Dec 6, 2002 4 min read

HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) – There’s a fair amount of “been there” among the finalists for Saturday’s PIAA Class AAAA and Class AA football championships. But no team has been there like District 4 champion Mount Carmel.

The Red Tornadoes (14-0) will be seeking their fifth Class AA championship in nine years when they take on District 7 champion Seton-La Salle (14-0) at noon.

The Class AAAA final matches last year’s runnerup, Woodland Hills (13-0), and Parkland (13-1) at 5 p.m.

Parkland is the first District 11 team to reach the AAAA final.

Mount Carmel has won a PIAA championship in every even-numbered year since 1994, a phenomenon that third-year coach Mike Brennan said is not so coincidental.

“It’s tough to win titles back-to-back,” said Brennan, chosen as the Small School coach of the year after a 2000 title game victory over Aliquippa.

“But if you look, you’ll see that District 4 has hosted state playoff games in the even-number years and that we’ve played our most difficult games at home during the even-numbered years. That has been a factor in our success,” Brennan said.

Mount Carmel is 17-1 in state playoff games, including victories this season over Lakeland and Northwestern Lehigh. Mount Carmel’s only playoff loss was a 13-6 setback to Tyrone in the 1999 Class AA championship.

The Mount Carmel-Seton-La Salle matchup features two of the state’s leading quarterbacks. Seton-La Salle’s Anthony Doria has passed for 2,696 yards, while Mount Carmel’s Dave Shinskie, making his third start in a PIAA title game, has thrown for 2,312 yards.

“Doria isn’t that big (6-1, 205 pounds), but he’s very smart and rarely makes a mistake,” Seton-La Salle coach Lou Cerro said. “Nothing really rattles the kid.”

Late in the season, sophomore running back Carmen Connolly (829 yards on 151 attempts) began carrying the ball more in an attempt to diversify the offense for the playoff run.

Still, Doria passed for 264 yards last week in a semifinal game against Forest Hills, with Mike Caputo catching eight passes for 157 yards. Caputo has caught 68 passes for 991 yards and Joe Del Sardo has caught 59 passes for 972 yards.

Shinskie, a major college prospect in baseball as well as football, also has a pair of excellent targets in Steve Matzura (47 catches for 685 yards) and Tim Wargo (41 for 742).

But the player who will be watched the most Saturday is Parkland tailback Austin Scott, who has rushed for 3,608 yards – or about 500 yards more than the previous state record of 3,089 set by East Stroudsburg’s James Mungro in 1995.

Scott, a Penn State recruit, ran for 279 yards in Parkland’s 33-13 semifinal triumph over North Penn last week.

One night later, Woodland Hills’ Chris Morgan ran for an AAAA playoff-record 302 yards in a 46-22 victory over Altoona. Morgan became the first back to rush for more than 300 yards since the state playoffs began in 1988.

“He’s had a tough career with knee problems, but he’s had a great year for us,” Woodland Hills coach George Novak said.

“I look at Chris and see 1,800 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns and think ‘What a great season.’ Then I look at Austin Scott’s numbers, and he’s doubled Chris’ total. What a phenom he must be.”

Scott, with 48 touchdowns, needs one score to set the state single-season record. Schuylkill Haven’s Jason Killian scored 48 touchdowns in 1991.

But scoring against Woodland Hills isn’t easy. The Wolverines have yielded 106 points in 13 games and only four multitouchdown games.

Senior defensive back Ryan Mundy is considered one of the top recruits in the country, and Woodland Hills’ defensive front has speed and size.

“They’re very athletic on defense,” said Parkland coach Rob Melosky, whose own defense has given up 168 points in 14 games.

Scott isn’t the only productive runner for Parkland. Nick Pinchek, the fullback, has rushed for 940 yards on 116 carries.

Pinchek is no stranger to running the ball; he rushed for more than 1,300 yards last year when Scott was lost for the season with an opening-game knee injury.