The Northern Eight Conference produced both Quad-A finalists last season. Pine-Richland won their first WPIAL title since moving to the largest classification, beating Central Catholic. In fact, the last five WPIAL Quad-A Champions have come from the Northern Eight Conference.
Make sure to bookmark my WPIAL Standings Page (the only one available with all tiebreakers listed!). I should note that teams are organized in this preview based on my predicted order of finish.
All helmet images are courtesy of the PA Helmet Project.
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Central Catholic
@centralvikings & @PCC_FOOTBALL
Another year, another dominant defensive profile for the Vikings. Central’s defense has Division 1 talent at all three levels – led by CB Damar Hamlin (one of the best prospects in the entire country), DB Bricen Garner (a Pitt commit), LB Ron George (who has offers from at least 6 MAC schools), and DT Rashad Wheeler (a Pitt commit). Central’s only losses last season were to Quad-A Champion Pine-Richland, a 48-28 Week 8 game that was the most points Central had allowed since 2003 and a hard-faught 21-13 loss in the WPIAL Championship Game. The Vikings offense should be even better this season, returning two of their top four rushers from last season in Vinny Emanuele and Toledo-commit Ronnie Jones. Mike Navorro and Gunnar Frerotte split time at quarterback last year as juniors, but likely won’t be called upon to win many games with their arm as Central’s “run the ball and play defense” philosophy should carry them on another deep run.
Pine-Richland
@PRRamsFootball & @Real_PRstudsect
The defending Quad-A Champions put together a near-perfect season before it was derailed in a shootout in the state championship game that ended with a 49-41 loss to St Joseph’s Prep. 2014 was the first time that the Rams made it out of the first round of the Quad-A playoffs and their student section garnared renown for taking a live ram to Heinz Field (and subsequently losing it on the North Side). Not many teams could graduate a 3800-yard passer, two 1100-yard receivers and a 1500-yard rusher and still be considered favorites for a home playoff game, but Pine-Richland is loaded with talent. They have 3 players with Division 1 scholarship offers in OT James Willard, DE Matt Hampson and DB Anthony Battaglia. Battaglia was the Rams third-leading receiver last year. The top three rushers all graduated but rising seniors Dom Bryant (9.7 yards per carry) and Jimmy Graf (6.8 yards per carry) made the most of their limited opportunities last year and should be ready for bigger roles. The biggest hole to fill on offense will be at QB where sophomore Phil Jurkovec figures to be the starter.
North Allegheny
@NorthAllegheny & @NAfootballteam
There might not have been a single team in the WPIAL that battled through as many close games as the Tigers last season. North Allegheny ultimately fell to Penn-Trafford in a wild 35-31 Quarterfinal affair, the 9th consecutive season they made it past the first round of the playoffs. Legendary coach Art Walker will have the benefit of returning leading rusher Mike Pope to run behind a solid offensive line featuring offensive tackle Josh Lugg who recently committed to Notre Dame. Riley Trueman figures to take over under center. Expect the Tigers to get better as the season progresses as the role players get comfortable with the increased playing time. Despite solid overall numbers North Allegheny was 0-3 last year in games where their defense allowed more than 27 points and 8-0 in all other games.
North Hills
@NHFootballRents & @North_Hills16
The Indians have made the playoffs in 3 straight seasons after a rare miss in 2011, but have not made it out of the first round since 2010. They sputtered down the stretch last season, losing four of their last 6 games. Nick Santucci led the team in rushing (662 yards, 6 TDs) as a sophomore and figures to be the focal point of an offense that saw all its other major contributors graduate. Santucci will have the benefit of running behind Jake Buccigrossi (a WVU commit). North Hills struggled to find the end zone last season, being held under 25 points in 7 of their 10 games. The team was capable defensively, holding 7 of their 10 opponents under 21 points. Unfortunately, they ended the season on a low note getting blown out by archrival North Allegheny 31-7 then losing 41-2 in the playoffs to Woodland Hills.
Fox Chapel
@FCStudentSec
The Foxes returned to the playoffs for only the second time in the last six seasons in 2014 and are looking for their first back-to-back playoff trips since 1996-1997. They will have to find a replacement for QB Billy Urso who threw for over 1600 yards in each of the last two seasons. Dimitri Spina did see some spot duty at QB as a sophomore and should be the starter this season. Despite losing their QB, leading receiver and leading rusher to graduation, Fox Chapel had a relatively young team last year. They return both RB Darius Booker, who was the team’s second-leading rusher and third-leading receiver, FB Thomas Smith who was the second-leading receiver and fourth-leading rusher, and third-leading rusher Sean Chitambo. That senior trio in the backfield could be enough to carry the Foxes back to the postseason.
Butler
@GTfootball2015
The Golden Tornado have only made the playoffs once in the last 16 years. The 2014 season was a bit of an improvement for Butler. Coming off a year where they were in the bottom 3 in Quad-A in both offense and defense, they improved by 2 positions on offense and 7 on defense. Butler did gain some valuable experience last season as leading rusher Damian Pickett and leading receiver Kelley Kuharic return for their senior seasons. Rising Junior QB Alec Bayer played the last two games in 2014 and figures to step into the starting role this season.
Seneca Valley
@SV_Sports
After reaching three straight playoff runs that ended in the quarters and semis from 2011 to 2013, big things were expected from Seneca Valley in 2014. Unfortunately, the Warriors failed to meet expectations (primarily due to suffering a plethora of injuries) and failed to reach the playoffs. Coach Don Holl left the program this offseason and the leading passer, rushers and receivers all graduated. The weight of the offense will fall on Senior all-around threat Corbin Kessler who was the team’s second-leading passer (319 yards, 3 TDs), third-leading receiver (248 yards) and third-leading rusher (150 yards).
Shaler
@ShalerFB
The Titans enter the 2015 season riding the longest losing streak in the WPIAL at 31 games, stretching back to October 8, 2011. The current senior class has never won a game, and the WPIAL scheduling matrix didn’t do them any favors as they landed Woodland Hills and Penn-Trafford as non-conference opponents. Last year’s team had the worst offense in Quad-A (6.7 points per game) and the second-worst defense (45.3 points against per game). Shaler was the second-lowest scoring team in the entire WPIAL and one of just 7 schools to give up over 400 points on the season. There is some hope for this season as Taylor Bocka started at QB last season as a sophomore and second-leading rusher Nick Fugh returns for his senior season.
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