Julian Durden ran for 251 yards and four touchdowns Friday night to lead
Montour (McKees Rocks) to a 28-20 win over visiting West Allegheny that gave the Spartans the WPIAL Class AAA Parkway Conference title.
Durden scored on runs of 86, 17, 3 and 9 yards while helping Montour erase an early 20-7 second-quarter deficit.
“He’s a special back, no doubt about it,” Montour head coach Lou Cerro told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
about his 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior running back. “He comes into every game with a chip on his shoulder. But he just seemed more focused tonight.”
Montour needed Durden to help offset a three-touchdown, 184-yard performance by West Allegheny’s
Aaron McKinney, who staked the Indians to the lead thanks to scoring runs of 3, 49 and 6 yards. He had 133 yards in the first half.
Durden scored his long touchdown run on his first carry of the game to give Montour a 7-0 lead, but two McKinney scoring runs made it 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. McKinney then scored again in the second quarter making it 20-7.
But Durden scored on runs of 17 and 3 yards, the final with 39 seconds left in the second quarter, to put Montour ahead 21-20 at halftime.
“He’s as impressive in person as he was on film,” West Allegheny head coach Bob Palko told the newspaper. “He’s impressive, but he’s not the only thing they have. They have the total package.”
The game remained 21-20 through most of the second half thanks to Montour’s defense forcing three West Allegheny turnovers, including a pair in Spartan territory. One came at the Montour 5-yard line with just more than six minutes to play on an interception by
Sherrod Naylor, who also had a fumble recovery.
Montour turned one of those turnovers into a 9-yard Durden touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
2. Williams explodes for massive stat line: Delrece Williams of
Steel Valley (Munhall) ran for 339 yards and seven touchdowns and also caught a 57-yard touchdown pass in Steel Valley’s 72-26 win over Quaker Valley Friday night. The victory clinched a WPIAL Class AA playoff spot for the Ironmen. Williams scored on a runs of 51, 12, 3, 11, 54, 27 and 17 yards.
3. A-C Valley breaks long losing streak: Behind 109 yards rushing and two touchdowns from
Alex Ford,
Allegheny-Clarion Valley (Foxburg), located in Foxburg on the Clarion-Butler-Venango county lines, broke a 46-game losing streak with a 13-8 win over Hancock (Md.) Saturday afternoon.
The win was the first for the Falcons since Oct. 7, 2005, when they beat Union-Rimersburg 26-13. The eight points allowed were the fewest allowed by A-C Valley since beating Conneaut Lake 47-6, Sept. 24, 2004.
Jimmy Holton (13 tackles, ½ sack, fumble recovery),
Robert Sibble (10 tackles, 2 ½ sacks) and
Lee Russel (8 tackles, 2 ½ sacks) led the defensive effort.
4. Deer Lakes clinches first-ever playoff spot: Deer Lakes (Russellton) jumped out to a 16-0 lead and led 23-6 at halftime before holding off a late charge by Burrell to clinch the first playoff spot in school history with a 23-21 win over the Buccaneers Friday night.
Deer Lakes had been the only WPIAL school that has played football for at least 20 years that hadn’t earned a playoff spot, but that all changed thanks to touchdown runs by Brian Palmiere and Cody Fleming, a touchdown pass from Pat Jones to Zac Capan and a 23-yard Troy Szwaczkowski field goal.
Mark Wesolek led the Lancers with 167 yards rushing on 22 carries.
5. Shell tops 6,000 career yards, Hopewell remains alive in playoff race: Rushel Shell of
Hopewell (Aliquippa) became the 21st player in Pennsylvania football history and the fourth in WPIAL history to rush for 6,000 career yards when he ran for 204 yards and five touchdowns, all in the first half, in a 42-20 win over Ambridge that keeps the Vikings playoff hopes alive.
Shell now has 6,165 career yards, the 20th most yards in state history. Shell is fourth in WPIAL history in rushing behind Fort Cherry’s Mike Vernillo (7,646 yards), Penn-Trafford’s Matt Garvish (6,512 yards) and West Greene’s Rodney Wilson (6,304 yards).
With 1,909 yards rushing this season, Shell needs 91 yards this week at West Allegheny to become the fourth player to rush for 2,000 yards in the regular season in WPIAL history. He did it last year (2,043), and Laurel Highlands’ Jim Smith (2,026 in 1989) and Mars’ Bill Bair (2,112 in 2007) also accomplished the feat.
Hopewell, meanwhile, may need a win to clinch a WPIAL playoff spot. The Vikings are 3-3 in the Class AAA Parkway Conference tied with Blackhawk and Central Valley for third place with the top four teams making the playoffs. Central Valley plays Ambridge while Blackhawk hosts New Castle, which would improve to 3-4 with a win. Hopewell lost to Blackhawk but beat Central Valley and New Castle.
6. Cameron County clinches fourth straight AML North title: Jason Blose ran for a 10-yard touchdown in overtime to give
Cameron County (Emporium) its fourth consecutive District 9 Allegheny Mountain League North title with a 27-21 win over visiting Port Allegany.
Blose ran for 172 yards and three touchdowns and also completed a pass for 36 yards and had four catches for 62 yards to help the Red Raiders (6-2) win their sixth straight game. He was named the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com Player of the Week for his efforts.
