5 things to watch: Now, it starts to count
For the first three weeks of the high school football season, the majority of the teams in the WPIAL have played only non-conference games, which adds intrigue for fans, bragging rights for winners and the possibility of a higher seed when the playoff brackets are unveiled, but those contests have nothing to do with who gets into the postseason or who heads into the winter sports season.
For the majority of 22 teams in the Observer-Reporter coverage area, the “real” games begin tonight.
The Class A Tri-County South Conference has eight local squads battling it out in four contests. Mapletown begins defense of its conference title when it hosts Beth-Center; Bentworth travels to Monessen; California is at Jefferson-Morgan and West Greene welcomes Carmichaels to town.
Avella is at Cornell in the Class A Black Hills Conference and Fort Cherry heads to Chartiers-Houston.
Peters Township visits South Fayette in the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference, and Trinity heads to Connellsville in its Class 4A Big Seven Conference opener.
The Class 2A Century Conference has Charleroi at Sto-Rox, McGuffey traveling to Brentwood and Waynesburg hosting Key6stone Oaks.
On Saturday, Burgettstown plays at Bishop Canevin in the Class A Black Hills Conference.
1. Maples’ streak snapped: Mapletown had its regular season winning streak snapped at 12 games in last week’s 14-7 setback to Avella.
The dozen wins Mapletown had accumulated from last season to the first part of this year was the longest in the area, but Belle Vernon has taken over the top spot with eight straight victories. Fort Cherry is hot on the Leopards’ heels with seven in a row.
The Leopards have not entered conference play yet but face a tough task at Penn-Trafford, a quality Class 5A opponent. Ironically, the Warriors were the last team to defeat Belle Vernon in the regular season as they won last year’s contest, 14-13.
I believe the Leopards will come through tonight with a victory.
2. Undefeated Waynesburg ready for Eagles: The Raiders are 3-0 and are piling up some accolades for their accomplishments, but the real tests begin tonight in their Century Conference opener.
Waynesburg will battle Keystone Oaks this evening in a game you don’t want to miss. Kudos to the Raiders and head coach Aaron Giorgi for having such a strong start after suffering through an 0-10 season last year.
This is a step up in competition for the Raiders, who opened with wins over three Class A teams from the Tri-County South: Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan and California. KO has a 1-2 record but the Golden Eagles are allowing an average of only 14 points per game.
3. Rangers’ offense flying high: Fort Cherry was expected to be a high-powered offense this season with sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg returning, but the Rangers have more weapons that just Sieg.
Sieg has been right on par with expectations through the first three games as he is 22-for-34 for 349 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions and has 325 rushing yards on 18 carries and six trips to the end zone. Sieg averages 18 yards per carry.
Teammate Ethan Faletto averages 12 yards per attempt for 317 yards after three contests, all wins for Fort Cherry. Sieg and Faletto are on pace to have 1,000-yard seasons, which will most-likely increase with a bigger workload. Nate Heirendt averages “only” 10 yards per attempt.
The Rangers’ top receiver is Shane Cornali, who has 12 receptions for 203 yards and three touchdowns.
4. Big Macs return to non-conference play: Canon-McMillan is one of only five teams in Class 6A, and after playing back-to-back conference games, the Big Macs are on the road tonight at Bethel Park.
Canon-McMillan is coming off a 38-0 victory over Seneca Valley, which most-likely secured a spot in the postseason with four of the five teams being invited, but the season has many twists and turns.
The Big Macs lost their Tri-County Five conference opener to North Allegheny, 30-6. After tonight’s game, Canon-McMillan hosts the high-powered offense of South Fayette before returning to conference action for a huge test at Central Catholic.
5. Saturday night special: Saturdays are usually reserved for the college game, but Bishop Canevin plays its home games at Dormont Stadium, which it shares with Keystone Oaks and Seton LaSalle, so mnay of the Crusaders’ home games are played on Saturdays.
Burgettstown will have the rare Saturday road game in the Black Hills Conference opener for both squads. Bishop Canevin is the defending conference champion and was the WPIAL runner-up last year, so the Blue Devils are in for a tough test.
The Crusaders will host area teams in Fort Cherry and Chartiers-Houston on Saturday night.