High school football: Now it’s win or go home
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton knows it will take four wins for the Highlanders to garner a WPIAL football championship. The Highlanders host Mohawk tonight in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington and Eddie Lewis will try to soar over Serra Catholic in the Class 2A quarterfinals.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Head coach George Messich has Mapletown undefeated heading into the postseason. The Maples are one of three unbeaten teams in the WPIAL.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Mapletown's Landan Stevenson leads the WPIAL with 2,031 rushing yards and 285 points.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Tyler Richmond, middle, and the Carmichaels defense will be tested by Laurel.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Versatile Brodie Kuzior is the leading rusher for Burgettstown, which hosts Union tonight in the first round of the Class A playoffs.
The time for scratching and clawing is done. The days of worrying about Gardner Points or winning by more than 10 points and losing by less than 10 are behind us.
Now, it’s simple. You either win and advance or you lose and the season is over.
There are eight local high school football teams that begin play in the WPIAL playoffs tonight split between four at home and four on the road. Two others, Canon-McMillan in Class 6A and Belle Vernon in Class 3A, will start their postseasons next week.
Here is a look at tonight’s first-round games:
Class 2A
Mohawk (4-4) at McGuffey (7-3) - Mohawk had its first two games canceled because of a hazing incident, then the Indians lost their next two games to playoff qualifiers Laurel and Riverside. Mohawk made the postseason by winning four of its last six behind the passing of quarterback Jay Wrona, who has 1,268 yards and 14 touchdowns.
McGuffey is coming off a thrilling comeback victory over rival Washington. The Highlanders overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the Prexies, 43-24. Can the Highlanders carry over the momentum from only their third win ever at Wash High Stadium and get a playoff victory?
The key will be the Highlanders’ running game. Quarterback Phillip McCuen and running backs Kyle Brookman, Ethan Dietrich and Dylan Droboj all have at least 350 rushing yards and average six yards per carry. They have combined for 35 touchdowns. When McGuffey throws the ball, it thinks big plays. McCuen has 10 touchdowns among his 33 completions. This will be Mohawk’s first look at McGuffey’s flexbone attack.
McGuffey averages 241 rushing yards per game. Mohawk averages only 87 per game on the ground.
Washington (6-4) vs. Serra Catholic (7-3) at Norwin - This is a rematch of a game won by Serra, 35-34, on Sept. 9 as the Eagles stopped a Wash High two-point conversion with less than two minutes remaining. That game was played in McKeesport. This one is at a neutral site, Norwin High School.
Serra passed for 251 yards against Wash High and the Eagles have a two-quarterback system. Quadir Stribling has thrown for 1,271 yards and 12 TDs. Elijah Ward has 1,092 and 11 TDs. That’s right, two 1,000-yard passers on the same team.
Wash High sputtered down the stretch, losing three of four to end the regular season. The memory of an upset loss to New Brighton in last year’s opening round, plus the element of playing for revenge, should be enough to inspire the Prexies. The question is, can they stop Serra’s passing game and generate enough offense to keep up with the Eagles, who average 33 points per game? Eddie Lewis rushed for 206 yards in the first game against Serra.
Class A
Leechburg (7-3) at Mapletown (10-0) - Want a game matching two schools that have had little or no success in the playoffs? Want a game with two standout running backs? Want a game with two high-scoring offenses?
Well, this game is for you because it has all of the above.
Leechburg, the third-place team from the Eastern Conference, has won only one playoff game since 1978, that a first-round victory over California last year. Mapletown, the Tri-County South Conference champion and only unbeaten team in Class A, has never won a playoff game.
Leechburg is the highest-scoring Class A team in the WPIAL, averaging 47.7 points per game. Mapletown is second at 46.5.
Mapletown’s offense is centered around running back Landan Stevenson, who leads the WPIAL in rushing (2,031 yards) and scoring (285 points). Leechburg counters with running back Braylan Lovelace, a Pitt commit, who has 1,322 yards in nine games. Lovelace did not play last week in the Blue Devils’ loss to Greensburg Central Catholic.
Another player to watch is Mapletown’s Cohen Stout. He’s the only player in school history with consecutive 100-tackle seasons.
Though Mapletown has never played Leechburg, Blue Devils coach Randy Walters is no stranger to the Maples. Walters is a former head coach at McGuffey and Bentworth. At the latter, Waters faced Mapletown in 2007 and 2008.
Monessen (6-4) at Fort Cherry (7-3) - Fort Cherry seems to be peaking at the right time as the Rangers have won four straight, all by double-digit margins. Monessen has been inconsistent but possesses the big-play ability needed to win in the playoffs.
The game matches two of the most exciting freshmen in the WPIAL. Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg is a 1,000/1,000 player and is coming off a game against Burgettstown in which he ran for 366 yards and six touchdowns and also threw a TD pass.
Monessen counters with freshman tailback TyVaughn Kershaw, who has rushed for 1,140 yards, including 549 in the Greyhounds’ last three games. He also threw a TD pass last week against Beth-Center, a game in which he did not enter until the second half.
Expect plenty of points. The winning team in every Fort Cherry game has scored at least 29 points while Monessen allows 26.7 points per game, the second-highest in the Class A playoff field.
Union (7-3) at Burgettstown (6-3) - Union is in the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and quarterback Braylon Thomas had much to do with that, passing for 1,110 yards and 12 touchdowns and adding 683 rushing yards and six scores.
Burgettstown had its five-game winning streak snapped last week. Included in the streak was a win over eight-seeded Our Lady of the Scared Heart.
Brodier Kuzior had a big game last week, rushing for 178 yards. He leads the Blue Devils with 648 yards and 10 touchdowns.
One of Union’s losses was to Canton (31-18), the third-ranked Class A team in the state.
California (8-2) at South Side Beaver (9-1) - This is a classic matchup of the irresistible force against the immovable object. California’s offense averages 43.5 points per game while South Side Beaver has the second-stingiest defense in Class A, yielding only 8.8 points per game. The Rams have held seven opponents to single-digit scoring.
California quarterback Jake Layhue needs less than 100 rushing yards for 1,000. He has passed for more than 1,000.
Carmichaels (7-3) at Laurel (8-1) - Laurel has won seven straight, including victories over four playoff teams, among them Mohawk in Class 2A. Landon Smith is the key player for the Spartans. He has rushed for 1,332 yards and scored 26 touchdowns.
Carmichaels has a win over sixth-seeded Fort Cherry but the Mikes were still saddled with the No. 15 seed. Quarterback Alex Anderson is a dual threat, having set the school’s single-season passing record and also is the Mikes’ leading rusher. Receiver/running back Tyler Richmond is a threat to score from any position and has more than 1,000 receiving yards.