Aug 27, 2017 4 min read

Nothing can be understated about the importance of making a first impression.

Eleven area high school football teams had an opportunity to make statements in Week Zero. For some, it was a smashing success. For others, they have even more to think about as one week has already been played and yet it is only Week One in the 2017 season.

In a new weekly column, we will highlight five things learned over the course of the high school football week.

Here is what we learned in Week Zero:

1. Quarterback questions in 6A – Maybe the most important question entering the week was would Peters Township quarterback Jake Cortes play in the Indians’ opener against Chartiers Valley?

Cortes, who suffered a shoulder injury and didn’t dress for the Indians’ scrimmage against Upper St. Clair, not only returned for meaningful action but did so in a big way. In Peters Township’s 45-14 victory, Cortes completed 14 of 22 passes for 163 yards and four touchdowns.

Meanwhile, even after a 17-10 come-from-behind road victory over Kiski, Canon-McMillan head coach Mike Evans has more decisions to make about his quarterback situation.

Starting quarterback Trey Lewis and backup Jon Quinque combined to complete only five of 16 passes for 56 yards, but it was Quinque who directed the Big Macs’ lone touchdown drive. Through the first three quarters, the only C-M touchdown was an 82-yard kickoff return.

Quinque found wide receiver Drew Engel for the game-winning touchdown with 1:59 remaining. Will Canon-McMillan choose to go with a two-quarterback system? Only time will tell.

2. They are who we thought they were – Reload was never a term associated with South Fayette when it was a smaller school many years ago.

Now, it’s all the Lions seem to do.

Even after losing 22 seniors to graduation, and returning less than a handful of starters on each side of the ball, South Fayette looked the part of a team in midseason form.

With the defense sacking Central Valley starting quarterback Niko Battisti nine times in three quarters and Lions quarterback Drew Saxton starting where he left off last season, South Fayette was dominant in a 20-0 victory.

In positions where questions surfaced in the offseason – wide receiver and kicker – it’s all about the next man up. Junior wide receiver Mike Trimbur turned in an impressive performance with a touchdown and an interception.

Junior Ryan Coe stepped in as the kicker, making two field goals and missing a 52-yard field goal by only a couple of feet.

3. Sharing the wealth – The game plan for McGuffey’s opponents last season didn’t need to be complicated. Stop Highlanders quarterback Marcus Czulewicz and you had a pretty good opportunity to win the game.

It wasn’t the fault of the Highlanders that their starting 11 was a revolving door because of injuries.

Unless the injury bug finds McGuffey again this season, opponents will have to spend more time on the defensive game plan.

A new Wing-T offense has the Highlanders spreading the opportunities between quarterback Marshall Whipkey and running backs Adam Townsend and Christian Clutter.

Townsend had 18 carries, Clutter 14 and Whipkey was effective both running and passing, keeping the Frazier defense guessing in McGuffey’s 28-13 win Saturday at North Allegheny.

4. Pioneering a new way of winning – West Greene is serious about joining the playoff fun the school’s other sports teams have been able to enjoy in recent years.

The Pioneers took an emphatic first step by putting up 46 points against Bentworth, the most the Pioneers have scored in a single game since a 70-14 win over Geibel Catholic in 2012.

The return of leading rusher Ben Jackson and quarterback Zach Pettit will give team some fits this year in the Tri-County South Conference.

If West Greene makse the playoffs, it will be the first time since 1993.

5. Conferences as a whole – For the Tri-County South, Week Zero results could only improve after the conference won only one game in the opening weekend last year. It was a different story Friday as Tri-County South teams went 3-3, including victories by West Greene, Jefferson-Morgan and California against opponents from the Class AA Century Conference. California thumped Brownsville 67-6.

Two of the three Tri-County South teams that lost – Mapletown and Monessen – did so against Class AA teams.

It was not a good week for the Century Conference, which went 2-4 and showed signs of being top heavy. Two teams projected to finish near the top didn’t even play and the conference’s two wins came against Class A competition.