Washington’s Swartz a QB for the books
When the subject is the best throwing/running quarterbacks in Western Pennsylvania over the past 25 years, the names of Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor, Pine-Richland’s Phil Jurkovec and West Allegheny’s Tyler Palko often come up. But what would you say if a kid named Zack Swartz is thrown into the conversation?
Yes, Zack Swartz, who is a senior quarterback at Washington High School. He might not be as well-known as some other QBs around the WPIAL this season, and no one with an IQ over 10 is ready to say Swartz is on the talent level of a Pryor, Jurkovec or Palko. But if you just look at things statistically, Swartz is on the cusp of becoming one of the best run-pass quarterbacks in WPIAL history.
Swartz needs only 204 yards rushing the rest of this season (including playoffs) to become only the fourth quarterback in WPIAL history known to have 5,000 career yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing.
Swartz, a three-year starter, has 5,538 yards passing (302 of 480) and has rushed for 1,796 yards. Considering that Washington is undefeated and should play at least two postseason games, and considering Swartz has rushed for more than 100 yards in two consecutive games, he seems a sure bet to reach that 2,000-yard rushing mark.
“We feel like he’s kind of really been under the radar, when you consider how successful he’s been and how good of a football player he is,” Washington coach Mike Bosnic said.
Successful is a 31-3 record as a starting QB. That’s Swartz’s mark since he took over for the Little Prexies in 2017.
The only quarterbacks in WPIAL history known to throw for 5,000 career yards and rush for 2,000 are Jurkovec (2015-17), StoRox’s Lenny Williams (2010-13) and Neshannock’s Frank Antuono (2013-16).
Jurkovec is a redshirt freshman and the No. 2 quarterback at Notre Dame. Williams spent one year at Temple before transferring and had a stellar career at IUP. Antuono spent two seasons as a defensive player at Robert Morris before leaving and is now a defensive end at Westminster.
Swartz has a lot going for him. He is 6 feet 3, 205 pounds and is the No. 1 student in Washington’s senior class. Some FBS and FCS schools have showed interest, but Morehead State is the only school to offer a scholarship so far.
“We’re kind of surprised he doesn’t have multiple offers,” Bosnic said. “Sometimes it really seems to be difficult with recruiting and a quarterback because every school might only be recruiting just one or maybe two. Then if they have a coach who sees one little thing in a quarterback that they’re not crazy about, they just move on.”
Woodland Hills out
The WPIAL playoffs will seem strange this season. Woodland Hills won’t be involved.
The Wolverines lost their first six games, the worst start in school history, before defeating Kiski Area and Seneca Valley the past two weeks. But those two wins were in non-conference games. Woodland Hills is 0-5 in the Allegheny Eight Conference and no matter what happens in the final two weeks of the regular season, Woodland Hills can’t make the Class 5A playoffs.
Woodland Hills had qualified for the playoffs 23 consecutive years, the second-longest streak in WPIAL history. Aliquippa and Thomas Jefferson hold the record for consecutive playoff appearances. They have both qualified this season for the 25th year in a row.
Did you know?
The 1969 West Virginia University football team had one of the greatest victories in school history when it defeated South Carolina in the Peach Bowl. The ’69 squad had a 50-year reunion two weeks ago and the team was recognized at the Mountaineers’ home game against Texas. Legendary former Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render was part of the reunion.
Render is the all-time winningest coach in WPIAL history with more than 400 wins. He retired after last season. But Render got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at West Virginia and was part of the ’69 team’s staff. Render said he is one of only three or four coaches on that staff who are still alive.
West Virginia’s offensive coordinator that year was Bobby Bowden, who would become West Virginia’s head coach before going on to a coaching career at Florida State. Bowden also attended the reunion.
The power of St. Joe’s
The WPIAL has some strong teams in WPIAL Class 6A, namely North Allegheny, Central Catholic and Pine-Richland. But it will be awfully rough for a WPIAL team to make the PIAA Class 6A championship because the WPIAL champ will likely have to play St. Joseph’s in the semifinals.
St. Joseph’s is in the Philadelphia Catholic League and the Catholic League champ is on the side of the bracket with the WPIAL champ. St. Joseph’s is 5-2 this year, but both losses were to out-of-state teams ranked in the top 25 nationally (IMG Academy in Florida, and Marietta High in Georgia).
If you want an indication of St. Joseph’s talent level consider that the Hawks have a junior quarterback (Kyle McCord) committed to Ohio State, a junior linebacker (Jeremiah Trotter Jr.) committed to Clemson and a junior receiver (Marvin Harrison Jr.) with a number of scholarship offers. Harrison and Trotter are both sons of former NFL players. McCord is ranked the No. 13 junior in the country by Rivals.com and Harrison the No. 76 junior.