Mikes, Trojans clash in battle of TCS powers
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
California’s Jelani Stafford gains some of his 85 yards, as Fort Cherry’s Nathanael Higham attempts to make the tackle on Sept. 1 during a Tri-County South game at Trojans Stadium.
Dave Stofcheck
Carmichaels running back Brennen Pelzer (34) tries to elude Monessen’s Lyndon Henderson (5) and Dishon Howell (88) during their game on Sept. 1. The Mikes downed the Greyhounds, 33-15, and have won 13 consecutive Tri-County South games heading into tonight’s clash at California.
It’s hard to miss California’s Jelani Stafford on film.
In person, well that’s another story.
Stafford will lead the unbeaten Trojans against visiting Carmichaels tonight in a key Tri-County South Conference matchup.
The game will also be featured as the Herald-Standard’s Game of the Week. Video highlights, photographs, and game coverage will be available on the Herald-Standard’s website, and also in Sunday’s print edition.
Stafford, all 6-foot-3, 265 pounds of him, is a force to be reckoned with. The junior running back has steamrolled opposing defenses this season to the tune of 964 yards on 79 carries (12.2 average per carry) and he has scored 15 touchdowns.
Brute force may be Stafford’s calling card, but don’t’ be mistaken — for his size, Stafford also possesses elusive quickness.
“For a coach, he’s a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Carmichaels head coach Ryan Krull said. “He can run over you or he can pull away. I watched him on the Monessen film and he hurdled a kid.
“Kids who are 6-3, 265 and move like him do not come around very often. He’s unlike any player we’ve played against. If he’s not a Division I player, I don’t know what a Division I player is.”
California (6-0, 4-0) believes it has one of the WPIAL’s best Class A teams. The Trojans already have impressive wins over Fort Cherry and Imani Christian, and a win over Carmichaels would all but lock up the Tri-County South title.
The Trojans can’t afford to look ahead, but following Carmichaels, Class A powerhouse Rochester comes to Coal Center. The Rams are also one of the WPIAL’s top Class A teams, and are currently ranked No. 4 in the PIAA by the Harrisburg Patriot News.
Along with Stafford, California has a number of playmakers, including quarterback Colin Phillips, wing Cochise Ryan and running back Jonathan Wood.
As a team, California is averaging 10.5 yards per carry.
“They have three, four, five kids you have to be concerned with,” Krull said. “They’re good up front. The offensive line comes and gets it; they come down hill and come after you.”
It’s a luxury not lost on Trojans coach Darrin Dillow.
“I really feel comfortable running six or seven of our running backs,” Dillow said. “We have a lot of depth there. They’ve all worked very hard and with the personnel that we have we really want to spread the ball around.”
Carmichaels (4-1, 4-0) comes into tonight’s game fresh off a 31-8 win over Greene County rival Mapletown. The victory extended Carmichaels’ TCS winning streak to 13 games. The Mikes last lost a conference game on Oct. 16, 2015, 49-21 to Frazier.
The Mikes trailed Mapletown 8-0 late in the first half, but tied the score before the half ended, then scored twice early in the third quarter to take control of the game.
“I consider us as good as our last game,” Krull said. “We have to play cleaner; we had over 100 yards in penalties against Mapletown. We stopped ourselves and we allowed Mapletown to continue drives with silly and selfish penalties.
“The second thing we need to clean up is the way we’re playing on offense. We’ve struggled to throw the ball, struggled to protect, and we’ve struggled to run the ball. We’re not consistent in any phase offensively.”
The importance of the game related to the conference title isn’t lost on Krull, but he insists his team prepared this week just as it has through the first five weeks of the season.
“I told the team in preparing for this game that the outside world is going to perceive us as the underdog,” Krull said. “I told the team not to be surprised. That’s fine. We’re not bitter. We spent no time talking about it after that. It had no effect on our preparation.
“We view this game like every single one of them … the next game on our schedule is the most important to us. That’s really our mindset. “
Like California, Carmichaels has a number of weapons on offense, including senior running backs Nick Mundell, Jacob Lowry and Brennan Pelzer, and sophomore quarterback Kevin Kelly.
Also in local Tri-County South action, the Maples (2-4, 1-3) visit Jefferson-Morgan (2-4, 1-2).
In Big Nine Conference play, Albert Gallatin (1-4, 1-3) hosts Greensburg Salem (2-4, 2-3), Laurel Highlands (2-4, 0-4) travels to West Mifflin (4-1, 3-1), Uniontown (0-6, 0-4) hosts Ringgold (2-3, 2-3) and Belle Vernon (5-0, 5-0) welcomes Trinity (3-2, 2-2).
Five area teams play in the Interstate Conference with Mount Pleasant (2-4, 1-3) hosting Derry Area (5-1, 3-1), conference leading Elizabeth Forward (4-1, 4-0) traveling to Cougar Mountain to play Yough (1-5, 1-2), Waynesburg Central (1-4, 1-4) welcoming South Park (2-3, 2-1) to town, and Southmoreland (0-5, 0-3) looking for its first win this season at McGuffey (4-2, 3-1).
Two undefeated teams meet in the Century Conference as Beth-Center (6-0, 3-0) hosts Burgettstown (5-0, 4-0). Unbeaten Washington (5-0, 3-0) is home to Bentworth (2-4, 2-3), Charleroi (5-1, 2-1) travels to Chartiers-Houston (0-6, 0-4) and Brownsville (1-5, 1-3) welcomes Frazier (0-6, 0-4) to Redstone Field.
Connellsville (1-5, 0-5) steps out of Big East Conference play when it travels to Baldwin (0-5, 0-5), West Greene (4-2, 3-2) hosts Leechburg (0-6, 0-5) and Monessen (1-5, 1-3) travels to North Park’s Stone Field to meet Northgate (2-3, 2-3).