Touchdown Club enters sixth season
The HeraldStandard.com Touchdown Club enters its sixth season when high school football gets underway tonight.
Last year’s champion, receiver Dakota Conway of California, is a freshman at California University (Pa.) this season, so we know for certain there will be a new champ this year.
The Touchdown Club recognizes top scorers among the area’s 16 high school football teams. The competition awards points in the same fashion as the game does, six points for a touchdown, three for a field goal kicked, and so on.
Previous winners were Conway, Beth-Center’s Joshua Lockett in 2008, Jefferson-Morgan’s Justin Falcon in 2007 and Mapletown’s Ryan Geisel in 2006. There were tri-champs in 2009, as Uniontown’s Arnold Walker, Carmichaels’ Anthonie Farrar and Jefferson-Morgan’s Ryan Knight shared the award with 108 points each.
We’ll keep track throughout the season and provide weekly updates, in terms of which player may hold the lead from week to week.
In terms of front-runners among returning players, there is a log jam of Beth-Center players near the top. That’s not exactly surprising, since coach Ed Woods’ team annually leads area teams in scoring.
Jake Sofran finished second to Conway (98 points) last season by scoring 88 points for the Bulldogs. Teammate Deshan Brown finished eighth with 62 points.
B-C quarterback Sal Faieta was 10th with 58 points and Cody Durant, also of B-C, was 11th 54 points.
Belle Vernon’s Ian Dobbins finished ninth with 60 points on 10 touchdown catches, but he has moved to quarterback for coach Aaron Krepps. His scoring numbers may fall, since points are awarded only to those who cross the goal line.
Six other returning players finished in the top 25 of last season’s Touchdown Club race and could stay in the hunt this year.
Waynesburg Central’s Nick Zupper finished 13th with 50 points, Southmoreland’s Connor McKlveen and West Greene’s Brent Sink were tied for 20th with 36 points each, California kicker Naz Victoria was 22nd with 35. Jefferson-Morgan’s Dustin Conti and Carmichaels Josh Mundell were tied for 24th with 32 points each.