 13-0 until the fourth quarter when Pennsylvania struck for two more scores.
First O’Brien capped a 3-play, 37-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown run, and then Johnson found pay dirt late in the game from six yards out to set the final score.
Sheffield’s Matt Bryant added 12 carries for 39 yards for Pennsylvania with St. Marys’ Todd Schatz adding six totes for 35 yards.
Cuba-Rushford’s John Dole led New York with seven carries for 29 yards, while Konert added six carries for 13 yards and Pioneer’s Randy Colling had four carries for 12 yards. Konert was also 2-for-5 passing for 29 yards and an interception.
Meanwhile, the real story of the game might have been the new field turf at Parkway Stadium that was installed this summer replacing the grass field.
Technically called Tigerturf, it was installed at a cost of $963,000 according to the Times-Herald.
“We considered it for years,” Bradford athletic director Tim Walter told the Times-Herald. “That field gets so much use. Once you had rain when the field was being played on, it got torn up and never recovered for the rest of the fall. To us, it was just a good idea given the number of contests and the number of athletes who use it.
“We looked at the benefit for our sports teams, (gym class), extracurricular actives and the community. We saw it as a win-win situation for everybody.”
One of the immediate benefits of the new turf field will be that the school’s boys’ and girls’ soccer teams will be able to play home games at the stadium instead of at other locations around town.
“This way, students can actually go to the games because they’re right here,” Walter told the Timers-Herald.
The field becomes the fourth turf football field in the PIAA’s District 9 and the third controlled by a high school. Brockway’s turf field is scheduled to open this fall, and DuBois installed turf a couple of years ago. Clarion High School also plays on the turf at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium, which has been the home of many District 9 and PIAA football and soccer playoff games over the last few years.
WPIAL Football: Valley QB ruled ineligible to play
The Valley (New Kensington area of Pittsburgh) football team took a major blow last week when the WPIAL and the PIAA denied a request by the school to waive one of senior quarterback’s Pat Petit’s semesters therefore making Petit ineligible to play this year.
Petit, 18, is entering his fifth year – ninth semester – beyond his eighth-grade year. The PIAA only allows athletes four years – eight semesters – beyond the eighth-grade year to play sports.
According to the Valley News Dispatch, Petit attended Greensburg Central Catholic during his freshman and sophomore years but was held back as a sophomore, for personal reasons, before transferring to Valley.
Because of those personal reasons, which weren’t publicly revealed, Valley petitioned to get an extra semester back for Petit. But the WPIAL denied the waiver request in February and again earlier this month after Valley appealed the ruling.
“Bottom line is that he is entering his fifth year/ninth semester beyond eighth grade,” WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley told the Valley News Dispatch. “This is a reality not permitted by Article III of the PIAA By-Laws”
The PIAA upheld the WPIAL’s ruling last week after Valley appealed to the governing body of Pennsylvania’s interscholastic athletics.
“There are standards where a waiver can be granted,” PIAA executive director Brad Cashman told the Valley News Dispatch. “But in this case, it was found that the standards were not met to justify the waiver.”
Petit was in line to be the starting quarterback for Valley last season. A year ago, the Viking went 7-3 losing to Mars 17-7 in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.
WPIAL Athletics
Jan McDowell, the athletic director at Deer Lakes High School outside of Pittsburgh since 1999, has retired. She has been replaced by Ron Busby.
McDowell, who is a member of the Ohio University Hall of Fame (field hockey, softball, track and field), also taught classes at Deer Lakes before retiring June 6.
Busby, who lives in Moon Township, Pa., was the athletic director at Harrison Central High School in Ohio prior to taking the Deer Lakes job. Unlike McDowell, he will be a full-time athletic director in an administrative position.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that means Busby will be able to evaluate the Deer Lakes coaches himself because he has a principal’s certification.
Ironically, Busby is also a graduate of Ohio University, and he received his principal certification and his masters at Franciscan University. He was an assistant football coach at East Liverpool (Ohio) High School and the head coach at Bridgeport (Ohio) High.
“They have great facilities here,” Busby told the Post-Gazette. “The football stadium and the track are indicative of a bigger school. It’s just a tremendous facility.
“I have to be patient and understand it will take time. I’m new to the WPIAL and new to the community. I don’t know anything about the community or the district. It will just take some time and things will come together.
District 10 Softball: Corry coach resigns
Dale Henderson, who has been the softball coach at Corry High School near Erie for 19 seasons, has resigned.
Henderson, who led the school to 12 PIAA playoff appearances including five semifinal appearances and a runner-up finish in 1996, has stepped down after his daughter, Rachel, a pitcher, graduated from Corry this past spring.
District 10 Baseball: Hickory’s Armstrong to play baseball at Thiel
Tyler Armstrong, a star pitcher for Hickory High School (near Sharon) this past spring, will continue his baseball career next year at NCAA Division III Thiel.
Armstrong, who has a 6-0 record with a 2.52 ERA including during the regular season, helped lead Corry (20-2) to its second straight District 10 Class AAA title in the spring. He threw a 4-hit shutout in the title game. Armstrong then beat Blackhawk in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs before losing his first and only game of the season 15-6 to Trinity in the PIAA quarterfinals.
He was a first-team All-District 10 Region 4-AAA performer and the conferences’ Pitcher of the Year while also being named the Reinhardts Insurance Agency Athlete of the Month for May.
Last season, Thiel was 29-15 overall and 8-4 in the President’s Athletic Conference losing in the PAC title game 11-10 to Grover City.
