Local teams have their hands full in Class A playoffs
Now that Beth-Center High School’s football received a favorable seed for the WPIAL Class A playoffs, the next step is to show it is deserved.
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs, undefeated and champions of the Tri-County South Conference, will take on No. 13 Riverside in tonight’s first round in Fredericktown.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
The Beth-Center-Riverside game is one of four that involves area Class A teams tonight.
The others are No. 16-seed Avella travelling to No. 1 North Catholic, No. 15 Chartiers-Houston at No. 2 Clairton and No. 12 Mapletown at No. 5 Avonworth.
Beth-Center has not found success in the first round of the playoffs and that has affected its seeding process. B-C lost to Apollo Ridge, 42-28, last season, to Union, 21-7, two years ago and to Fort Cherry, 33-14, three seasons ago.
“The first round has been a monkey on our back the past (few) years,” said Woods. “The kids know it.”
Riverside, the fourth-place finisher in the Big 7 Conference with a 5-4 record, is a passing team that can also run the football.
“They have three good receivers,” said B-C head coach Ed woods. “Their quarterback can run and he throws well.”
That would be Jason Dambach, who has completed 121 of 227 attempts for 1,857 yards and 14 touchdowns. He’s also thrown 7 interceptions.
Beth-Center will turn loose its strong rushing attack, led by junior Anthony Welsh, the seventh-leading rusher in the WPIAL with 1,476 yards. Nico Brown is just 90 yards shy of 1,000 for the season. Woods said he can’t recall a season when B-C had two running backs pass that milestone.
“Welsh has gotten faster and stronger,” said Woods. “He’s put on 30 pounds for (the opening of) camp. He’s probably down a little bit from that. He and Nico worked so hard in the offseason, then a couple days after football, they go into wrestling.”
Woods said determining the number of carries each gets can be difficult, but it’s a good problem to have. Beth-Center has outscored opponents 170-14 over the past three games so starters don’t stay in for the whole game.
“We have always spread the ball around,” he said. “The last couple of week, Tony and Nico got 6 or 7 carries (because of the lopsided wins). That will sure change this week.”
Avella earned its second consecutive playoff berth, something that has not happened since the 1970s. For the second consecutive season, the Eagles draw the top seed in North Catholic.
The Eagles, fourth-place in the Tri-County South Conference with a 5-4 record, played top-seeded Sto-Rox last year. North Catholic is not only the top seed but defending Class A state champion.
“Our message to the kids was to make the playoffs,” said Avella head coach Ryan Cecchini. “We overcame some adversity and it didn’t look good after losing to Bentworth. But we got in and you have to get into the playoffs to win it.”
Avella is led by quarterback Santino Paris, who is coming off a 5-touchdown game against West Greene, and running back Nick Kusich, who has rushed for 1,012 yards and scored 16 touchdowns.
Nine seasons is a long time to be away from the playoffs. That’s why Mapletown is enjoying every second of this.
The Maples finished third in the Tri-County South Conference with a 7-2 record.
Mapletown head coach George Messich said a victory over Monessen in Week 9 was a big boost because the Greyhounds had not lost to the Maples since 2005.
“It was a great feeling for our kids and I think it gave them a lot of confidence coming into the playoffs,” Messich said.
Avonworth, the runner-up in the Black Hills Conference with an 8-1 record, is quarterbacked by Josh Drwal, who took over for the injured Zach Chandler in Week 3. James Hughley and Kevin Simpson have combined for 841 yards and 19 touchdowns. Hughley averages 11 yards a carry.
Mapletown’s Dylan Rush is coming off a 41-carry, 269-yard, 3-touchdown effort in the win over Monessen. Rush is now just 26 yards from 1,000.
For the first time since 2011, Chartiers-Houston has earned a spot in the playoffs as the fourth team out of the Black Hills Conference. The good news is that the Bucs don’t have to play North Catholic, the defending Class A state champions.
The bad news is the Bucs get second-seeded Clairton, which has won six state titles and had a 66-game winning streak winning streak snapped last season by Monessen.
“We’re in the playoffs, playing a great football team,” said C-H head coach Terry Fetsko. “We’ve played a lot of great football teams. We just need to compete and play hard. I’m more concerned about competing, because if you do that, the wins and losses take care of themselves.”
Led by Lamont Wade’s 1,384 yards, Clairton has rushed for 2,549 yards. Incredibly, the Bears have their top four rushers averaging better than 10 yards per carry. Wade leads the way at 17.3. They have helped Clairton average nearly 68 points a game and allow an average of 3.7.
Aaron Matthews, one of the top receivers in the country, is averaging 19 yards a catch and 14 yards per rush.
“We have to eliminate the big plays on offense,” said Fetsko. “We need to keep it out of their hands on offense.”