5 things we learned in week zero of high school football: Kick returns liven up openings

From: Chris Harlan

Saturday, August 24, 2024 | 9:05 p.m.

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The spread offense. The no-huddle. The Gatorade shower.

High school football has adopted many trends from the college and professional fields, but traditionalists hope the NFL’s new kickoff format will never prevail on Friday nights.

They say a long kickoff return is a rare beauty these days.

“I think that’s one of the most exciting things in the game,” Kiski Area coach Sam Albert said. “Because they’re so hard to get and when you get them, it’s just exciting.”

Albert would know.

Kiski Area junior Aven Shirley scored an 80-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff on Friday to lead the team to a 42-7 victory over Knoch. Shirley’s kick return touchdown, which the junior predicted before the game, was one of six scored by WPIAL players in Week Zero.

The longest run was a 99-yard kickoff return by Scoop Smith of Woodland Hills, who showed off his speed as the reigning WPIAL champion in the 100-meter dash.

Cameron Phillips of Southmoreland scored an 84-yard touchdown after a kickoff, Michael Veon of New Brighton scored from 59 yards, Teagan Crouse of Waynesburg scored an 89-yard touchdown and Brody Rock of Hopewell ran an 85-yard touchdown into the end zone.

“It completely changed the dynamic of the whole game for us,” Southmoreland coach Tim Bukowski said. “When he made the kickback, it motivated us and we took control of the whole game.”

The NFL introduced a new system this season called the Dynamic Kickoff Rule, which is designed to reduce the number of touchbacks while ensuring player safety. It looks little like kickoffs on high school fields.

“I understand why they did it,” Bukowski said, “but I’m still a football traditionalist. I would prefer to see it stay that way at the high school level.”

Kiski Area had a slow start to its practice game the week before, so Albert encouraged his team to start fast on Friday. That’s when Shirley spoke up.

“He said, ‘I’m going to run the kickoff back,'” Albert said. “I thought, ‘OK, I’ll take that.’ And sure enough, he brought it home. We went crazy. What a start to the season.”

New Brighton ends winning streak

As has been the case so often over the past two seasons, New Brighton’s players arrived at school on Saturday still recovering from a hard-fought game the night before, but new coach John Macuga said they had seen this week how much better it feels to win than to lose.

“A lot of the guys were sore in the locker room today, but they were in good spirits,” Macuga said after New Brighton won its first game in over two years.

The Lions defeated Shenango 9-7 in their opening game in Week Zero, ending a streak of 21 consecutive losses. The win was the team’s first since a 21-20 playoff victory over Washington on Nov. 5, 2021. The Lions lost in the next round of the playoffs that year before going 0-10 in 2022 and 2023.

New Brighton scored all nine points in the first quarter on Friday — on a safety and a kickoff return — and then held out defensively.

“From the moment the clock hit zero, there was pure excitement,” said Macuga. “They were cheering and shouting. It was a really good feeling for them.”

Complete a 300-yard run

California native Lee Qualk was best known as a track and field standout and WPIAL long jump champion, but he’s a multi-sport star. The senior running back carried the ball 37 times for 372 yards and six touchdowns in a win over Serra Catholic on Friday.

He had the most yards by a WPIAL runner in Week Zero.

“He’s one of those guys that you hope to get every few years,” California coach Ed Woods said. “He’s just an outstanding athlete, has a really good work ethic, is very strong for his size and can obviously fly.”

Qualk won the long jump title at the WPIAL 2A track and field championships last spring with a leap of 22 feet, 2½ inches. He also placed seventh in the 100 meters with a time of 11.24 seconds. As a junior on the football field, Qualk rushed for 560 yards on 44 carries and scored 14 touchdowns.

For some, a brisk debut

Sixteen new WPIAL and City head coaches made their debut this weekend, and nearly half of them had a winning night.

The group’s overall record was 7-9, with wins by Mark Matson of Allderdice, Jack Wickline of Blackhawk, Matt Mottes of Hopewell, John Macuga of New Brighton, Fred Mozzocio of New Castle, Mike Bongivengo of Neshannock and Marty Player of South Fayette.

Two more coaches could be added to the list next week. Aliquippa’s Vashawn Patrick and Springdale’s Chad Walsh did not play in Week Zero.

Points on the board

Include scoreboard operators among those tested in week zero.

There were seven games in which the teams combined for 75 points or more, more than last year’s three. The highest-scoring game was New Castle’s 49-47 win over General McLane, which totaled 96 points.

The others were California over Serra Catholic, 62-26; Greensburg Central Catholic over Shady Side Academy, 46-40; Mars over Boone (Florida), 47-35; Neshannock over Mohawk, 42-37; Armstrong over Highlands, 38-37; and Thomas Jefferson over Baldwin, 63-12.

Chris Harlan is a sports reporter for TribLive. He joined the Trib in 2009 after spending seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. Reach him at [email protected].

Tags: Woodland Hills