Pine-Richland rolls with sophomore QB
It was like a comedian coming on stage after Dave Chappelle or a musician trying to entertain an audience following Taylor Swift.
All anybody could really tell Cole Spencer was “good luck” when the sophomore took over the starting quarterback role at Pine-Richland this season after Phil Jurkovec dazzled crowds the past three seasons.
Nobody could fill Phil’s shoes, but this Cole has been one cool customer, and one of the biggest question marks as it pertains to PineRichland possibly repeating as WPIAL and PIAA Class 6A champions has fit in nicely in the team’s always potent spread offense.
Spencer’s numbers won’t wow anyone like Jurkovec’s did, but he has been efficient, hasn’t made many mistakes, and continues to improve after having the unenviable task of facing national power IMG Academy in his first start. Spencer was nearly perfect while helping Pine-Richland improve to 3-1 last Friday courtesy of a 63-0 win against Butler. Spencer was 5 of 6, threw touchdowns to Tyler King and Luke Meckler, rushed for a touchdown, and didn’t commit a turnover.
“He played his best game by far,” said Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz. “The good news is he’s getting better every week. He’s a young kid, only a sophomore. He’s a tough kid and a competitor. All that is there. All he needed was game experience.”
Spencer isn’t the biggest kid — 5 feet 10, 180 pounds — but he’s tough. Wrestling has always been his top sport, and he’s really good at it. As a freshman, he went 32-6 and was a WPIAL runner-up in his weight class. He also placed at the PIAA championships.
For the season, Spencer has completed 29 of 49 passes for 405 yards and six touchdowns. He has been intercepted once. He has also rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Since being shut out by IMG, Pine-Richland has put up point totals of 49, 42 and 63.
Kasperowicz said he and Spencer talked before the season about expectations.
“He knows he doesn’t have to win games. He just can’t lose them,” Kasperowicz said. “He has to be a field general. Take what the defense gives him. No negative plays. He has a lot of good guys around him and a good offensive line.”
Kasperowicz added, “We’re going to need him if we’re going to make a run at this thing.”
Kiski Area
Kiski Area quarterback Ryne Wallace threw for more yards than any other WPIAL player in Week 3, completing 17 of 31 passes for 390 yards and five touchdowns in his team’s 37-0 win against Fox Chapel.
“And it could have been 500 if it wasn’t for penalties and some dropped passes,” Kiski Area coach Sam Albert said.
But Wallace, a senior who was a part-time starter last season, isn’t a one-week wonder. He has thrown for 1,015 yards in helping Class 5A Kiski Area race to a 3-1 record. That yardage total leads all 6A and 5A players and is among the best marks in the entire WPIAL. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and has been intercepted only once.
Wallace presents defenses with problems, not only because of his strong arm, but also because he’s 65 and left-handed.
“That left-handed kid always has that natural follow through, natural touch on the ball. I think that makes him unique,” Albert said. “I know if I were a college coach and I saw a 6-5, 210-pound quarterback throwing for 390 yards, I’d be taking a look at him.”
Central Catholic
Central Catholic is 3-1, but the Vikings have sputtered at times offensively. They are averaging 18.8 points per game, which ranks sixth among the nine teams in 6A. The Vikings are hoping a new addition bolsters that offensive attack.
Eddy Tillman, a talented sophomore running back, played his first game for Central Catholic last Friday. Tillman sat out the first three games due to eligibility issues after transferring from Westinghouse, where he did not play football. Tillman made a great first impression in a 28-13 win against Hempfield, carrying the ball 22 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns.
“He runs hard. He’s a very little kid, but he’s determined and he keeps his feet moving,” said Central Catholic coach Terry Totten.
As Totten said, Tillman isn’t very big. He’s about 57, 155 pounds. But Central Catholic has had some excellent diminutive running backs in the past, including Eugene Jarvis and Damion Jones-Moore.
Could Tillman turn out to be another Jarvis, a former Post-Gazette Player of the Year?
“We could only hope,” Totten said.