CoverThreeAthletics Top 10 Best WPIAL Football Games From The 2018 Season (6-10)
Todd Hill was a big part of Steel Valley's rushing game in 2018.
SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Myself, along with my three other co-workers at "CoverThreeAthletics", picked 10 WPIAL football games, that were played in 2018, and we put those 10 games in a list of our "Top 10 WPIAL football games of 2018". This article will list the games that we had placed from 6-10.
#10. Steel Valley (31) @ Avonworth (24) 9-7-18 (Week 2)
- Going into this game both teams were undefeated. Steel Valley was 1-0 while Avonworth was 2-0. This was big WPIAL Class 2A Allegheny Conference section game. Todd Hill gave Steel Valley a 7-0 lead when he rushed for a touchdown on the Ironmen's opening drive. Avonworth running back, Jax Miller, tied the game at 7 when he scored a rushing touchdown on Avonworth's opening drive. Kam Williams scored a rushing touchdown for Steel Valley late in the second quarter to give the Ironmen a 23-10 lead at halftime.
In the second half though, Avonworth decided to give all the fans in the stadium a game to watch. Jax Miller threw a touchdown pass to Avonworth wide receiver, Turner Grau late in the third quarter to make Steel Valley's lead 23-17. It was a nice flea flicker play. On Avonworth's next drive, their starting quarterback, Derek Johncour, scrambled out of the pocket to complete a pass to Avonworth receiver, Ethan Syam, who then would score a touchdown after performing a juke move on one of the Ironmen defenders. That would give the Antelopes a 24-23 lead going into the fourth quarter. It was the first lead of the game for Avonworth.
Late in the fourth quarter, Avonworth could have increased their lead; but, a penalty, a 17-yard loss off a snapped fumble and a turnover on downs helped give Steel Valley sometime late in the game to try and win the game.
Sure enough, Steel Valley was able to make the comeback.
Steel Valley quarterback, Ronnell Lawrence, threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kam Williams to give the Ironmen a 29-24 lead with 29 seconds remaining in the game. The Ironmen would then score on the 2-point conversion to give them a 31-24 win. Whoever was at this game, got their money's worth.
This game was a good rivalry game as we learned in this game that the 2018 Avonworth team was for real. We also learned that running back duo between Williams and Hill was considered perhaps the best WPIAL running back duo in 2018.
#9. West Mifflin (21) @ Blackhawk (23) 11-2-18 WPIAL 4A Football Playoffs 1st Round Game
- In this first round WPIAL football playoff game, Parrish Parker, once again proved to the media that he was one special player. Blackhawk balled out in the first half as their starting quarterback, Chance Liptak, threw for three passing touchdowns. Ryan Heckathorn, James Darno, and James Wright all helped catch Liptak's touchdown passes. Blackhawk had a 20-7 lead over West Mifflin at halftime.
The second half was the time when Parker would once again carry the West Mifflin Titans team on his back. He scored two rushing touchdowns in the third quarter to give the Titans a 21-20 lead going into the fourth quarter. Parker was looking for his second WPIAL football playoff victory in his career; but, Blackhawk's field goal kicker, Ethan Burawa, kicked a 25-yard field goal in the middle of the fourth quarter to give Blackhawk the win.
This was Parrish Parker's last football game as a West Mifflin Titan, and he ended it by playing the way he usually plays football games by not giving up.
#8. Franklin Regional (17) @ Greater Latrobe (14) 9-7-18 (Week 2)
- Going into this game, Franklin Regional was 1-0 while Latrobe was 0-2. Franklin Regional were favorites going into this game; but Latrobe wanted to upset them.
Latrobe was winning against Franklin Regional by a score of 14-0 at halftime. Latrobe wide receiver, Zak Williams, scored a receiving touchdown while Latrobe running back, Logan Gustafson, rushed for the other Latrobe touchdown in the first half.
Unfortunately, for Latrobe that would be all the scoring that they would do for the night. Franklin Regional started rolling in the second half as their quarterback, Adam Rudzinksi, threw a touchdown pass to Devon Powell. Latrobe's lead was only 14-7. Then in the fourth quarter, when it looked like Latrobe could increase the lead, Latrobe quarterback, Branden Crosby, threw an interception as Latrobe was in the red zone. Rudzinski was the Franklin Regional player that made the interception. That's right, Rudzinksi made an impact both on offense and defense.
