Laurel Highlands sophomore showcases talent
Two- sport standout Rodney Gallagher proved Friday he can do something else fairly well on a football field — play quarterback.
Gallagher, a sophomore at Laurel Highlands who already has major- college scholarship offers in both football and basketball, played quarterback in a 3520 loss to McKeesport.
Gallagher was an all- conference receiver and defensive back last year as a freshman. Then in basketball, he led Laurel Highlands to a WPIAL championship and became the first freshman ever named to the Post- Gazette Fabulous 5 all- star team.
On the football field, Gallagher had played quarterback at times this season, but the McKeesport contest was the first time he played the position for an entire game. Gallagher showed some promise, completing 13 of 23 for 131 yards, and rushing for 59 yards on 20 carries.
“I can shape up a couple of little things and I need to do a little better, like keeping calm under pressure,” Gallagher said. “But I think I did pretty well.”
Gallagher ( 6 feet, 160 pounds) isn’t a stranger to quarterback, playing the position in his pre- high school days.
“Last year was the first year not playing quarterback,” Gallagher said. “It doesn’t matter to me. Quarterback or receiver, I’m good with both.”
Gallagher and Laurel Highlands have taken some lumps this season. The Mustangs are 1- 5, but Gallagher says there is plenty of reason for optimism in the future.
“We’re very young,” Gallagher said. “Our team is a majority of sophomores and juniors, but we have a lot of freshmen. We’re starting four freshmen. We have almost everybody back next year.”
After Laurel Highlands’ season ends Friday, Gallagher will concentrate fully on basketball. Pitt and Penn State have offered him scholarships for both football and basketball. Gallagher also was recently offered by Wake Forest for basketball. Illinois and Rhode Island already had offered.
In football, West Virginia and Michigan have also offered.
Shenango’s Watkins ailing
Shenango has a big game Friday at Rochester, with the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class 1A Big Seven Conference going to the winner. Shenango also is trying to finish a regular season with a perfect record for only the fourth time in school history. But Shenango will likely have to play without star running back Reis Watkins.
Watkins, who entered Friday’s game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as the second- leading rusher in the WPIAL, suffered a sprained left ankle in a 45- 21 victory and missed almost three quarters of the game.
“I’m really not going to rush back, even though Friday is a huge game. We have a playoff spot locked up. I’d rather be 100% for a playoff game,” Watkins said. “I’d do anything to play Friday, but I don’t want to risk it.”
The other times Shenango has finished the regular season undefeated and untied were 2003, 1967 and 1961.
Plum perfection
WPIAL teams are playing a shortened season because of the COVID- 19 pandemic. But going perfect in the seven- game regular season
is still an achievement, especially for a team like Plum.
Plum is 6- 0 and finishes with a home game Friday against Armstrong. If Plum wins, the Mustangs will have a perfect regular season for only the second time in school history. The last time was 44 years ago when Plum finished 10- 0. Plum did not lose a regular season game in 1977 but had two ties.
Birch for the record
Brad Birch is only a freshman quarterback at Jeannette, but he already has a performance that puts him in the national record books — twice.
Birch had an unforgettable first half Friday when Jeannette beat Bishop Canevin, 49- 0. Birch threw five touchdown passes in the second quarter, which ties for third- most in U. S. high school history, according to the National Federation of High School Association
record book. The most is six, held by two different quarterbacks.
Birch also had seven touchdown passes in the first half, which ties for the fifth- most nationally.
Birch finished the game 11 of 14 for 293 yards and three of his TD passes were to his brother, Brett. Brad Birch now has 20 touchdown passes for the season in six games.
Check this out
• Leechburg hasn’t had much to boast about in football for decades. The Blue Devils haven’t made the WPIAL playoffs since 1988, the longest current drought in the WPIAL. But Leechburg has a player to watch in sophomore Braylon Lovelace. He’s 6- 2, 185 pounds and ran for 398 yards in a 76- 25 victory against Riverview. He is close to 1,000 yards for the season.
Athletic talent runs in Lovelace’s family. His sister, Mikayla, finished her basketball career at Leechburg a few years ago and scored 2,047 career points. She now plays at IUP.
• Butler’s 55- 14 victory against Blackhawk Friday broke a 24- game losing streak.
• Beaver Falls’ Josh Hough surpassed 1,000 yards rushing on Friday and his yards- per- carry average continues to be surreal. Hough has rushed for 1,069 yards on 56 carries, a 19.1 average.