Central Valley High School lineman Sean FitzSimmons already has made a verbal commitment to Pitt. On Saturday, he received a prestigious award named after a famous former Pitt lineman.
FitzSimmons, a senior offensive and defensive tackle at Central Valley High School, was the winner of the Bill Fralic Memorial Award. The award, in its third year of existence, is given to the top senior interior lineman in the WPIAL and is selected by a panel that includes some coaches and also members of the board of trustees of the William P. Fralic Foundation.
Fralic was a former star lineman at Penn Hills who went on to become and All-American at Pitt and an NFL All-Pro selection. FitzSimmons was named the Fralic winner at a breakfast Saturday at the Longue Vue Club in Penn Hills and given a statue of Fralic. Former Pitt lineman and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimbo Covert was the guest speaker at the luncheon.
“I don’t know the exact dimensions of that statue, but I know it’s heavy,” FitzSimmons said.
FitzSimmons was one of six finalists for the award (one from each WPIAL classification). The other five were Central Catholic’s Donovan Hinish, Moon’s Trent Fraley, Greensburg Salem’s William McChesney, Neshannock’s Mason Manos and Clairton’s Kanye Hawkins.
“It’s an unbelievable honor to win this award,” FitzSimmons said. “Bill Fralic is a Pitt legend and I know he’s known all around Western Pennsylvania. It means a lot. It’s basically the Heisman Trophy for linemen in the WPIAL.
FitzSimmons has been a standout at Central Valley for the past three seasons. He is known mostly for his dominant play on defense
“The kid’s a beast,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said.
Central Valley is the only team to beat Aliquippa this season. Central Valley has made the PIAA Class 3A championship and Aliquippa the 4A title game.
FitzSimmons (6 feet 3, 280 pounds) has been Mr. TFL during his career and his statistics are eye-opening. He has a little more than 100 tackles for loss in his career to go along with 47 sacks. He has 47 career sacks, including 21 this season. He has more than 100 tackles this season for the second year in a row, despite often being double-teamed.
“To me, you’re a great player when everybody else elevates their game. I think (FitzSimmons) has elevated everyone else around him,” Central Valley coach Mark Lyons said.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: December 4, 2021, 8:15 p.m.