Join Liam Halferty and Jordan Greer as they take you north into District 10 with a weekly look at the Wilmington Greyhounds.

This week, the 'Hounds battled Hickory in the District 10 championship game.

Join Liam Halferty and Jordan Greer as they take you north into District 10 with a weekly look at the Wilmington Greyhounds.

This week, the 'Hounds battled Fairview in the District 10 playoffs.

The Neshannock High football team knows where its WPIAL playoff path will take it next.

The Lancers learned Sunday night that they will square off against Clairton at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the WPIAL Class A semifinals at Chartiers-Houston High School.

Neshannock is familiar with Chartiers-Houston, defeating Monessen there in the quarterfinals, 24-21.

Clairton is riding a 58-game win streak, one victory shy of the state record.

By Andrew Petyak

New Castle News

There will be nothing surprising when Neshannock and Monessen collide in quarterfinal action in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

The two teams come battle-tested. The Lancers (9-1) shared part of the tough Big Seven Conference title this season and the Greyhounds (9-1) came out of a Black Hills Conference that sent three teams to the playoffs, including undefeated powerhouse Clairton (10-0). Of the eight teams remaining in the WPIAL Class A playoffs, seven belong to the two conferences. Monessen is ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class A by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while Neshannock is No. 5.

“There are seven teams besides us in the Class A playoffs, and we’ve played four of them,” Lancers coach Fred Mozzocio said. “We’re prepared for anything they throw at us. We’re only worried about what we’re doing. We’re trying to be sharp on offense and defense.”

No. 13 seed Neshannock was able to advance to Friday’s game after it rolled Jefferson-Morgan 42-14 last weekend in the program’s first WPIAL playoff victory. Fourth-seeded Monessen comes into the contest having made the playoffs 12 of the last 13 seasons. The Greyhounds handled Apollo-Ridge 48-19 to advance to today’s 7:30 p.m. matchup at Chartiers-Houston High School. The winner of the matchup will play the winner of the Clairton-Brentwood quarterfinal.

SIMILAR STRATEGIES

Both teams rely on outstanding play from their quarterbacks. Quarterback Chavas Rawlins, a West Virginia University recruit, leads the Greyhounds offense with 16 total touchdowns on 1,253 yards passing and 546 on the ground.

“He’s a Division I athlete,” Mozzocio said. “It all starts and stops right there with him. We have to do a good job containing him.”

The Lancers will lean on past experiences to stop Rawlins. The team faced a similar athlete in an earlier game against conference rival Sto-Rox in junior quarterback Lenny Williams, and was able to overcome the Vikings 35-34.

“That kid from Sto-Rox is as good as they come,” Mozzocio said. “Rawlins and Williams are comparable athletes. Lenny had 400 yards passing against us. We have to keep him contained as much as possible. He can ad-lib and break the pocket on you and cause some problems. His feet are the scariest thing.”

Monessen has averaged 35 points a game under Rawlins and a solid supporting cast which includes Clintell Gillespie, the leading receiver for the Greyhounds with 507 yards on 21 receptions with 11 total touchdowns.

“He’s a big, strong kid,” Mozzocio said. “We definitely need to keep an eye on him as well.”

The X-factor for Monessen’s offense is Javon Brown, with eight touchdowns and a skillset that could pose problems for the Lancers’ defense.

“He’s a pretty good player for them,” Mozzocio said. “You’ll see him little bit in the backfield at times. He’s a real quick, shifty kid.”

Neshannock’s Ernie Burkes is the player to watch when the Lancers have the ball. The junior quarterback scored six touchdowns against Jefferson-Morgan last week and has big-play ability through the air and on the ground. Burkes leads all county passers with 1,346 yards with 17 touchdowns. He is seventh in rushing with 740 yards on 78 carries.

“Their quarterback is extremely gifted back there running that offense,” Greyhounds coach Andy Pacak said. “He fools people over and over and over again with the direction the ball is going. He has a nice arm and the receivers do a great job of running their routes well. They’re a well-oiled machine on offense.”

The Lancers offensive machine has averaged 40 points a game this season through a spread offense which often goes no-huddle.

“Dealing with their no huddle and their spread offense will be difficult,” Pacak said. “We’ll definitely have our hands full. Fortunately, the spread in the Black Hills Conference is more common than uncommon. We should be prepared for it.”

Receivers Alex Welker and John Conglose pace the county in receiving yards. Welker has 577 yards on 33 receptions and Conglose has 563 yards on 38 receptions. The Greyhounds shouldn’t forget running back Eli Owens, who rushed for 139 yards on 13 attempts last week including a game-changing interception on defense against Jefferson-Morgan. Owens is fourth in the county with 1,057 yards on 138 carries.

THE DEFENSIVE SIDE

Both teams have underrated defensive units. Neshannock allows fewer points, 16.5 per game, than Monessen does, but the Greyhounds may have the more effective playmakers.

“They have a very good defense,” Mozzocio said. “Again, Rawlins is a key guy on that side of the ball. They have some really good ballplayers which complement nice schemes. They do well playing team defense and swarming to the ball.”

Rawlins is a ball-hawking safety for the Greyhounds. Gillespie leads the front-seven from his linebacker position.

