Beth-Center senior achieves a rare double

Dominic Fundy reached a big milestone this past Friday when he surpassed 4,000 career rushing yards, but little did he know then that he joined an even more exclusive club — the 4,000-100 club.

Fundy, a senior at BethCenter, became the fourth athlete in WPIAL history to reach 4,000 yards rushing in football and 100 wins in wrestling. The others were West Greene’s Rodney Wilson, McGuffey’s Jason Barr and Beth-Center’s Anthony Welsh.

“To be honest, I didn’t know that. That’s a pretty cool thing,” Fundy said.

A total of 74 players in WPIAL history have rushed for 4,000 yards. Fundy sits at 4,027 after rushing for 113 in a 37-20 loss Friday at East Allegheny. In wrestling, Fundy has a career mark of 104-14.

Fundy has rushed for 938 yards this season — third most in Class 2A — putting him on the verge of 1,000 for the third year in a row. He’s having another big season for a Beth-Center team that is fighting for a title in the Interstate Conference. The Bulldogs are 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference. Two weeks ago they upset Charleroi, which at the time was the Post-Gazette’s No. 1-ranked team.

Fundy is a bulldog of a runner. He has the speed to zip by defenders, but he’s more likely to run over them than around them.

“I’m more of a power back and north-and-south runner. I’m not that agile,” he said.

Some of that toughness comes from wrestling, he said. As a sophomore, Fundy was the WPIAL Class 2A champion and PIAA runner-up in the 182-pound weight class. He was 29-2 as a junior before a thumb injury derailed his season just before the section tournament. He plans on wrestling at 195 this season.

Fundy isn’t sure which sport he will pursue in college, and while he said he does have a favorite sport, he avoided saying which one.

“I do have a favorite sport, but I would rather not say because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,” he said.

Chief for 4K

Aliquippa’s Avante “Chief” McKenzie also joined the 4,000-yard club Friday. In a 5420 win against Yough, McKenzie rushed for 112 yards, giving him 4,010 for his career. A senior, McKenzie became the sixth Aliquippa player to reach the mark: Dravon Henry (5,454), Chico Williams (5,417), Kaezon Pugh (4,979), Pudgy Abercrombie (4,603) and Terry Swanson (4,333).

“We have a history of good running backs,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said. “For him to be mentioned with those guys, that means something special to him.”

McGuffey still undefeated

McGuffey is 7-0 for the first time in nearly a quarter-century. Not since 1994 have the Highlanders been unbeaten this deep into the season. That year they defeated Blackhawk, 12-6, to win the WPIAL Class 3A title. The Highlanders finished 13-1, their only loss coming to Sharon, 14-7, in the PIAA semifinals.

At 7-0, McGuffey is an organized bunch, but it probably wouldn’t be this good if it wasn’t for some Clutter. That would be Christian Clutter, a senior running back who ranks second in the WPIAL with 24 touchdowns. Only West Greene’s Ben Jackson (25) has more. Clutter has rushed for 829 yards on 63 carries, an average of 13.2 yards a carry. McGuffey will be challenged the next couple of weeks. The Highlanders have conference games at Charleroi (5-1) and Washington (6-1) sandwiched around a nonconference game against Avonworth (6-1).

Big passers struggle

Two of the WPIAL’s passing leaders struggled Friday in big games. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s Tyler Bradley (No. 1 in the WPIAL in passing yardage and No. 2 in passing touchdowns) and StoRox’s Eric Wilson (No. 2 in yardage and No. 1 touchdowns) each were intercepted four times, Bradley in a 28-13 loss at Jeannette and Wilson in a 32-12 loss at Rochester. Heading into the week, Bradley had thrown two interceptions and Wilson five.

Montour in ... for now

If the playoffs began today, Montour would be in, which is surprising considering the Spartans began the season 0-5 and scored only 17 points in those games. But the Montour offense came alive the past two weeks in wins against Knoch (35-33) and Highlands (48-33), improving the Spartans to 2-5 and moving them into fourth place in the Class 4A Northwest Nine Conference.