Mapletown coach George Messich got home at midnight Friday after his team’s game at Avella. He spent a few hours searching for his dog, which he finally found at a neighbor’s house at 4 a.m.
A few hours earlier, Messich watched as Avella had a similar plight. Avella’s problem was chasing Dylan Rush up and down the football field. They couldn’t catch him.
Rush, a smallish, 5-foot-8 senior at tiny Mapletown High School in Greene Country, had the biggest game of any running back in WPIAL history. The kid with the appropriate last name set a WPIAL record when he rushed for 524 yards in a 48-32 victory against Avella. Rush broke the record of 492 yards, set a year ago by Armstrong’s Zane Dudek.
Despite the performance, which came on 39 attempts, Rush and Messich know some might scoff at Rush’s record. Critics will say it’s only Class 1A football. They will say it came against Avella, a team that gave up 86 points a week earlier to California.
“I don’t care who he’s going against or who he is making these runs against,” Messich said. “He’s doing things you can’t coach and if everyone could do this, then you would have two or three players on every team like him.”
What would Rush say to critics?
“If it was so easy, why wouldn’t everyone be doing it?” Rush said. “No one has a team like I do. It’s great for them to have my back. It’s great to have fans support me. Some doubt me, but there are still so many that stick up for me.”
Although the record was set, Rush is no stranger to big rushing totals. He is a four-year starter whose effort against Avella made him only the 20th player in WPIAL history to reach 5,000 career yards. And to think, about 10 percent of those yards came in one game.
Messich and the Maples also are no strangers to record-setters. In 1989, Messich was the coach when Mapletown had Derek Bochna, who at that time was the WPIAL all-time leading rusher (Rush has surpassed Bochna’s total of 4,793 yards). Bochna also played defensive back and went on to start four seasons as a defensive back at Penn State.
Rush also is a talented defensive back, punts and kicks extra points. He never leaves the field in a game. Although he is small in stature, Rush weighs 180 pounds and his extremely strong. Rush also plays baseball.
“Derek was a great athlete, a really good baseball player and also played basketball,” Messich said. “But Derek never had time to get in the weight room. Dylan is so strong and it’s because he lives in the weight room.”
Saturday morning, about 12 hours after the game, Rush went on a mile run near his house.
A natural question about Rush is what colleges are recruiting him. Rush has a 4.25 grade point average and will go to Princeton for a game next month. James Madison and Yale have shown interest and so has California University of Pennsylvania.
“I know Division I schools are shying away from him because of his height,” Messich said. “In my opinion, that’s a mistake because he’s such a pure athlete. … There is no doubt in my mind he could play defense in college. I hope someone realizes what kind of athlete he is and gives him a shot.”
Dudek update
What a coincidence that Yale has shown a little interest in Rush. Dudek is a freshman at Yale and had a smashing debut Saturday in the Bulldogs’ first game. Dudek came into the game listed as the No. 2 halfback on the depth chart, but Dudek led the team in rushing, gaining 131 yards on 9 attempts in a 56-28 victory against Lehigh.
Gigantic upset
It would not be an overstatement to say Albert Gallatin’s 28-27 victory Friday against West Mifflin was one of the biggest upsets in the WPIAL in years.
West Mifflin came into the game ranked No. 3 in WPIAL Class 4A. Albert Gallatin came in with the fewest wins (24) of any team in the entire WPIAL since 2000. West Mifflin has been in the playoffs seven consecutive years while Albert Gallatin has been in the playoffs a total of eight times since the school started playing football in 1951. But somehow, Albert Gallatin pulled off the win.
Maybe Albert Gallatin’s win was a sign of the progress the Colonials have made under second-year coach Shawn Liotta. They were competitive in two losses against two other top teams in the Big Nine Conference — Belle Vernon and Ringgold.
Jurkovec close to history
Pine-Richland quarterback Phil Jurkovec is about to join an exclusive club.
Jurkovec needs 53 yards rushing to become only the third player in WPIAL history to throw for 5,000 career yards and run for 2,000. The others were 2014 Sto-Rox graduate Lenny Williams and 2017 Neshannock graduate Frank Antuono.
Check this out
• South Fayette can run its regular-season winning streak to 52 games with a victory Friday against Blackhawk That would tie Braddock (1953-60) for the second-longest regular-season streak in WPIAL history. Aliquippa holds the record, winning 62 in a row from 2009-16.
• Beaver has four interception returns for touchdowns this season, three by Tyler Wallace.
• Quaker Valley is 4-0 for only the third time in more than three decades. The previous times Quaker Valley was 4-0 were 2013 and 1983.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published: September 16, 2017, 9:13 p.m.
