It was eerily similar to what was going on down on the gridiron below. West Catholic’s lethal rushing attack was moving forward full throttle and there was little South Fayette’s defense could do about it.
Asked if the word “atonement” was appropriate to use this day, Burrs’ head coach Brian Fluck simply said, “Yes.”
“It’s tremendous,” Fluck said of the state football title. “This (win) is for all the West alumni; for the 2008 team; for all the people that back us. This victory shows that West Catholic is one of the best football teams in the state of Pennsylvania.”
Few would argue with Fluck that West is one of the best after Saturday’s performance. The Burrs, or should we say, the “Blurrs” (for their impressive team speed) brought to Hershey a pro-I rushing offense that averaged 270 yards per game and had gouged out totals of 298, 486 and 347 yards in the last three weeks. With three backs with more than 740 yards and an offensive line that averaged 256 pounds per man, the Burrs ran, ran, ran, and to cross things up, ran some more.
“They physically beat us up a little bit,” said South Fayette head coach Joe Rossi.
After falling down 7-0 to the Lions on a Christian Brumbaugh 8-yard pass to Zach Challingsworth, the Burrs went to work. They ground out two first downs before Anthony Reid ended the drive with an intercepted pass, but South Fayette could muster zero points from the gift given by its defense.
Then, enter David Williams, a sophomore for West Catholic with plenty of speed to burn. On his first carry of the game, he went 81 yards to the house to break WC’s goose egg with 1:59 left in the opening stanza. On his second carry, he rambled 17 yards, moving the Burrs from the shadow of their own end zone to the 25 yard line. The very next play, Reid hooked up with senior Jaelen Strong-Rankin on a 75-yard touchdown pass with 8:45 left in the first half, and West Catholic never looked back or trailed again. Reid extended the Burrs’ lead to 20-7 with a 7-yard run on a bootleg play.
West Catholic capped its second quarter scoring binge with two more touchdowns – a 16-yard run by senior Brandon Hollomon and a 25-yard pass from Reid to Strong-Rankin with just :05 left in the half. The Burrs led, 36-14, posting an impressive 30 points, 234 yards of offense and eight first downs in the period to put the game out of reach.
The 25-yard touchdown pass right before halftime might have been the deciding dagger to South Fayette’s hopes of a PIAA title.
“We wanted to put the final nail in the coffin there,” Fluck said. “The kids came out and played with a tremendous amount of confidence and swagger today.”
West only attempted one pass in the second half – it was intercepted by South Fayette senior Ben Meredith – pounding it out between the front five of Dom DiGalbo, Todd-Jamal Waters, Mike Makor, Rodney Linder and Eric Wyant for 198 more yards of terra firma and two more touchdowns – a 4-yard run by Williams and a 26-yard run by Josh Mathis – to put the mercy rule and a running clock in effect with 10:27 left in the two team’s 2010 seasons.
“The last couple of weeks we’d been playing really well up front,” Fluck said. “Our guys played well up front today.”
Brumbaugh’s career at South Fayette ended shortly after that final West score. Harrassed and pressured all day by the Burrs’ relentless defense, the Lions’ record-setting field general was lifted with 9:14 left in the game for what Rossi called “safety concerns,” noting, “He took some pretty good shots and we wanted to protect him.”
Brumbaugh, who will continue his football career at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, completed 11-of-26 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns, both to Zach Challingsworth (5 rec., 73 yards, 2 TD).
South Fayette, which had averaged more than 240 yards passing per game, was held 130 yards below its average. The Lions’ offense, which averaged 42 points per game and had rolled up more than 530 yards in the PIAA semifinals against Forest Hills, was limited to just 138 yards this day and nine first downs. SF’s ground game was bottled up well – yielding a scant 22 yards on 19 carries – and paced by Trevor Fiorentini’s 41 yards on nine rushes.
“Trevor tried to do a nice job for us on the ground (but they’d pretty much taken that away and made us one-dimensional),” Rossi said.
South Fayette’s final 2010 breakdown, “Family,” was broken between sobs and tears and the sting of defeat. Moments before, the entire green and white contingent, an estimated 2,000 in number, gave their Lions a standing ovation as the team accepted the silver football trophy signifying state runners-up. As public address announcer Bob Schellenberg said, “You have made the McDonald community very proud,” the SF crowd rose to a standing ovation once more.
“There’s pain right now,” Rossi admitted. “But this has been a journey they’ll remember. It’s been a special year and they’re a special group of guys. I hate to see them go.”
