Some sophomores steal spotlight in early season
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It might be a little too early to call this the year of the sophomore in WPIAL football, but a handful of 10th-graders have made big impacts on their teams in the first two weeks.
North Catholic sophomore P.J. Fulmore played very little as a freshman, but is one of the WPIAL’s leading rushers with 418 yards in two games. Mars’ Josh Schultheis is another sophomore racking up the running yardage. He has 319 yards in two games.
Due to an injury to West Allegheny’s No. 1 running back, sophomore Chayse Dillon started against Ambridge Friday and ran for 152 yards on 13 attempts. Fellow sophomore Armon Dellovade ran for 102 yards on six carries.
On the quarterback side, South Fayette’s Brett Brumbaugh is one of the WPIAL’s leading passers with 491 yards in two games. All eight of his touchdown passes have come in the first half.
And to take the youth story a little further, a freshman at Bethel Park is averaging 150 yards passing a game. Levi Metheny is a 6-foot, 175-pound ninth-grader and the son of Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny.
Family ties
• Brumbaugh and SetonLaSalle senior quarterback Luke Brumbaugh both attempted 24 passes in games Friday night. The yardage totals of the two brothers were similar, too. Luke completed 15 for 271 yards and three touchdowns. Brett completed 12 for 253 yards and five touchdowns.
• Jefferson-Morgan senior quarterback Tyler Bowman threw for three touchdown passes and ran for one against Bentworth Friday. Two of his touchdown passes went to his brother, Logan, a junior.
McDowell back to WPIAL?
There is a chance McDowell might be coming back to the WPIAL for football.
McDowell, located in Erie, played in the WPIAL the past few years in football only. All other McDowell sports teams played in District 10 (Erie area).
But District 10 instituted a policy for this year where teams that leave District 10 for the regular season must return to District 10 for the playoffs. So McDowell was forced to leave the WPIAL and rejoin District 10. Last week, however, District 10 abolished
that new playoff policy, which frees McDowell to re-apply to the WPIAL for football only, beginning in 2014.
McDowell already has contacted the WPIAL about the possibility of rejoining in two years.
Let’s play
Finally, University Prep will play a game. The City League has only six teams this season, and those teams must find games outside the league to fill their schedules. University Prep had trouble finding non-league opponents, so the team didn’t play the first two weeks of the season. University Prep’s first game is Friday against Carrick.
The City League teams combined for a 2-8 record the first two weeks. The wins were by Allderdice (against Linsly, W.Va.) and Perry (against Pius X in eastern Pennsylvania). The top two ranked teams in the City League meet Friday when No. 1 Allderdice plays No. 2 Perry.
Check this out
• Central Catholic, SetonLaSalle and Beth-Center are the only WPIAL teams that have not allowed a point in two games. Serra is the only team that hasn’t scored a point.
• Jon Nigro is Mr. Accuracy for the Hampton Talbots. In two games, he is 23 of 27 for 401 yards.
• Central Dauphin, the defending PIAA Class AAAA champion, lost to Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt, 24-7, Friday. Two of Central Dauphin’s top players — Zayd Issah and Drew Scales — did not play because of a violation of team rules.
Recruiting
Clairton High School receiverdefensive back Terrish Webb made a verbal commitment to Kent State.
Players and prostitutes
A strong football program in Maryland kicked five players off the team for an incident involving prostitutes during a trip to an out-of-state game.
DeMatha Catholic opened the season Aug. 31 in North Carolina against Hillside High School. The Washington Post reported that after the game the five players sneaked three prostitutes into the team hotel at 5 a.m. The players used a call service in North Carolina to hire the prostitutes and had sexual relations with the women.