North Allegheny’s Brayden Prekop, right, leaps to tackle Mt. Lebanon’s Joey Daniels Friday night at Wright Field in McCandless.
Smallish RB comes up big as No. 2 in 6A rolls
When Art Walker was the coach at Central Catholic, he had one of the best smallish running backs in WPIAL history. Little Eugene Jarvis rushed for more than 4,000 yards and was a two-time Post-Gazette Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004 before going on to play at Kent State.
Walker, now the coach at North Allegheny, isn’t ready to put Percise Colon in Jarvis’ class. But Walker is enjoying watching Colon doing a pretty good imitation of Jarvis lately.
Colon is a 5-foot-6 senior running back, the exact same size as Jarvis. And Colon also belies his stature. The little guy played only a little more than a half Friday night because of a right leg cramp. But that was plenty of time for Colon to leave a big imprint on a big WPIAL Class 6A game. Colon rushed for 150 yards on 15 carries as North Allegheny stayed undefeated with a 40-14 home victory against Mt. Lebanon on Wright Field at Newman Stadium. Colon also intercepted a pass from his defensive back position near the goal line in the first half.
Colon’s performance came one week after he rushed for 258 yards on 11 carries against Canon-McMillan. Two weeks ago, he had a punt return for a touchdown in the last minute to give the Tigers a big win against Central Catholic.
“Percise and Eugene are very similar, but they’re different, too,” Walker said. “Eugene was a three-year guy in the backfield, but he didn’t play defense. Percise plays cornerback.
“He played a lot at running back last year, but was a backup. Now he’s the guy. I think the work he put in, the maturity he has and going through the process … now it’s clicking.”
North Allegheny is clicking, stretching its regular-season winning streak to 15 games. North Allegheny, the Post-Gazette’s No. 2 WPIAL Class 6A team, is 5-0 overall and 4-0 in conference. No. 4ranked Mt. Lebanon is 3-2 and 3-1.
“[Colon] is a difference-maker, no question. But they have a lot of differencemakers,” said coach Bob Palko, who is in his first year at Mt. Lebanon.
“This was a measuring stick for us to see where we are right now. We’re not as good as them, and I’m not ashamed of that because that’s a really good football team. But we’re not backing down from anything.”
Colon ran for 142 yards on 14 carries and scored two touchdowns on runs of 64 and 24 yards in the first half as North Allegheny opened a 19-14 lead. His 24-yarder capped a 13-play, 97-yard drive after Colon intercepted a pass at the North Allegheny 3-yard line.
North Allegheny’s other first-half score came when Brayden Prekop returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.
But Mt. Lebanon stayed close because of its passing game. Joe Daniels, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, completed 9 of 12 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Evan Jones on a fourth-down play in the first quarter.
But the lead lasted precisely 18 seconds — because of Percise. On the first play after the kickoff, Colon broke free through the middle, bounced off two tacklers and scored on a 64-yard run.
Mt. Lebanon made it 19-14 at halftime when receiver Mason Ventrone made a nifty one-handed grab of a Daniels pass for a 36-yard touchdown. The two Mt. Lebanon touchdowns equaled the total North Allegheny had given up in the first four games.
Mt. Lebanon didn’t score again. “Our defense really settled in during the second half,” Walker said. “I think they’re a really good defense. (Defensive coordinator) Doug Brinkley does a really good job with them.
“He gives you multiple looks and the thing he does is he creates great matchups.”
Luke Colella, North Allegheny’s versatile receiver, scored when he lined up in the slot and took an inside reverse 69 yards for a touchdown. Nathan Hoke and Kolin Dinkins ran for North Allegheny’s final touchdowns.