Oct 6, 2016 4 min read

Though a 21-point halftime deficit required an atypical comeback effort from the South Fayette football team a week ago in order to stay undefeated, junior quarterback Drew Saxton enjoyed the experience.

“It was really fun, kind of nerve-wracking,” said Saxton, who passed for 337 yards and four touchdowns. “But it was fun to play a full game where we were pinned against the wall for a whole, entire (time).”

If expectations mean anything, Saxton and his teammates are in for some more fun tonight, when they host New Castle in a much-anticipated Class 4-A Northwest Nine matchup.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Saxton said he expects the Red Hurricane (4-1, 4-2), who have NCAA Division I defensive back prospects Geno Stone and Marcus Hooker, to play the fastest tempo of any team the Lions (4-0, 6-0) have played this season. Saxton also cited their defensive discipline and penchant for effective tackling. How those two players match up with South Fayette wide receiver Dan Trimbur and Company could dictate the game.

“They’re going to be flying around,” Saxton said of New Castle’s defense. “That just creates tighter windows.”

Saxton’s teammates will try to imitate the play of Stone and Hooker in practice this week but it will not compare to facing the actual dynamic players. Saxton said the South Fayette scout team does its best preparing the first team from a strategic standpoint, and the first team will run through its reps at full speed to prepare.

“We have to be able to fly around as an offensive unit and just ball out,” Saxton said.

Expecting to have less time to make reads in the pocket post-snap, Saxton said he knows he’ll need to do as much prep work and adjusting at the line of scrimmage as possible.

One key to neutralizing New Castle’s pressure could come from establishing an early lead, which the Lions couldn’t do a week ago, failing to score in the first half.

In watching film of the recent Mars-New Castle game, which Mars won 34-7, Saxton noticed the energy displayed by New Castle players fell once the Planets began to build their lead.

“We’ve really got to jump on them early,” he said. “The more you let someone hang around, the more confidence they build up and they really start to believe in themselves.”

Besides an ability to score in general – the Lions lead their section in points scored – they can do so quickly, scoring on the first few plays two weeks ago against Knoch in an eventual 49-14 win. Most of the SF’s games this season have been decided by halftime, which has helped in some way because Saxton and the starters wanted to make the most of their sometimes brief stays on the field.

“We know how to come out fast,” he said. “And when we come out fast, we’re hitting on all cylinders.”

Peters Township’s Class 6-A crossover game against powerful Pine-Richland will be missing a big draw in junior quarterback Phil Jurkovec, a Notre Dame commit. Jurkovec injured his thumb and will miss the rest of the season following surgery Friday.

• Carmichaels (4-0, 4-1) secured a postseason spot with a Tri-County South Conference victory over Mapletown last week. Five teams from that section will advance.

Five teams also will move on from the Century Conference, and Chartiers-Houston (4-0, 5-1) can claim one with a win over Charleroi (0-3, 3-3). Belle Vernon (5-0, 5-0) can become one of four Big Nine schools to keep playing into November if it upends Trinity (2-2, 2-3) at Hiller Field.