Some Things To Take Away From The 2018 WPIAL Football Regular Season
Freedom: Ever since the company that I work for, CoverThreeAthletics, decided to interview Freedom Area athlete Cody Ross, Freedom has been hard to stop. Cody Ross knew that a lot of people would not have Freedom winning their section and be a powerhouse in 2A. So, as a result him and his team decided to play like absolute dawgs this season. I cannot wait to see this team play in the playoffs. As of now, I would not be surprised if Freedom gets to play for the WPIAL 2A football championship game.
Norwin: Norwin got put in a tough situation in 6A this season. People from the media expected extremely big things from Norwin this season with their three division 1 athletes in Jack Salopek, Jayvon Thrift and Gianni Rizzo. Now let me tell you that all three of these guys played good this season; but, just the fact they had to play teams like Pine-Richland, North Allegheny, Mt. Lebanon and Central Catholic is just awful. Those teams have a lot of players that can football at the Division 1 level.
Keystone Oaks: This is the only team that I actually feel bad for, involving not making the playoffs. Their team had a 6-4 record to end the regular season and they did not get into the playoffs. Their section record was not the best as they had a 3-4 record; but, it was still a better section record than other teams that got into the playoffs with a very bad section record. The Golden Eagles are better than half of the teams in the playoffs and they were led by Logan Shrubb, C.J. Morrow and Ezekiel M. Daure. To be honest with all of you, in reality the Golden Eagles should have had an overall record of 8-2. I know if a couple calls could have gone in Keystone Oaks way against they could have beat Quaker Valley and Central Valley.
North Allegheny: The fact that Joey Porter Jr. is on the team is a reason why all the North Allegheny football players are so good. A lot of the players on North Allegheny's team is so good that it is insane. I don't think anyone will stop North Allegheny in 6A because of the fact that their whole team is so tough this season. This team should win the WPIAL 6A football championship and they are good enough that they can try and win a state championship.
Pine-Richland: Pine-Richland lost to North Allegheny on the road in Week 9. I feel that if the Rams were able to beat North A in Week 9 that they would have been big favorites to win in 6A. If PR and North A play each other at Heinz Field, let me tell you that Heinz Field would be packed and it would be a very close game. North Allegheny was happy that they were at home when they played Pine-Richland. If the Rams don't win a WPIAL championship in football this year, that is fine because I know that the Rams starting quarterback, Cole Spencer, will get better in the next two years.
Chartiers Valley: It was a big dissapointment that the Colts started 3-1 on the season and then lost the last 6 games of the season to have an overall record of 3-7. The fact that this team did not win a section game was a total dissapointment as well. Their starting running back and outside linebacker Connor Barrett got an offer from Saint Francis Univeristy. So, that is something that the Colts can be proud of.
Woodland Hills: It is incredible that Woody High lost the first four games of the season and battled back to have an overall record of 4-6 and make the playoffs. This team could have had a better record if they beat Upper St. Clair and West Allegheny. Woody High battled hard against those two teams and they just fell short.
Central Catholic: All three of Central Catholic's losses this season were against North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Mt. Lebanon. I really wonder how well the Vikings will do in the playoffs. Central Catholic's have been favorites in their section and classification for years. Now, they are facing a time where the media are starting to doubt them and now they have to prove the media that they should still be the team that deserves attention instead of PR, North A, Lebo and even Seneca Valley.
West Allegheny: This team is very good and I don't think that the Indians realized that their loss to Peters Township at home would affect them in a way in which they would not win their section. West A had some clutch wins against Baldwin, Bethel Park and Moon. West A is going to play hard during the playoffs as all of the players know
South Fayette: South Fayette's head coach Joe Rossi turned West Alleghent transfer, Jamie Diven, into a complete monster. It's amazing how well Rossi's coaching staff can coach players. Let me tell you how much better Diven got now that he is in South Fayette. Diven has passed over 2,000 yards and has passed for over 30 touchdowns during the regular season for South Fayette. Last year, in his junior year at West A, he passed for only 194 yards and did not throw a single touchdown. Some WPIAL athletes just play better with certain coachers and certain environments. It just turned out that Diven can be a better quarterback at South Fayette with Rossi and instead of him at West Allegheny with head coach Bob Palko. South Fayette's field goal kicker, Ryan Coe, is an absolute monster. That dude has the ability to kick 50 yard field goals and it is astonishing. Coe is going to kick field goals at the college level at Temple University. I feel that South Fayette has all the capability, talent and confidence to play at Heinz Field for a championship. I think Diven is the quarterback, in 4A, who is the most excited for the postseason to start.
Upper St. Clair: Jason Sweeney happened to be a good replacement from Jack Hansberry. It was really nice to see their head coach, Jim Render, earns his 400th win this season as he defeated Peters Township in Week 1 to get that 400th win. If you know personally who Antonio Orsini, you know that he had a spectacular regular season and you know that you cannot be surprised how hard he worked during the offseason to show his worth and value. USC has a scary tackle and defensive tackle in senior Jake Slinger. Slinger commited to George Mason Univeristy and if you thought trying to stop Slinger was hard on the football field, imagine wrestling against that man. That's right, you would not want to do that.
Bishop Canevin: BC got shut out 4 times this season. 3 of those shutouts happened at home at their stadium, Dormont Stadium. That would be hard to watch. One of their players, Brian De Schon, had to miss the whole season due to an injury. Perhaps if he did not get injured that this team could have done better. Brian is also a very good baseball player at the school and he is hoping his injury can clear up when baseball season starts in the Spring. Hey, at least their Girls volleyball team has a chance to win a WPIAL and state champonship, this season. Oh, yeah shoutout to BC's PA announcer Sam Hall. Sam is also the traffic reporter for WTAE.
Sto-Rox: They had one of the best passing quarterbacks in the WPIAL in Eric Wilson. That man passed for over 3,000 yards as he led the WPIAL in passing yards. If any quarterback deserved to make the WPIAL playoffs it is Wilson. No matter what, Wilson kept throwing the football a lot and that must have had to hurt his arm with all that throwing. But, maybe not. They had an overall record of 6-4; but, could not make the playoffs. Their section record was 4-3. This is another team that deserved to make the playoffs but, could not because not enough teams were allowed to qualify for the 1A WPIAL football bracket.
Shady Side Academy: SSA did not lose a game during the regular season. When you hear the words "Shady Side Academy Football", you probably think of Dino Tomlin, the son of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Skyy Moore, the quarterback of SSA, was balling out during the regular season as throughout newspapers and listening to high school football reports on KDKA, WTAE and WPXI all you heard was the name of Skyy Moore. Moore was making some noise this season. Just look at the statistics. I mean he rushed for 336 yards against Avonworth in Week 9. Moore threw for over 1,000 passing yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards during the regular season. If the WPIAL had a category for MVP in each classification, Moore is for sure a candidate.
Penn-Trafford: Ever since Penn-Trafford lost to Gateway in Week 1, this team decided to wake up. They started out the season 0-2 and ever since they lost their second game against Gateway, they have won 8 games and a row and find themselves to get into the playoffs. 5A is a touch classification that has a lot of good teams in it. Last year, the media did not talk a lot about how good Penn-Trafford was and not that many people had them going to the WPIAL Championship game. This year, Penn-Trafford is in the same situaton as last season. They played good during the regular season and not that many people are talking highly about them.
Butler: The fact that Jake Kradel, Nick Stazer, Luke Michalek and John Michalek graduated from Butler from 2018 was not good for the Butler football team going into the 2018 season. I would not be surprised if the Butler football team thought to themselves if they would even win a game during the regular season.