Leechburg (3-0) scoring points at a historic pace
For the team that has the longest playoff drought in WPIAL football, it has been raining points the first two weeks.
Leechburg is 3-0 — and that statement hasn’t been made in 21 years. But what also is eye-opening is the way Leechburg is scoring points. Teams are having a devil of a time trying to stop the Blue Devils, who are averaging 54 points, which leads the entire WPIAL.
Remember, this is a Leechburg team that hasn’t made the WPIAL playoffs since 1988 and won two or fewer games 13 times from 2002-17.
“Going 3-0 is huge for us, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Lecchburg coach Randy Walters said.
Leechburg’s offense has worked for 162 points in three games. From 2001 through 2017, Leechburg didn’t score 162 points in a season. Granted, Leechburg’s first two opponents — JeffersonMorgan and Summit Academy – aren’t exactly WPIAL juggernauts. But Leechburg hung up 50 on an always-competitive Brentwood team this past Friday in a 50-20 victory.
“Honest to God, I was scared about [Friday] night,” Walters said. “We haven’t had our whole offensive line together the whole year. I was concerned. I’ve only been here two years. There were times last year where we didn’t know we could win. But coming out of that Brentwood game, sticking to what we’ve been doing and piling on the points, that should give our guys a lot of belief. It gave me a lot of belief that they’ll just keep fighting.”
One of the main reasons for Leechburg’s success so far has been junior running back Braylan Lovelace, who has rushed for 452 yards on 32 attempts (14.1 average). Lovelace is 6 feet 3, 192 pounds and Walters believes Lovelace, who also plays linebacker, has a good chance at playing Football Bowl Subdivision college football. He visited Kent State this past weekend and plans to go to Toledo in a few weeks.
“He’s a straight Division I college player, if you ask me,” Walters said. “He has potential, size, pedigree, athletic ability. He checks a lot of the boxes.”
Exactly how good Leechburg is could be answered Friday because the Blue Devils play at perennial power Clairton. The Bears are 0-2, but are still one of the best WPIAL 1A teams. The previous time Leechburg was 4-0 was 1981, when the Blue Devils started 5-0 before losing to Avonworth.
“I’m not going to make any predictions, but we have high expectations,” Walters said. “We want a winning record, want to make the playoffs and we don’t want to be out after one game.”
Something for Sunny
It was something to see the coaching staffs at Aliquippa and Central Valley wearing the same T-shirts for Friday’s game at Aliquippa. It was all for Sunny.
Antonyo “Sunny” Anderson was shot in the back in Aliquippa in the spring. Expected to be one of Aliquippa’s top receivers, Anderson is not able to play this year while he recovers.
Both coaching staffs wore black T-shirts Friday with #SUNNYSTRONG on the front and the words “stronger together” on the back, with the logos of Aliquippa and Central Valley on the shirts. Aliquippa was selling the shirts to raise money for Anderson, but Central Valley also sold the shirts to their fans last week.
The two teams sold 594 Tshirts and raised $5,100 for Anderson.
“[Aliquippa coach] Mike Warfield was on our staff at one time and I love everything he does as a coach and person,” Central Valley coach Mark Lyons said. “Our quarterback club would’ve done anything for Aliquippa and it’s easy to just write a check. But I wanted to make sure our community was involved a little bit and our players understood. In probably 48 hours, I know our community and their community sold more than 500 shirts. It just took off.”
It’s been a while
Laurel Highlands is 3-0. To show you how long it has been since that has happened, consider the previous time the Mustangs were 3- 0 they started the season with two victories against schools that no longer exist.
The year was 1976 and Laurel Highlands defeated Fairchance-Georges (28-7) and West Mifflin North (14-0) to start the season. Both schools have since closed. Laurel Highlands got a forfeit win in the third game because of a Brownsville teachers strike.
Laurel Highlands then lost the fourth game to Elizabeth Forward, 16-9, and ended the season 5-5-1.
With the next two games against Ringgold and West Mifflin, Laurel Highlands seemingly has a decent chance at starting 5-0. Then comes the major tests when Laurel Highlands plays Belle Vernon, Thomas Jefferson and McKeesport in three consecutive weeks.
For Laurel Highlands, Rodney Gallagher continues to make big plays in his first season as the full-time quarterback. Gallagher now has rushed for four touchdowns and thrown for seven.
It’s been a while II
Things continue to be rough for Jeannette, the alltime winningest team in WPIAL history. Jeannette lost to Ligonier Valley, 55-0, this past Friday. Jeannette now is 0-3 and has been outscored, 177-0.
Jeannette lost nine returning starters before this season when they transferred to other schools. The previous time Jeannette started the season 0-3 was 1997, when the Jayhawks actually started 0-4 and finished 4-6.
Jeannette had a rough nonconference schedule, but the Jayhawks should be much more competitive in the next two weeks when conference play starts and Jeannette plays Riverview and Imani Christian. Riverview is on a 13-game losing streak.
Losing streak over
In the first week of the season, Northgate ended a 32game losing streak, which tied for the seventh-longest in WPIAL history. On Friday night, Uniontown ended a 35-game losing streak by beating Carrick. Although Uniontown is playing an independent schedule for the second season, it is a WPIAL school. The streak ties for the fourth-longest in WPIAL history.
West Shamokin lost 46 from 2007-12, Geibel 39 from 1996-2000, Saltsburg 36 from 1960-63 and Springdale 35 from 1990-93.