Pacak is impressed with the schemes and openness of the Lancers defense.

“Scheme wise, they’re wide open,” Pacak said. “Watching them, it seems like they are going to play their defense and do what it is they’re going to do. Their linebackers pursuit of the ball is impressive. Both ends of the ball they have bunch of kids going after it and playing at 150 miles-per-hour every play.”

NO NERVES

Pacak looks to Monessen’s past playoff experience to keep the nerves calm. The team is making its second trip to the quarterfinals in three season, its most recent a 30-6 loss to Springdale in 2010.

“That helps being in the playoffs,” Pacak said. “Being in the Black Hills Conference has paid a lot of dividends in being in a lot of tough games. Our kids that our seniors, this will be their sixth playoff game they’ve played in.”

Neshannock has taken the same approach to every game all season, according to Mozzocio. The loose atmosphere of the team continued after last week’s big win.

“It’s been a same type of atmosphere,” Mozzocio said. “We have kids coming out to practice laughing and having a good time when we warm up. It’s been all business as usual.”

“I don’t want anybody to take this the wrong way,” he continued. “On our very first day, I talked to these young men. We set a goal to win the state championship. With that, we say the word ‘win’ every day. It means what’s important now. That’s exactly in our mind in what we continue to do.”

(Email: a_petyak@ncnewsonline.com).

By Ron Poniewasz Jr.

New Castle News

The Big Seven Conference will be on display in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Conference foes Union High and Sto-Rox won last week in the opening round of the district’s playoffs, earning a matchup at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mars High School.

“It’s a testament to our conference,” Scotties coach Stacy Robinson said about the strength of the conference. “That’s been commonplace though over the years for the Big Seven for teams to play each other in the playoffs.”

GETTING HERE

Tenth-seeded Union (7-3) knocked off Beth-Center last week in the opening round, 21-7. It was the Scotties’ first playoff win since 1979, Robinson’s junior year. Union lost the next week in the semifinals to Knoch.

“The kids are excited, but I don’t want them to get too nervous,” said Robinson, who is in his 16th season at the helm. “You have to win. There’s no next week. Everyone is at that stage of the season where your season could end at any time.”

The second-seeded Vikings (9-1) advanced last week with a 40-7 win over Carmichaels. Sto-Rox is ranked No. 2 in the WPIAL in Class A by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Vikings also check in at No. 5 in the state by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

“Sto-Rox is a very talented football team,” Robinson said. “They’re good on both sides of the ball and dangerous on special teams.”

Dan Bradley is in his first season as the Vikings coach. He took over for Ron Butschle, who resigned in July because of family reasons. Bradley was the team’s offensive coordinator.

“We had a pretty good feeling we’d see Union in the quarterfinals,” Bradley said. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for Stacy as a coach and as a person.

“This matchup is a good representation of our conference.”

The winner moves on to battle the survivor of the Rochester-North Catholic matchup Nov. 16 at a time and site to be determined.

Union and Sto-Rox met Oct. 5 on the Scotties’ home field and the Vikings pulled away for a 48-21 decision. Union trailed just 20-14 in the third quarter before the Vikings tacked on 14 points in 2:43 to take control.

“The advantage with the rematch for them would be the simple fact that they beat us,” Robinson said. “For us, there’s no advantage to it. It gives us the advantage to rework the gameplan I guess. We’ll study things and be ready.”

VAUNTED VIKINGS

Lenny Williams, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior quarterback, paces the Sto-Rox offense. Williams is 89 of 154 for 1,662 yards with 19 touchdowns. He has 701 rushing yards as well on 92 attempts with nine scores.

“He’ll go down as one of the better players I’ll coach against,” Robinson said of Williams. “He’s dangerous from the time the ball is snapped until the whistle blows; he does just about everything for them and does it all very well.

“He has a strong arm. A stronger arm than most kids have. He gets it out quickly. The way he gets it out with such velocity, the ball is in the receivers hands so quickly.”

Bradley said some Mid-American Conference schools have shown interest in Williams.

Brendan Blair, a 6-foot, 185-pound junior running back, leads Sto-Rox in rushing with 628 yards on 86 attempts and 16 touchdowns.

“He’s a good, physical football player,” Robinson said of Blair. “He’s just another cog in the wheel for them.”

Ben Shackelford, a 5-9, 165-pound senior wide receiver, leads the Vikings with 32 receptions for 600 yards and eight touchdowns. Javelle Kirkland, a 5-6, 140-pound sophomore wide receiver, is next with 14 catches for 445 yards and seven scores.

“They’ve got a talented group of guys throughout their lineup; they can stretch the defense,” Robinson said. “If they see Lenny is in trouble and scrambling, they’re coached well enough to do the scramble drill and get open.

“Shackelford is a talented kid with speed. Kirkland is another piece of the puzzle. You can’t focus on just one guy.”

Both teams committed three turnovers in the first matchup. But Robinson knows his team will have to clean that up to have a shot at moving on.

“We’ll have to play mistake-free football and capitalize on each opportunity,” Robinson said. “We can’t have missed assignments.”

