Thursday, October 1, 2009

Games of the Week – Week 5

Two Class A games will receive ample attention Friday night. Laurel plays at Rochester in a Big Seven Conference contest while Clairton is at Fort Cherry in a Black Hills game. Those teams comprise four of the five sports in the Class A rankings.

Clairton (2-0, 3-1) at Fort Cherry (2-0, 4-0)

Since losing at Laurel in Week 1, Clairton – the defending WPIAL Class A champion and PIAA runner-up – has run roughshod over three opponents. Monessen, Frazier and Bentworth were outscored by a combined 161-7. The Bears enter Jim Garry Stadium with the most potent offense in WPIAL Class A, having scored 169 points.

Fort Cherry earned recognition with its victory at Serra Catholic last week. Led by talented underclassmen and a solid offensive line, the Rangers ranked second in WPIAL Class A with 163 points.

Beth-Center (2-0, 3-1) at Monessen (2-0, 2-2)
Through four games, Beth-Center's defense has been excellent. Not only do the Bulldogs yield an average of 8.0 points per game, the defense and special teams find ways to put up points. Last year, Beth-Center returned an interception for a touchdown on the game's third play en route to a 35-13 victory. The Bulldogs went unbeaten in the Tri-County South.

No doubt Monessen wants to extract revenge and win a conference championship. Those chances can take a turn for the better by beating B-C. If the Greyhounds do, it will be their first victory against a team with a win this year.

Canon-McMillan (0-0, 2-2) at Upper St. Clair (0-0, 3-1)
Can Canon-McMillan put together two wins in a row? Can the Big Macs defense build off last week's impressive performance against an inferior team? Can Upper St. Clair bounce back from losing handily to Pittsburgh Central Catholic? Will the winner of this game contend for a Great Southern Conference title?

Some of those questions will be answered Friday night. Who knows, maybe this year's game can top last year's?

In 2008, USC went for a two-point conversion pass in overtime in hopes of stealing on in Canonsburg. The Big Macs broke up the pass and came away with a thrilling 28-27 victory.

22 comments:

Clairton Alum said...

looks like Fort Cherry may get there wish...looks like rain all night. Ill be honest, that worries me a little. Looking forward to tonight though...

Joey Niklas said...

Good luck again Fort Cherry Fans.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of wet fields.
Does anyone remember when Burgettstown used firetrucks to soak down the field when Brian Davis played for Washington?

Joey Niklas said...

Thats a classic story and the first I heard of this. Thx for sharing man.

Anonymous said...

does anyone know McDonald or Hickory's fire department chief?????

Anonymous said...

Yep. Remember it well. I will tell you this, ounce for ounce, Brian Davis was the best high school athlete to ever come out of western PA. He was a force on the football field, basketball court, etc. He may be the best of all time. I mean, for a team to actually "flood" the field in an attempt to slow him down says it all.

Anonymous said...

Whats up with Pa. sportsboard are they down for good?

Anonymous said...

Halftime....USC--34 CM--12

This isn't Trinity or Butler....at least Baldwin still is on the schedule......3-6 and home for the holidays.

Anonymous said...

WHOA!! I think im convinced now that Clairton and Laurel Game was a fluke for the Bears they beat fort cherry 45-6 jeez im a true believer now.......

Anonymous said...

USC-41 CM--20 and it was not as close as the score indicates. USC humiliated the pathetic big macs. After 5 games it is clear that this cm team cannot compete with legitimate AAAA teams. They've beaten a 1-4 equally putrid AAA team in Trinity and a longtime woeful Butler team. They lost by 2 touchdowns to Central Catholic, were mercy ruled against Woodland Hills and received Jim Render's mercy by calling off his dogs. The CM program has sunk to the pre-Pallante days of being unprepared & over matched. Watching CM is sickening.

Clairton Alum said...

