Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Games of the Week, Week 7

Two longstanding, heated rivalries highlight the seventh week of the local WPIAL football schedule. If you can't catch Belle Vernon at Ringgold or Beth-Center at California, it's a good week to head to Avella and watch the undermanned, gutsy Eagles play Bentworth.

1. Beth-Center at California (4 stars)
Think this isn't a heated rivalry? PCN sure does. The station hired California University to film the Tri-County South contest for a Saturday broadcast. These two neighbors are the surprise of the conference. Not many outside the B-C locker room pegged the Bulldogs to be 4-0 in conference play before the season. California coach Joe Kuhns admits he's surprised with how well his revamped team has played this year.

2. Belle Vernon at Ringgold (3.5 stars)
This Big Seven showdown looked like a laugher a couple weeks ago. Not so fast. Belle Vernon shook up the standings with its 14-6 win over Trinity last week. Now, third-place Ringgold and last-place Trinity are separated by a half-game in the standings. Ringgold coach Jeff Petrucci was a highly successful coach at Belle Vernon during the 1970s.

3. Chartiers-Houston at Serra Catholic (3 stars)
In a key Black Hills Conference game, the winner could hinge on which standout runner performs better. Chartiers-Houston running back/quarterback/fullback Brad Banas was held to 39 yards last week versus Clairton. He accounted for over 75 percent of the Bucs' offense in that game. Serra Catholic features T.J. Heatherington, arguably the best running quarterback in Class A.

12 comments:

Rod Taylor said...

I still generalize the matchup between Ringgold and Belle Vernon a laugher. People say: "BVA beat Trinity." I beleive Trinity was overated from day one, and they [and BVA] were pretty even matches. In my opinion, the top three teams of the Big 7 are in another planet compared to the bottom four. Ringgold has too much fire power whether it be on the ground or through the air; and the defensive line is as good as any. Final score: Ringgold 41 BVA 13

Anonymous said...

i would have to agree with r taylor. Trinity played without a head coach in that game vs. BVA and Ringgold has many weapons on the offense, and a defense that showed it can buckle down when needed (i.e. their goaline stand against Chartiers Valley where CV had the ball inside the 3 on first and goal and could not score). Ringgold by 20

J.D. Billy said...

Ringold 27 BVA 14

mike_kovak said...

I think this game is interesting because it is absolutely huge for both teams and that it is an intense rivalry.

Rod Taylor said...

I agree with that 100%.

Anonymous said...

also, my condolences to BVA for their loss of long time AD and legend Jim Weir

Rod Taylor said...

I have to apologize for my bad prediction. Ringgold only won 33-13. However, RHS should have won 40-13, but a fourth quarter Tyler Patch TD run got called back. Simon Bekavac is one tough player. He ran for 274 and threw a 50 yard bomb to Jake Spaziani. I will give BVA some credit. They did lead at half time 6-0. But they beauty of football is there are two halves.

Anonymous said...

33-13 Ringgold. 33 minus 13 = 20. I called it

Anonymous said...

Ringgold better hope it beats Trinity to lock up the number 3 seed so they can hopefully face the #1 or #2 seed from the keystone conference because that is the only way they will win a playoff game. It was evident again tonight, Jeff Petrucci gets outcoached week in and week out. BVA should have been up 16-0 at halftime, luckily for Ringgold Simon Bekavac could not be touched in the 2nd half and Ringgold's talent prevailed. Please tell me what coach in high school football that has the ball with just under 2 minutes to go on there own 30 with a timeout or 2, and that has the type of potent scoring attack that Ringgold's offense has and just calls straight run plays and milks the clock when losing 6-0!!! The game has sadly passed Jeff Petrucci by (passed him by at Cal U) and unfortunately for this very talented Rams team their season will end likely by the poor decision making of Petrucci. Thoughts of the 1999 Rams with Cole, Gerba, and Carden come to mind so easily because that team was so talented but had chuck colborn coaching it. That team wins the state title that year with render or cherpak calling the shots. What a coincidence Colborn played for Petrucci at Cal. Good job Ringgold keep the horrible coaching intertwined with each other. When it comes down to it, you really just have to feel bad for the players especially Bekavac who Petrucci finally decided to give the ball enough times to show what he can do. The kid is a horse and should get 25 carries every game. Instead, in most games if things dont go well on his first 3 or so carries Petrucci goes away from him, you have to find ways to get this kid the ball if your the coach of the Ringgold Rams.

Rod Taylor said...

I partially agree. The first half of the game the play calling was suspect. But the players (not saying names) were not doing their what they were supposed to be doing. Coach Petrucci has done more with that football team than any of us would expected when we discovered that RHS was getting sent to the Big 7. I am not certain, but I think RHS was picked to not even make the playoffs. I think the Rams discovered in the second quarter that BVA's run defense was "mediocre" and the Rams firgured they would handle them in the second half. Petrucci did not want to make a mistake and turn the ball over just after recovering a fumble on the two. I think Jeff Petrucci outcoached Lou Rood in the second half because he was able to exploit a weakness of BVA's and go ahead and outscore them 33-7. And to the people who booed the Rams going into half time, shame on you.

Anonymous said...

The Big 7 is not what it has been the last couple of years...Yah TJ is TJ but Trinity has obviously gone down with the graduation of sweat and company, char valley is still decent but definitely not as good as last year (if santino curry plays that whole game vs ringgold that game doesnt even go to overtime, belle vernon is very young, elizabeth is also getting better, and what has happened to the west mifflin titats!? Yes, Ringgold will go to the playoffs and im not saying that they shouldnt because there team is good enough but with the exception of TJ, I would say none of the big 7 teams would be leading any other conference other than the keystone.

Anonymous said...

a


wueall no tht grannys know nothing abofootbal. heres how i see it char-houston only has one player-banas.trinity is still whining about their loss of sweat and co.
wash high is still getting over montecalvo who has them convinced they will never be good without him.
AVELLA is all about football.guts is there glory will come.
what do you think granny/?