UNION ARSENAL

Joe Salmen, a 6-0, 170-pound senior quarterback/defensive back, engineers the Union attack. Salmen has completed 67 passes in 142 attempts for 1,089 yards with 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He ranks second in the county in passing yards behind Neshannock’s Ernie Burkes (1,346).

“Salmen is a playmaker,” Bradley said. “He’s had some outstanding runs this year and he throws the deep ball well.

“We need to take that away. He can take it the distance, too, when he runs. He’s a good athlete and a good decision maker.”

Drew Robinson, the coach’s son, paces the Scotties’ ground game with 1,129 rushing yards on 130 carries. The senior running back leads the team in touchdowns with 15 and stands third in the county in scoring with 92 points.

Bradley was particularly impressed by Drew’s 75-yard touchdown run in the regular season finale at Neshannock. Drew took a direct snap in the shotgun with Salmen faking like the snap went over his head. The Lancers seemed to have Drew pinned in, but he reversed his field, got a couple of blocks and dashed in for the long scoring run.

“Drew Robinson is a home run hitter,” Bradley said. “He gets to the outside and he can be gone.

“We’ll have to stay in our pursuit lanes. He can sure take it the distance like he did against Neshannock; he’s got that big-play potential.”

Union’s Benjamin Young, a 6-1, 175-pound wide receiver/defensive back, ranks fourth in the county in receiving with 13 catches for 322 yards.

NO TIME FOR NERVES

The Scotties started slow last week before Drew Robinson recovered a fumble and raced 24 yards for a score in the second quarter. Salmen’s conversion kick tied the score to help get Union going.

“We were able to capitalize on a big play and stem the tide so to speak,” Stacy Robinson said. “It was the first playoff game, the lights are on, the pressure is on. But I don’t think those type of jitters will be the case this week.

“I think we got the playoff jitters out last week. Time becomes more precious when there’s less of it to waste. We want to make sure we come out playing to the best of our ability. That will give us the best chance to win.”

By Joe Sager

New Castle News

It’ll be power vs. power tomorrow at Grove City High School.

Wilmington makes the short trek to take on Fairview at 1 p.m. in a District 10, Class AA quarterfinal showdown.

Don’t expect much of an aerial attack from the Greyhounds (7-2) and Tigers (6-3). Both teams will pass when necessary, but their offensive strength comes via the running game.

“We have two different ways of doing the same thing,” Fairview coach Jim Brinling said. “We go with a zone running scheme, while Wilmington is more of a wing set. It’s two different styles, but with the same goal in mind.”

Both teams feature powerful running backs in Wilmington’s Tyler Donati and Fairview’s Shannon Jackson. Donati, a senior, has racked up 1,250 yards and 17 touchdowns on 146 carries, while Jackson leads all D-10 rushers with 1,921 yards and 23 TDs on 244 totes.

“Fairview is a power running team. They have a great tailback. Their quarterback can throw and run; they run two tight ends most of time and just hand it to (Jackson). They are very good at it. But, we have to be prepared,” Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. “They are more of a ball control team. We don’t want them to be running the ball on offense most of the game. They keep chewing up yards.”

Controlling the ball on the ground is the ’Hounds’ game, too. When Donati isn’t lugging the rock, Alex Patton (79 carries, 536 yards, 8 touchdowns) and Nic Pugh (45, 293, 6) have enjoyed success on the ground as well.

“Tyler Donati runs hard between the tackles. I can’t say enough about the offensive line for Wilmington,” Brinling said. “It’s a smashmouth kind of football. I have a whole lot of respect for Coach Verrelli and what he’s been able to do during his career at Wilmington.”

Wilmington and the Tigers benefited from an off week last week. That, combined with an early release of the D-10 playoff brackets, allowed the squads to have some extra preparation time.

“In the past, when we have had playoff years and not had a game in the 10th week, that week of practice wasn’t as focused when we didn’t have the opportunity to study and prepare for an opponent. It was nice to have Wilmington to prepare for this week.”

In addition, the ’Hounds gained some valuable rest. Donati and Pugh injured their ankles in the team’s Week 9 26-0 win at Greenville. The victory gave Verrelli a career mark of 269-112-3, one shy of the District 10 record for coaching wins set by Warren High legend J.B. Leidig (270-124-27) from 1912-1951.

“They aren’t quite 100 percent,” Verrelli said. “I think Donati will be ready to go and Pugh should be, too.”

Wilmington is looking forward to playing close to home against the Tigers.

“Definitely, that makes a big difference. The kids are excited. They realize it’s a great opportunity. We want to be prepared and take advantage of our opportunity,” Verrelli said. “I think we have to play our game. At this stage, there are no real secrets. We have to move the ball offensively and be able to pass and play good defense.

“Defense is the key to the game for us. They are very good at passing when they do throw the ball. They are primarily a running team and we’ve got to be able to slow it down and make them punt so they don’t control the ball and use up the clock.”

The Neshannock and Union High football teams now know where their playoff path is taking them.

This morning, the WPIAL announced the locations of the Class A Quarterfinal round:

Neshannock will face off against Monessen at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Chartiers-Houston High School.

Union will take on Sto-Rox at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mars High School.