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Moon running back Josh Bladel has rushed for 988 yards this season in the Tigers' run-heavy offense.
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High school football notebook: Some WPIAL teams enjoying life on the run

Sebastian Foltz/Post-Gazette

High school football notebook: Some WPIAL teams enjoying life on the run

In these days of spread offenses and teams flinging the football with regularity, some WPIAL teams are proving that life on the run can still lead to success.

Moon and Pine-Richland are in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals and rarely throw the ball. Moon is using and old-fashioned Wing-T offense this year, while Pine-Richland switched in midseason to a “Wildcat” offense, where direct snaps go to a running back. Pine-Richland has been unbeatable ever since the change.

Pine-Richland plays Penn Hills in Friday’s semifinals, while Moon meets undefeated Peters Township.

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“It’s just the mentality of this team,” Moon running back Josh Bladel said. “All of our line and backs want to pound the football and run it through guys.”

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Moon finished 1-9 last season. The new offense with the old-school look has turned around Moon’s team, and Bladel has been one of the beneficiaries of the change. He has rushed for 988 yards and had 165 yards in a quarterfinal win against Gateway Friday.

“We just did what we thought was best for our team,” Moon coach Ryan Linn said of the run-oriented offense.

At Pine-Richland, the switch to the Wildcat has totally changed the Rams — and the season of senior running back Ethan Pillar. Taking direct snaps, Pillar has run for 919 yards in the past five games. He carried the ball a WPIAL record 56 times in a win against Class 6A Central Catholic earlier this season.

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But Moon and Pine-Richland aren’t the only WPIAL teams having success without throwing the ball much. Consider that, of the 67 teams that made the WPIAL playoffs, 19 of them had starting quarterbacks who averaged less than 75 yards passing a game during the regular season. And some of those 19 teams are still alive in the WPIAL postseason. Maybe a few might run all the way to championship games.

“To go from 1-9 to the WPIAL semis, it’s been one heckuva ride this year,” Linn said. “I’m just so happy for these kids.”

Bladel brothers stand out

It was two years ago that another Bladel was shining for Moon.

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Ben Bladel, older brother of Josh, was a terrific defensive end for Moon and made the 2021 Post-Gazette Fabulous 22. He is now a star defensive end at Grove City, where he helped the team win the Presidents Athletic Conference regular season championship and a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Ben Bladel was the PAC defensive player of the week for his play in the final regular season game when he had two sacks, recovered a fumble and returned his own blocked punt for a touchdown. It was like Bladel’s days at Moon all over again. He had nine blocked punts in his career at Moon. He leads the PAC in sacks this season with 11.

Conference superiority

The Class 4A Big Seven Conference flexed its muscles Friday by going 3-0. Thomas Jefferson, Latrobe and Trinity all won first-round games. The only other two undefeated conferences were the Class 5A Northeast (2-0) and the Class 3A Western Hills (3-0).

The Class 5A Big East (0-3) and the Class 3A Interstate (0-2) were the only winless conferences.

Quickly to 100

Mars coach Eric Kasperowicz won his 100th career game Friday, and it’s hard to believe many coaches in WPIAL history reached the milestone faster.

Kasperowicz is in only his 10th season as coach. He coached for eight years at Pine-Richland and is in his second year at Mars. His record is 100-22 (.820 winning percentage) and he has averaged 10 wins a season. To put Kasperowicz’s quick march to 100 in perspective, consider that Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak, the winningest active coach in the WPIAL with 309 wins, took 11 years to get to 100.

Neutral sites

Unlike recent years, the WPIAL has decided to play all quarterfinal games this Friday in Class 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A at neutral sites. Only the teams that received a first-round bye will play at home.

In the past few years, the WPIAL played quarterfinal games at the home field of the higher-seeded team, provided their field was suitable enough to play host to a playoff game and their stadium was big enough.

The Class 5A semifinals will also be at neutral sites Friday and the 6A semifinals at the home of the higher-seeded team. The four Class 6A teams in the semifinals did not play last week.

In games this past Friday, the higher-seeded team or the conference champ played at home, provided their stadium was suitable for a playoff game. Six games were at neutral sites. Home teams went 17-4.

Check this out

• Imani Christian quarterback Steve Vandiver threw for 1,229 yards in the regular season. But Vandiver is ineligible for the WPIAL playoffs because of the PIAA transfer rule. Under the rule, any athlete who transfers after the season of his sophomore year is ineligible to participate in the playoffs, unless they meet one of the exceptions for a waiver. Vandiver is a junior at Imani.

Even without Vandiver, Imani Christian still rolled to a 52-14 victory in a Class 2A first-round game. Dayshaun Burnett, a standout linebacker, is playing quarterback for Imani. Burnett played QB some this season and also last year.

• West Mifflin freshman Armand Hill continued his impressive late-season surge when he rushed for more than 200 yards for the fourth consecutive game. Hill had 214 yards against Mount Pleasant. In those four games, Hill has 1,223 yards, an average of 306 yards a game.

• Just to show you opposite ends of the spectrum, consider this: Deer Lakes won its first playoff game in school history Friday. Thomas Jefferson’s Cherpak won his 65th WPIAL playoff game in 29 years.

City teams in PIAA

Two City League teams will play in PIAA sub-regionals next weekend.

Westinghouse (9-0), a PIAA finalist last year, will play in the District 5-8 championship Friday against Berlin Brothersvalley (10-1) at Somerset. Berlin Brothersvalley is led by senior quarterback Pace Prosser, who also helped the Berlin Brothersvalley basketball team to the PIAA Class 1A title game in March before losing to Imani Christian.

University Prep (7-3) will play in the PIAA Class 4A sub-regional either Friday or Saturday against Meadville (8-2).

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh

First Published: November 5, 2023, 2:30 p.m.

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