Rush runs for WPIAL-record 524 yards in Maples’ victory
Dave Stofcheck
Mapletown’s Richard Cacurak (8) throws a block to try and spring running back Dylan Rush (9) on a Maples running play against Serra Catholic on Aug. 26. Rush ran for a WPIAL single-game record 542 yards and seven touchdowns in the Maples’ 48-32 victory at Avella on Friday night.
Mapletown senior Dylan Rush hopes to propel the Maples into the WPIAL playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2017.
One week after breaking Mapletown’s school record for career rushing yards and scoring, some wondered what Dylan Rush could do for an encore.
They found out on Friday night.
Rush started running in the first quarter and never stopped, amassing a WPIAL single-game record 524 yards rushing and seven touchdowns in Mapletown’s 48-32 victory at Avella in their Tri-County South Conference clash.
“He was just incredible,” Mapletown coach George Messich said of Rush’s jaw-dropping performance. “There were runs he made tonight that were truly unbelievable. There were times where I thought, ‘he’s down,’ and the next thing I know he’s gone.
“He’s a great kid. He deserves it more than anybody, he really does.”
Rush broke Armstrong’s Zane Dudek’s record set on Oct. 3, 2016, when he gained 492 yards on 38 carries against Plum. Dudek scored six touchdowns in the game.
Rush ran the ball 39 times and scored touchdowns on runs of 10, 55, 70, 72, 42, 64 and 11 yards. He also ran in three two-point conversion attempts to account for all of the Maples’ 48 points.
Rush, who pushed his season rushing total up to 1,056 yards and his career total up to 5,370 yards, was quick to commend his teammates.
“I always knew something like this could happen just because of how good our line is how good our blocking is,” Rush said. “It was just great all around.”
Messich agreed.
“Our offensive line did a good job getting him to the second level,” Messich said. “And when you get him into the second level, he’s gone.”
Mapletown needed just about every one of those scores to fend off the feisty Eagles.
The Maples (2-2, 1-1) led 16-6 after the first quarter and 22-14 at halftime. The visitors extended the lead to 42-26 after three quarters.
Avella’s Owen English carried the ball 20 times for 178 yards, and scores of 11, 54, 1, and 48 yards. He also completed 9-of-23 passes for 64 yards. Matt Craig caught three passes for 22 yards for the Eagles (0-4, 0-3).
Avella’s impressive offensive output still wasn’t enough to offset Rush, who sometimes was too efficient, according to Messich, tongue in cheek.
“Jokingly, I yelled at him once and said, ‘Dylan, you’re scoring too fast,'” Messich said with a chuckle. “Because Avella kept getting the ball and scoring and our defense was getting tired.”
Mapletown was playing shorthanded.
“We had to put kids in different positions where they never played before,” said Rush, who also plays safety. “Our defense struggled a little bit but they came up with some big stops in the end.”
“We dressed 20 kids tonight,” Messich said. “We lost a couple in the first half and some others got dinged up. Next week I’m looking at having about 15-16 kids … and we’re playing California.”
As long as one of them is named Rush, though, the Maples will have a punchers’ chance.
Tri-County South Conference
Mapletown 16-6-20-6 — 48
Avella 6-8-12-6 — 32
First Quarter
Map: Dylan Rush 10 run (Rush run), 9:27
A: Owen English 11 run (kick failed), 5:19
Map: Rush 55 run (Rush run), :53
Second Quarter
Map: Rush 70 run (run failed), 10:20
A: English 54 run (English run), 1:32
Third Quarter
Map: Rush 72 run (run failed), 9:43
A: English 1 run (pass failed), 4:29
Map: Rush 42 run (pass failed), 4:08
A: Dylan Markle 7 run (run failed), 1:12
Map: Rush 64 run (Rush run), :55
Fourth Quarter
Map: Rush 11 run (run failed), 2:35
A: English 48 run (pass failed), 1:44