EXPANDED HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE
Render’s 399th victory halts South Fayette’s regular-season run at 57
Anthony Orsini and Upper St. Clair snapped South Fayette’s 57-game regular season winning streak Friday night.
If it had been a regular-season game that mattered, South Fayette coach Joe Rossi might have reconsidered going for a 2point conversion trailing by one with just over three minutes remaining in regulation.
This, though, was Week Zero, not a key matchup in the Class 4A Northwest Eight Conference with a postseason berth on the line. And, despite heading into the game with a WPIAL-record 57-game regular-season winning streak, the Lions went for broke, rolled snake eyes and just shrugged it off.
After quarterback Jamie Diven hit Charley Rossi for a 54-yard touchdown pass with 3:04 remaining in regulation, South Fayette (0-1) went for 2. But Upper St. Clair brought the pressure and the pass fell incomplete in the end zone, which helped to preserve Upper St. Clair’s seasonopening, 34-33 victory against the Lions.
“No one wants to go to OT, and it was a situation there where we’re going to try to win the game,” Rossi said. “We ran our 2point play that we ran on Thursday, and it didn’t work out for us.”
As it turned out, that wasn’t the only opportunity South Fayette had to extend the streak late in the game. Upper St. Clair took over after the kickoff and, after a first down, threw an incomplete pass with less than a minute remaining, then had a bad snap that turned into an 8-yard punt and gave the Lions the ball at the Panthers 40.
South Fayette, though, only had the ball for two plays before Diven threw an interception to junior linebacker Brandon Shearer with 35 seconds left to close it out.
“We had a 14-point [second-half] lead, and I didn’t want to get too pass-happy,” Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render said. “But, on the other hand, I might have made a different decision and I tried to get the first down and I should have kept the clock running.”
It’s easy to understand the decision Render, who won his 399th career game, made in that situation. His starting quarterback, Jason Sweeney, had an extremely efficient game as he completed 14 of 20 passes for 284 yards and four first-half touchdowns. Brothers Chris and David Pantellis had eerily similar games as both caught six passes, David beat his brother by 1 in the yardage category, 132-131, and Chris had a 3-1 edge in touchdowns.
“The Pantellises are a force, and I went a little conservative early and they’re both excellent,” Render said. “We had things we thought we could explore.”
Upper St. Clair running back Antonio Orsini also carried 15 times for 163 yards including an 80-yard scamper on the Panthers’ first play of the second half.
South Fayette, though, answered its question under center as Diven sparkled in his first varsity start. He shredded the Upper St. Clair defense, completing 22 of 32 for 368 yards and four touchdowns to go along with two interceptions, including the late clincher.
“That’s his first start in our system and I thought he made some good decisions, and it was basically survival out there,” Rossi said. “There were kids going down all the time [with cramps] and it was triage on the sideline and you get that in the first game when it’s muggy outside, but it was a great football game.”