Clairton 45
Fort Cherry 6

Lots more to come on this game tomorrow and Sunday...lots to discuss from the pre-game exchanging of words to Fort Cherry & Clairton doing exactly what I said (driving down the field and scoring on the opening drive and Clairton coming right back and scoring in less than 35 seconds) to Fort Cherry having a meltdown during and after the game...I cant believe FC fell apart like that with the unsportsmanlikes and the players fighting one another after the game...

lots more to discuss once mike posts his Friday night thoughts...

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to send this out to the few Trinity fans left. They played a great game against CV and stuck with them until half way through the 4th quarter. It was 13-6 and then the Hillers shot themselves in the foot yet again! Fumbles, fumbles, fumbles, dropped punt, and penalties all over the place.

Didn't get the gist of it, but right before half witht he score 7-0, Trinity stopped CV on a 3rd and 15. CV fumbled the snap and Capers was tackled for a loss. They call a 15 yard penalty on Trinity for a facemask on a fumble and give CV a first down.

I couldn't believe the calls tonight! Did anyone else see the game? Who was the officiating crew? They should never be allowed to call a game again!

Not saying the refs lost the game, Trinity did that themselves with their usual 5 fumble performance! But it was just a horribly officiated game!!!

Joey Niklas said...

I'm not sure what half time adjustments Fort Cherry made but they was solid in then 2nd half. The Rangers shut the Bears down on a 4th and Goal. Only to give up a safety though. The Rangers played with alot of heart. A 2nd matchup in the playoffs will be interesting to see. Good luck the rest of the way Ranger fans.

Anonymous said...

Baldwin will beat CM ask the great poster from PETERS.That loss to baldwin maybe the biggest joke off all time if i were you i would never post on this site agian you should have to deliver the O.R. for a whole year for free.I hope you don`t try to jump on the BEARS bandwangon and end up at the BIG HOUSE in late november

Anonymous said...

Something new, a Trinity fan whining about the officiating! Who would have ever thought you would hear that?

How's that preseason ranking looking now at 1-4? Lots of fun up on the hill these days.

Joey Niklas said...

Clairton Alum,

The pregame fiasco in my opinion was the refs fault. If the ref would've brought the Bears down the visitors hillside and through the sidegate(like before and after halftime and like anyother game at FC High School) the fiasco doesn't happen. Plus the other ref doesn't give Clairton a chance to get to the sideline before he brings Fort Cherry down the hillside. Fort Cherry is a horrible set up to begin with, with the players walking across a parking lot and down a hillside. 2 refs made serious errors coupled with a bad set up to begin with and the end result is the teams getting way too close.

Anonymous said...

brian davis was the best athlete in wpial history? what div 1 college did he play for? what proffesional team was he on? hall of fame?

mike_kovak said...

Brian Davis played briefly at Pitt, after being named the Parade Magazine High School Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at Wash High. He had offers from every major school in the country and was considered one of, if not the, top football recruits.

Grades were a problem at Pitt.

Still, his talent was such that the Cleveland Browns brought him in for a tryout.

From everything I heard, from fans to radio personalties to long-time and sometimes legendary sports writers, Brian Davis was as good a high school football player that the WPIAL has seen.

And, yes, he's in the WPIAL Hall of Fame. Inducted this summer.

Anonymous said...

Can someone explain what occured before, during asnd after the FC-Clairton game. I'm reading bits and pieces but would like to here the complete story...

prexie said...

from what i heard and this is from inside the camp. brian davis was the best back at cleveland. he made kevin mack and the other backs look pedestrian. he just walked out one day and never came back. no doubt the best in wpial history. ask shottenheimer what he thinks. long live the legend.

Anonymous said...

No doubting his talent, but 'long live the legend'?

He wasted the gifts he had. A shame.

prexie said...

lets not judge anon. brian davis is happy and enjoying life. it seems like thats more then i can say about some of these bloggers. they need to chill and enjoy the games.they seem to take things a little too serious. i agree with joey niklas, the refs and the wpial need to take control of these antics by these teams, coaches as well. not too many people root for this behavior.