At the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association East-West All-Star Classic Saturday in Altoona, both starting offensive tackles for the Western Pennsylvania team came from PG West-area schools.

Montour's Mike Muha played right tackle and Chartiers Valley's Eric Kush left tackle for the West squad that was leading, 10-0, when the game was called due to lightning.

"They both had really good weeks and great games," said West head coach Terry Smith, the coach at Gateway High School. "We had 150 yards or something rushing, and that starts up front. All those guys up front did a really good job for us ... they dominated for us."

Kush, 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, and Muha, 6-4, 255 pounds, each were PG West Fabulous 22 selections this past season after being named to their respective all-conference teams.

Muha was a four-year starter for a Montour program that went from a last-place team to WPIAL Class AAA finalist over the course of his career. He will attend Princeton of the Ivy League and is scheduled to play on the defensive line for the Tigers.

"He had a really nice high school career," said Montour coach Lou Cerro. "At Princeton, he'll have to balance studies with the football side of it. It will be tough, but he had a great week of practice and I'm sad to see him go.

"I think he probably could have gone to little bigger college, football-wise, but he wants to get the best education he can get. And he'll get the best at Princeton."

Kush also has been told he will play defense in college. After strongly considering an effort to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, Kush will enroll at California (Pa.). He said California is one of only two colleges in the state that have a technology education program, his desired major.

Kush said he didn't have a preference on which side of the ball he will play in college.

"It really doesn't matter to me," he said. "I just want to line up and start whipping some [butt]."

That attitude is typical of Kush, who also was a medal-winner as a heavyweight the past two seasons at the PIAA wrestling championships.

"He's a great player, and he's sort of a character," Muha said. "He definitely takes the game very seriously, and that's one of the biggest attributes of a good lineman. Off the field, he's a lot of fun. But he's all business on the field."

Muha lined up opposite Kush during a game each of the years they were in high school. The most recent Chartiers Valley-Montour game was a 7-0 Spartans win last season.

"I remember [Kush] from that game," Cerro said. "He's a real tough kid with a very high motor. He wants to do well, wants to learn."

Kush remembers that game, too, but he wasn't about to give an accurate scouting report on Muha, whom he now considers a friend.

"I don't remember too much. I just line up and play football," he said. "[Last week during practice], it was tough at first because I had played against him, so I had to hate him."

That's in the past. Running into Kush off the field is a pleasant experience. Running into him on the field? Not so much.

"[The East-West All-Stars week] was probably one of the two best weeks of my life," Kush said. "You get there and by the end of the week, you feel like brothers with all your teammates. You meet so many great guys and great players.

"We had a great time up there, but then once practices ended and the game was played, that wasn't the time for making friends anymore."

Muha should have plenty of opportunity to make friends at Princeton. He is one of a handful of WPIAL athletes to sign with Ivy League schools (Upper St. Clair linebacker Grant Serdy will be a teammate of Muha's with the Tigers).

"I know that the rigors of the academics there combined with playing Division I football is a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it," he said.