We Will See Some New Starting WPIAL Quarterbacks In 2018
One of the most popular positions in the game of football is the quarterback position. A lot of starting quarterbacks in the WPIAL were talked a lot about last year because of the talent they had. I don't know what you all think; but, there were a lot of good starting quarterbacks that played last season and a lot of those starting quarterbacks also graduated last season like Brady Walker (Gateway), Drew Saxton (South Fayette) and Phil Jurkovec (Pine-Richland). Let's take a look at some of these WPIAL teams that lost there Senior starting quarterbacks from last season along with some stats they put up last year and see who the fellow replacements could be for each team in each classification. Some of these replacements might have played a little bit last year so you will see some of them have stats as well from the 2017 WPIAL football season. Some of these replacements are not the only choices that each of these school has as there might be more possible replacements that we can not think of right now at the moment; it is just an idea of what each school might be thinking of to find their starting quarterback for next year.
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
6A:
School: Pine-Richland
2017 Quarterback: Phil Jurkovec (3,969 yds, 39 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Cole Spencer (So.), Merrick Miller (Sr.) and Ben McGregor (Sr.) (137 yds)
STTA: Pine-Richland is basically set at every position except at the QB position going into next season. Cole Spencer is going to be a sophomore next season and a lot of people like his talents. If you watch his HUDL you cans see that he has potential. You know how former PR QB's Ben DiNucci and Phil Jurkovec took over as sophomores? Well, the Rams might have another QB who is ready to start as a sophomore in Cole Spencer.
School: Central Catholic
2017 Quarterback: Troy Fisher (1,373 yds, 19 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Vinny Tassari (Sr.), Gus Sunseri (Jr.) and Dom Pieto (Jr.)
STTA: Imagine Troy Fisher playing QB at Seneca Valley. Troy lives in the Seneca Valley school district and he would have just played at Seneca Valley in high school; who knows he maybe could have found a way to win a WPIAL championship at Seneca Valley.
School: Hempfield
2017 Quarterback: Justin Sliwoski (1,668 yds, 19 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Blake Remaley (Jr.) (522 yds, 4 TD) and Jared Bannon (Sr.)
STTA: Hempfield did not win a section game last season.
School: Mt. Lebanon
2017 Quarterback: James Stocker (1,949 yds,12 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Seth Morgan (Sr,) (1,202 yds, 11 TD)
STTA: It is rare for a WPIAL football team to have 2 QB's throw for 1,000 yds in a season but Mt. Lebanon did that last season.
School: North Allegheny
2017 Quarterback: Luke Trueman (1,160 yds, 18 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Ben Petsche (Jr.) and Gunnar Fisher (Sr.)
STTA: If North Allegheny wants to win a WPIAL football championship in the future, then 2018 is probably the best chance for them to win one.
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
5A:
School: Chartiers Valley
2017 Quarterback: Reed Bruggeman (1,690 yds, 19 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Griffin Beattie (Jr.) and Socrates Boulis (So.)
STTA: It is odd seeing a QB throw 19 TDs in the regular season and not making the playoffs.
School: Moon Area
2017 Quarterback: Cole Konieczka (1,558 yds, 12 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Scott Robinson (Jr.) and Brady Panucci (So.)
STTA: Moon has a nice high school. You should check it out some time.
School: Peters Township
2017 Quarterback: Jake Cortes (624 yds, 8 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Logan Pfeuffer (So.), Ryan Moore (Jr.) and Nick Carrick (Jr.)
STTA: Cortes is now playing football at Pitt and Peters goes from 6A last year to 5A this year at football.
School: Upper St.Clair
2017 Quarterback: Jack Hansberry (1,590 yds, 11 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jason Sweeney (Sr.) and Ethan Dahlem (So.)
STTA: USC are still favorites in their section even though they are finding their new starting quarterback who does not have much Varsity experience.
School: Gateway
2017 Quarterback: Brady Walker (4,657 yds, 45 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Ethan Birckbichler (Jr.) and James McPherson (Sr.)
STTA: Walker lead the WPIAL in passing yards, passing touchdowns and passes completed last season.
School: Latrobe
2017 Quarterback: Jason Armstrong (1,484 yds, 10 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Clark Harr (Jr.) and Branden Crosby (Jr.)
School: Penn-Trafford
2017 Quarterback: Cam Laffoon (1,511 yds, 15 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Gabe Dunlap (Jr.) and Ethan Carr (So.)
School: Armstrong
2017 Quarterback: Dawson Porter (1,239 yds, 17 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jalen Price (Sr.)
School: Fox Chapel
2017 Quarterback: Nick Gizzo (896 yds, 5 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: William Generett (Jr.), Shane Susnak (Jr.) and Raymond Tarasi (Sr.)
