Four more in playoffs tonight
Following are capsule looks at the other four WPIAL playoff football games involving district teams:
Class AAA
No. 16 Laurel Highlands Mustangs at No. 1 Central Valley Warriors
LH finished 5-4, good for fifth in Big 10 Conference. The Mustangs average 35.7 points scored per game and give up an average of 30.1 points. CV finished 8-1, tied for first with West Allegheny in Parkway Conference. The Warriors average 35.2 point scored per game and give up only 13.2.
Quoting Laurel Highlands coach Zack Just:
ON LH’S HEALTH: “Unfortunately, we’re missing Ian Edenfield, one of our best defensive players, a linebacker who helped run the defense. Missing Ian definitely hurts in the playoffs when you’re going to see some good offenses. But we did get offensive linemen Logan Miller and Dylan Groh back, so we’re healed up a little bit, as good as you can expect to be, I guess, for this time of year.”
ON CENTRAL VALLEY: “They’re really good, obviously. Coach (Mark) Lyons does a great job. They’re fast and physical. They don’t quite have that one dynamite player like they did with Jordan Whitehead, but the whole team, they’re very solid top to bottom. You don’t win that conference without being very good. We did have a fairly good game against them last year. Our kids are excited and looking forward to it.”
Maybe the Warriors are a no-name team, but Laurel Highlands has plenty of star power. Quarterback Jimmy Pierce ranks 16th in the WPIAL with 1,482 passing yards and 14 touchdowns passing. His go-to receiver is Chad Livingston, who ranks fourth in the WPIAL and first in Class AAA with 43 catches this season and ranks second int eh WPIAL and first in Class AAA with 925 receiving yards. Livingston holds the LH record for career receptions.
THOUGHTS ON GAME: “We’re happy to be in. We’re in a pretty tough conference, it was close until the last couple weeks and we fought hard to get in. I know these seniors very well and they’re going to play for four quarters. They’re not going to make it easy on Central Valley, that’s for sure.”
No. 15 Chartiers Valley Colts at No. 2 Belle Vernon Leopards
The Colts are 4-5 and finished in a three-way tie for fourth in Parkway Conference to become the bracket’s wild-card team. CV averages 20.6 points per game offensively, but gives up 28.8 on defense. Unbeaten Belle Vernon could have been seeded No. 1 after finishing 9-0 and winning the Big 10 Conference championship, but settled in as a very strong No. 2 seed. BVA scores 36.0 points per game and gives up only 6.3.
Quoting Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert:
ON A PERFECT REGULAR SEASON: “That was something neat for the coaches and kids, to be the only undefeated team in Triple-A. I’m not going to say that I expected us to be undefeated because that’s such a hard task to accomplish, but based off the work ethic and the mindset of the kids back in the summer, I felt if we could pull it together, this season might be pretty special.”
ON CHARTIERS VALLEY: “I know they’ve got an athletic quarterback (Jake Collins) who can run it (676 rushing yards) or throw it (988 passing yards), so he’s a dual threat. But we’ve done pretty good against those types of kids so far this year. They run a multiple spread-type of scheme. They’re pretty solid all the way around. I think they’re consistent across the board. They have a decent line and decent skill kids. They’ve got a pretty good D-line so I think that will be a good battle up front. Hopefully, our guys will rise to the occasion.”
The Leps, meanwhile, are loaded. Senior running back Luke Durigon has gained 1,044 yards on the ground through the season. Junior quarterback Mike Fine has run for 479 yards. The dynamic duo has combined to score 26 touchdowns this season. Defensively, Belle Vernon may be even better. The Leps finished the season with three consecutive shutouts and had four on the year. They limited three other opponents to seven points, gave up 12 once and surrendered over 20 (24) once.
ON BELLE VERNON’S FOOTBALL PROGRAM: “We have had some success this year at the middle school, our JVs are doing pretty good, so I think we’ve got everything going in the right direction.”
Class A
No. 9 Avonworth Antelopes at No. 8 Beth-Center Bulldogs
Avonworth finished 7-2, tied for second in the Black Hills Conference. The Antelopes average 35.1 points scored per game and give up an average of 23.1. Beth-Center was 7-2 and finished second in the Tri-County South Conference. The Bulldogs score 43.1 points per game and give up only 15.9 points per game.
Quoting Beth-Center coach Ed Woods:
ON STICKING WITH WHAT GOT THEM HERE: “No doubt about it, we’re a running football and we’re going to continue doing what we do best.”
ON AVONWORTH QB ZACH CHANDLER, who set a WPIAL record with 2,812 passing yards this season: “He’s 6-4 and weighs 230 or 240 and he has thrown 29 touchdown passes.”
In their two losses, Beth-Center gave up five TD passes against Greensburg Central Catholic and three against Frazier. Woods believes those games have made the Bulldogs’ secondary better.
“Absolutely, we have gotten better on defense as the season progressed, just as we have gotten better on offense.”
ON TONY WELSH: “The thing about Tony is that he has gotten stronger as the season has progressed. He had over 300 rushing yards last week against Bentworth and scored three or four touchdowns against Jefferson a week before that.”
Welsh will likely win his third consecutive Herald-Standard Touchdown Club title this season. Welsh has averaged 9.0 yards per rush and gained 1,753 yards on the ground this season. He has also caught 10 passes for 106 yards and scored 28 touchdowns. Welsh needs 139 yards to pass Keith Miller and become BC’s all-time rushing leader.
No. 16 Carmichaels Mikes at No. 1 Clairton Bears
The Mikes are 5-4 and finished fourth in Tri-County South Conference by beating Jefferson-Morgan in the final regular-season game. Carmichaels averages 18.9 points per game, but gives up only 16.9. The Bears are 9-0 and finished first in Eastern Conference. Clairton scores an average of 59.6 points and gives up only 6.8.
Quoting Carmichaels coach Ryan Krull:
HOW DO YOU APPROACH CLAIRTON: “We’ll keep doing what we’ve done all year. Will we maybe try to do a couple little things that we feel might give us a little bit of an advantage? Sure. If we see something on film that we think if we put in a new formation it might help us, we’ll go ahead and do those things. But we won’t totally flip the script here. We’ll stick to who we are and what we’ve done to get to this point.”
ON JEFFERSON-MORGAN BEING LIKE A PLAYOFF GAME ITSELF: “We knew that going into the game last week. We talked about it very briefly that in order to keep playing we’re going to have to win on Friday night. And they responded well. I thought they played with great passion and effort and they got to extend their season for a week. They know the message is the same this week.”
Carmichaels running back Shawn Dulaney rebounded from a horrific knee injury to lead the Mikes in scoring. He suffered a partially torn knee ligament two days before the opening game, but missed only four games and led the Mikes over the Rockets in their playoff-clinching win.