Gridiron greats: California’s Qualk tops H-S All Area Football Team
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Lee Qualk exploded onto the local high school football scene with 383 yards and six touchdowns in California’s 62-26 season-opening win over Serra Catholic.
That was just the beginning for the Trojan senior.
Qualk went on to run for 2,145 yards, was the WPIAL regular-season rushing leader and scored a district-high 232 points.
Qualk is the Herald-Standard All-Area Football Team Player of the Year.
Qualk did it in the postseason as well. After helping California to a second-place finish in the Tri-County South he rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns and added a TD catch in the Trojans’ 22-6 playoff upset of No. 7 Laurel.
Three other players turned in outstanding seasons as well and joined Qualk in the H-S Cream of the Crop category.
Waynesburg Central’s Jake Stephenson and Jefferson-Morgan’s Houston Guesman both threw and passed for over 1,000 yards in leading their respective squads into the playoffs, while the Rockets’ Deakyn Dehoet was the local receiving leader with 52 receptions for 1,100 yards and also returned three kickoffs and a punt for touchdowns.
The Coach of the Year goes to Jefferson-Morgan’s Shane Ziats who guided the Rockets to their first undefeated regular season in 34 years, their first conference title since 2006 and their first outright first-place finish since 1991. Jefferson-Morgan, the lone area team to win a conference championship, went 7-0 in the Tri-County South and 10-0 in the regular season before falling to South Side in the WPIAL playoffs to end up at 10-1.
Ed Woods is the Coach of the Year runner-up for steering the Trojans within a missed two-point conversion of the TCS title before guiding them to a playoff victory. California was the only local team to advance past the first round of the postseason.
Waynesburg, under coach Aaron Giorgi, Southmoreland, under coach Tim Bukowski, and Mount Pleasant, under coach Jason Fazekas, each finished in a second-place tie in their conferences.
Belle Vernon, under coach Matt Humbert, also reached the postseason.
Following is the complete list of the H-S All-Area Football Team:
Player of the Year: Lee Qualk, California
Cream of the Crop: Lee Qualk, California; Jake Stephenson, Waynesburg Central; Deakyn Dehoet and Houston Guesman, Jefferson-Morgan
Coach of the Year: Shane Ziats, Jefferson-Morgan
First Team
Albert Gallatin: Caleb Dehaven, Xavier Rice, Adam Pegg
Belle Vernon: Kole Doppelheuer, Anthony Crews
Beth-Center: Jonah Sussan
Brownsville: Exzavier Vargas
California: Lee Qualk, Landon Abercrombie, Adin Keyes, Vinny Manzella
Carmichaels: Bradley Schoenfeldt, Parker Hewitt
Connellsville: Linkon Keller and Tyler Gallis
Frazier: Derek Diamond
Jefferson-Morgan: Deakyn Dehoet, Houston Guesman, Eli Hill, Jase Bedilion
Laurel Highlands: Antwan Black Jr., Parker Hoff
Mapletown: Chase Taylor
Mount Pleasant: Jarret Garn
Southmoreland: Elliot Premus, Jackson Mickens, Jarell Braxton, Anthony Smith
Uniontown: Notorious Grooms, Gary Smitley, Calvin Winfrey III
Waynesburg Central: Jake Stephenson, Vince Maley, Dalton Taylor, Caden Fowler
West Greene: Colin Whyte, Lane Allison, Levi Smith
Second Team
Josh Jenkins, Roman Smith, JJ Perrine Jeremiah Darnell, Tee Guesman and Nasir Moore of Albert Gallatin; Dominic Ghilani and Preston Rathway of Belle Vernon; Teagan Veatch, Santino Revi and DeSean Whipkey of Beth-Center; Michael Ulery and Bryce Horabik of Brownsville; Noah Layhue, Malachi Peak and Niko Georgagis of California; Cannon Bupka and Will Murray of Carmichaels; Geno Farrell, Cooper Lembo, Trent Huffman and Grayden Gillot of Connellsville; Dagan Baccino, Andrew Bandish and Josh Girvin of Frazier; Landon Heath, John Woodward, Ethan Crowe and Johnny Gilbert of Jefferson-Morgan; Tristan Baker, Noah Lion and Tanner Bruzda of Laurel Highlands; John Vanata of Mapletown; Brody Hutter, Steven Predajna, Carter Strayer and Cole Chatfield of Mount Pleasant; Lewis Mains, Dawson Wolfe and Ethan Shawley of Southmoreland; David Ranitu, Jamarie Walker, Nate Serock and Mike Thomas of Uniontown; Jack Riccuiti, Teagen Crouse, Jeffrey Blair and Zachery Jiblits of Waynesburg Central; Parker Burns, Hayden Hamilton and Brennen Crawford of West Greene.