School: Hampton
2017 Quarterback: Ross Andersson (552 yds, 4 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Max Obenrader (Sr.) and Ian Andersson (Jr.)
School: North Hills
2017 Quarterback: Will Hirt (1,085 yds, 10 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Dylan Pawling (Jr.) and Ethan Marker (So.)
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
4A:
School: Montour
2017 Quarterback: Kavon Morman (1,689 yds, 15 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Luke Persinger (So.), Anthony Tambellini (Sr.) and Daniel Pintar (Jr.)
School: New Castle
2017 Quarterback: Marcus Hooker (500 yds, 5 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Daniel Minenok (Jr.) and Donovan Crockett (So.)
STTA: Hooker is going to Ohio State to play football.
School: South Fayette
2017 Quarterback: Drew Saxton (2,749 yds, 33 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jamie Diven (Sr.) (194 yds)
STTA: Diven played at West Allegheny last season
School: Greensburg Salem
2017 Quarterback: Jacob Hoyle (565 yds, 5 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Trent Patrick (Jr.) (317 yds)
School: Ringgold
2017 Quarterback: Caleb Eisel (1,036 yds, 9 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jake Duncan (Jr.) and John Warren (Jr.)
School: Trinity
2017 Quarterback: Dylan Kern (595 yds, 13 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Kaden Kolson (So.)
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
3A:
School: Central Valley
2017 Quarterback: Nico Battisti (642 yds, 5 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jawon Hall (Jr.) (103 yds) and Ameer Dudley (So.) (75 yds)
School: Quaker Valley
2017 Quarterback: Ricky Guss (2,246 yds, 30 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Ethan Moore (Sr.) and Owen Groves (Sr.)
School: South Park
2017 Quarterback: Damon Smith (1,089 yds, 12 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jacob Robertshaw (Sr.) and Stephen Knonk (So.)
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
2A:
School: Apollo-Ridge
2017 Quarterback: Kyle Fitzroy (639 yds, 6 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Jake Hild (Jr.)
School: East Allegheny
2017 Quarterback: Tamaine Underwood (2,338 yds, 23 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Daniel Kasmier (Sr.) and Johnny Moritz (Jr.)
School: Shenango
2017 Quarterback: Maxwell Reamer (662 yds, 6 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Reis Watkins (So.)
School: Western Beaver
2017 Quarterback: Jeddy Young (693 yds, 9 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Austin Hall (So.)
School: Frazier
2017 Quarterback: JD Celaschi (747 yds, 6 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Julian Muccioli (Sr.) and Bobby Boggs (Jr.) (117 yds)
School: Southmoreland
2017 Quarterback: Jaden Datz (594 yds, 5 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Zac Carnuto (So.)
School: Brentwood
2017 Quarterback: Michael Trent (1,826 yds, 16 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: John Milcic (Jr.) and Quintin Love (So.)
School: Burgettstown
2017 Quarterback: Ryan Lounder (594 yds, 13 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Austin Ryan (Sr.)
School: Fort Cherry
2017 Quarterback: Ryhan Culberson (643 yds, 8 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Brady Whalen (Sr.)
School: Serra Catholic
2017 Quarterback: Evan Honick (1,683 yds, 13 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Patrick Brennan (Sr.) (138 yds, 1 TD)
School: Seton LaSalle
2017 Quarterback: Matt Banbury (1,200 yds, 10 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Nathan Ault (Sr.)
*STTA- "Something To Think About"
1A:
School: Imani Christian
2017 Quarterback: Tawan Wesley (2,628 yds, 33 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Israel Reed (Sr.)
School: Jeannette
2017 Quarterback: Robert Kennedy (1,462 yds, 25 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Seth Howard (Sr.) (668 yds, 7 TD)
STTA- Kennedy had over 1,000 passing and rushing yards last season. That was impressive. Jeannette did not throw an interception in a WPIAL football game last season.
School: California
2017 Quarterback: Collin Phillips (616 yds, 9 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Austin Grillo (Sr.)
School: Laurel
2017 Quarterback: Lance Hill (722 yds, 7 TD)
Possible 2018 Replacements: Will Shaffer (Jr.) (361 yds, 3 TD)
So, as you can see out of the 120 football teams in the WPIAL, there will be at least 40 teams that will have a new starting quarterback next year. There might even be new starting quarterbacks on other teams next year that we are unaware of. It is going to be very fun and interesting to see big name teams such as South Fayette, Pine-Richland, Gateway and Quaker Valley play football next year with very different quarterbacks that are not as popular as the ones that just graduated on those teams. But, situations like this for certain WPIAL football teams is simply just what makes the entire WPIAL interesting.