With about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Rudzinski threw a 93-yard touchdown to Mike Evans to tie the game at 14. Franklin Regional would make some defensive stops to get the ball back late in the fourth quarter. Their field goal kicker, Dom DiFalco, made a field goal with 1:01 left in the game to give Franklin Regional a 17-14 win. DiFalco was a freshman at the time. That's a lot of pressure for a freshman in high school and he was able to handle it.
This game showed that Franklin Regional never gave up and kept on fighting. This also made people feel bad for Latrobe. They had a double-digit leader over a playoff contending team at halftime and could not score any more points which resulted in a loss. After this game, Latrobe was 0-3 while Franklin Regional was 2-0.
#7. Shady Side Academy (56) @ Steel Valley (36) 9-14-18 (Week 3)
- Shady Side Academy vs. Steel Valley was basically the "WPIAL football game of the week" in Week 4. Dino Tomlin, Skyy Moore, Todd Hill, and Kameron Williams were just some of the star players that were featured in the game. Both teams were undefeated entering Week 4; so, one of them was going to lose their first game of the season. Even though Shady Side Academy defeated Steel Valley by 20 points, the game was still fun to watch. 92 points were scored in the game indicating that both teams had the ability to score in this game. The loss for Steel Valley snapped a 22-game regular season winning streak.
Skyy Moore threw 4 touchdowns and rushed for 4 touchdowns in the game for Shady Side Academy. This was Moore's standout game as he played basically a perfect game against one of the best defenses in WPIAL 2A in Steel Valley. Dino Tomlin and Billy Frolich both had two receiving touchdowns in the game for Shady Side Academy.
Todd Hill and Kam Williams once again showed everyone in this game why they were considered one of the best running back duos in the WPIAL in 2018. Hill scored three rushing touchdowns while Williams rushed for 218 yards.
The score was tied at 36 late in the middle of the third quarter; but the game belonged to Shady Side Academy after that as they scored 20 straight points to end the game. This game was full of offense and the star players came to play in this game.
#6. Central Valley (28) @ Keystone Oaks (27) 9-21-18 (Week 4)
- This game was ranked number six in our "Top 10 2018 WPIAL Football Games". This was a section game as Keystone Oaks was 4-0 entering this game while Central Valley entered the game 0-4. This game was fun to watch; but, I honestly think the game was the turning point for both teams in 2018.
Central Valley quarterback, Ameer Dudley, threw one touchdown pass and ran for another touchdown. Keystone Oaks quarterback, Logan Shrubb, threw 2 touchdowns, passed for 170 yards and rushed for 146 yards. Shrubb was able to pass and run with the football in the game.
Keystone Oaks was losing 28-21 late in the fourth quarter, they wanted to make their winning streak increase to 5. Logan Shrubb rushed for his only touchdown late in the game. So, currently it was 28-27 Central Valley. All Keystone Oaks had to do was have their field goal kicker, Gio Valforte, run on the field to kick an extra point and the game would be tied at 28. Well, Keystone Oaks decided to attempt a 2-point conversion instead of kicking an extra point. So, Keystone Oaks tried to go for 2 and unfortunately, they failed. Central Valley would win the game 28-27. They would win their first game of 2018 while Keystone Oaks would lose their first game of 2018.
After that game, Central Valley would win four of their final five regular season games to have an overall section record of 5-2 and an overall record of 5-5. They would make the playoffs and lose to Derry Area in the first round of the WPIAL 3A football playoffs by a score of 46-0.
For Keystone Oaks, after that game against Central Valley, things started to be a little rusty. After that loss, Keystone Oaks would lose three of their last five games and did not make the WPIAL playoffs. They had an overall record of 6-4 in 2018; but their section record was not good enough to make the playoffs as it was 3-4. Central Valley and Quaker Valley made the playoffs over Keystone Oaks because those two teams had a better section record than Keystone Oaks, even though Keystone Oaks had a better regular season overall record than both of those teams. Life is kind of funny, isn't it?
BY Hilton: bythebossandgoat@gmail.com and Twitter @BYHilton13