Cameron County will face AML South champion Brockway and all-time Pennsylvania passing leader Derek Buganza in the AML title game in two weeks at Cameron County. The Red Raiders have lost the last three AML championship games, falling to Curwensville last year after losing to Kane in 2007 and 2008.
7. Buganza sits: A week after setting the Pennsylvania career passing record,
Brockway's Derek Buganza didn’t play – except for some holding duties on special teams – in the Rovers' 63-38 win over Johnsonburg Friday night. Buganza has been nursing an injured thumb.
Brockway didn’t need him, as
Mike Vervoort ran for 226 yards and a touchdown,
Zack Freemer ran for 133 yards and four touchdowns and
Kyle Braun, one of two quarterbacks to play for the Rovers, threw for a touchdown, caught a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown. He was 5 of 11 passing for 105 yards, caught a 57-yard touchdown pass and ran for 96 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown run.
8. Oil City upset: Two weeks ago,
Oil City was considered one of the favorites for the District 10 Class AAA title. Two weeks later, the Oilers find themselves playing for their playoff lives after
Meadville upset Oil City 34-21 Friday night behind 320 team rushing yards.
Dequann Epps ran for 140 yards and a touchdown, and
Artrel Foster had 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Notre Dame recruit
Ben Koyack had eight catches for 152 yards including a 71-yard touchdown catch for Oil City.
Mark Kulinski was 22 of 40 passing for 288 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
9. Additional top performances* Dave O’Brien – Seton LaSalle (Pittsburgh): 395 yards passing, 5 touchdowns in a 42-35 loss to South Fayette.
* Mike Del Sardo – Seton-LaSalle: 232 yards receiving, 2 touchdowns in a 42-35 loss to South Fayette.
* Alex Papson – North Allegheny (Wexford): 280 yards rushing, 3 touchdowns in 45-0 win over Shaler.
* Brandon Seachrist – Riverview (Oakmont): 14 catches, 147 yards in a 45-7 loss to Bishop Canevin.
* Steve Dutkowski – North Hills (Pittsburgh): Passed for 300 yards, 2 touchdowns and ran for a touchdown in a 35-14 win over Seneca Valley.
* Perry Hills – Central Catholic (Pittsburgh): Passed for 271 yards, 4 touchdowns in a 38-10 win over Altoona.
* Andy Carter – Norwin (North Huntingdon): 8 catches, 130 yards, 3 touchdowns in a 24-7 win over Latrobe.
* Jared Heschke – Brookville: 4 catches, 116 yards, 2 touchdowns. Set school record for catches (77) and receiving yards (1,419) in a career and tied the school record for touchdown catches in a career (14) in a 28-0 win over Clarion.
WHAT’S IN STORE IN WEEK NINE 1. Upper St. Clair at Mt. Lebanon (Pittsburgh) – The WPIAL Class AAAA Great Southern Conference title as well a high seed in the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs will be at stake when these two Pittsburgh South Hills rivals meet at Mt. Lebanon Friday night.
Upper St. Clair is 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference with the Panthers' lone loss coming to unbeaten North Allegheny, who is ranked No. 1 in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps.com.
Mt. Lebanon, meanwhile, is 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference. The Blue Devils have won every game by at least eight points with the closest being a 28-20 win over Class AAA Hopewell.
Do-everything quarterback
Dakota Conwell leads Upper St. Clair. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior has rushed for a team-high 706 yards and 11 touchdowns while averaging 6.36 yards per carry. He is also completing 60.5 percent of his passes (46 of 76) for 727 yards and four scores – he has three interceptions. Last week in a 44-21 win over Bethel Park he threw for 156 yards and ran for 146 and four touchdowns.
Luke Hagy leads Mt. Lebanon having rushed for 1,490 yards and has scored 22 touchdowns. He had 225 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-15 win over Peters Township last week. He is the fourth leading rusher in the WPIAL.
2. Brookville at Punxsutawney (Punxsutawney) – The first-ever Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference Large School Division title is at stake Friday night along with the annual Route 36 trophy when Brookville travels to Punxsutawney in this District 9 Jefferson Country rivalry game.
Brookville is 7-1 and Punxsutawney is 8-0, but the Chucks need to keep winning to keep their District 9 Class AAA playoff hopes alive.
Running back
Ryan Kerr, quarterback
Steve Kennedy and wide out
Jared Heschke (see above) lead Brookville. Kerr has rushed for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns, Kennedy has thrown for 758 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 557 yards and 10 scores and Heschke has 25 catches for 460 yards and four touchdowns.
Quarterback
Logan Weaver, running backs
Jason Fallara and
Ben Blazavich lead Punxsutawney, whose defense has also recorded four shutouts on the year while allowing just 33 points on the year. Weaver, only a junior, is 57 of 101 passing for 846 yards and 14 touchdowns while running for 130 yards and four scores for the defending District 9 Class AAA champions.
Fallara is the leading rusher with 564 yards and nine touchdowns with Blazavich adding 308 yards and six scores and has 13 catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Punxsutawney, which had winless seasons in 2005 and 2007, is looking for its first unbeaten regular season since going 10-0 in 1977. The Chucks could achieve that with the win over Brookville and a victory over winless West Shamokin in Week 10.