West Catholic, meanwhile, was paced by Williams’ 181 yards and two touchdowns on 14 attempts. Hollomon added 104 yards on 14 attempts, Mathis 61 yards on eight carries and Reid 30 yards on six attempts. The Burrs finished with 531 yards of offense and 23 first downs. Reid finished 3-of-6 passing for 124 yards with two touchdowns and two picks.
The theme, however, was atonement.
And this day, for West Catholic, atonement was almost sweeter than Hershey’s chocolate.
28 responses to “MERCY, PLEASE: West Catholic drops half a hundred on South Fayette to claim PIAA gold”
@MarkW, nobody’s crying, I’m only trying to make a case for fairness…is that unacceptable?
Your son’s ability to choose a school is proof of recruitment advantage. Because, while he may choose for academic reasons, it proves that others could choose for other reasons…like winning state gold. Most kids would choose to win…and that translates into a recruiting advantage.
Truthfully, I do not believe the advantage of open enrollment is as significant for larger schools because they all have a large population to draw from. But a AA school in a town pop 10k isn’t on the same level as a school that can draw from a pop of millions and to treat them the same is just plain wrong.
Here is my proposal to all you WC (or just Philly CL) fans who believe open enrollment (ie: ability to recruit, etc.) is not a significant advantage. If you really believe what you say you do, then you should have no problem with the use of a statistically derived multiplier to use in conjunction with classification (A-AAAA) by enrollment.
Here’s how it works: Statistics from all games between open and restricted enrollment schools of equal enrollment classification will be compared. The advantage deduced from wins, loses and point spread will be used to determine a number used to multiply enrollment to put open enrollment schools in a classification closer to their actual potential. If no statistical advantage exists then classification adjustment will take plus. If statistics show an advantage then rhe exact difference will be factored in to the classification of open enrollment schools.
Please stop crying about WC. They were a well coached, prepared football team, that does have excellent talent. But I have seen plenty of teams with talent get smoked at States. It seems to be since the PCL came into the PIAA the crying started. We have excellent Catholic high schools in the Philly area. People in the city take advantage of that opportunity to provide their children with a quality education. Some sports teams benefit from that decision. Thats the way it goes. I will send my son to LaSalle because we made an agreement a long time ago that if he produced quality work in grade school that I would make sure we could send him to LaSalle. Yes he plays football too. But that is not why we are sending him there. The educational opportunities there are just so wide ranging. If he plays football thats great but I could not care less if he does or not. I work in football and I know he will not make his living playing football. By the way our public high school is one of the top rated in the state and my son will not be getting a dime of financial aid to attend LaSalle. Thats 18k a year for for years that I am more than happy to spend to give my son the opportunity at an education is second to none. If he ends up with a state championship football jacket while he is there thats great for him but honestly does not influence our decision to send him there. I think many parents in our area make a similar decision for their kids. The perception that kids are recruited endlessly by these schools is not correct. In our case my son has been attending a catholic elementary school and has gone to some camps both academic and athletic at LaSalle since he was 7 years old. Believe me they dont need to recruit him. He has wanted to go there since he was a little boy. Our family is prepared to make the sacrifices and do what ever we need to do to make that happen.
Rick, it helps to have a college level secondary and speed. Speed can make up for a multitude of mistakes.
It was the team defense and football discipline of Lewisburg that kept them in it, it was the unusual and improbable abundance (for AA) speed of WC that finally overwhelmed them. The AA teams that lost to WC were more physically beat than outplayed.
Huck, the issue for me is the inherent advantage of open enrollment over restricted enrollment. So long as the playing field is level and all significant enrollment advantages are taken into account, I could careless if it is a Philly school properly classified wins every championship. And yes, my concern extends to all schools who are improperly classified, I have a problem their dominance in the past, present and future. You better believe I was happy to see the LC recruit upset by a public school. I was overjoyed when Trinity fell.
Obviously not every school with the open enrollment advantage will utilize it fully. I never made the claim that every open enrollment school is positioning themselves to dominate in the athletic arena, but some are and have an unfair enrollment advantage. Perhaps the other Catholic schools in Philly lost the recruiting battle to WC because WC out bid them or promised more…who knows?
Count me with those who predicted WC would dominate.
@Armand, I don’t seem to be the only one-sided partisan in this discussion and the longer it goes the more I feel I have a valid point.
Brian Fluck did nothing that really impressed me. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach or doesn’t deserve any credit, but nothing he did jumped out at me, he had far superior athletes.
Well said Huck! The thing that people don’t realize is that styles make fights…WC matched up well with NL(trys to get to the outside), Lewisburg( not super fast but their style of play matched up best), and not to take anything away from South Fayette but, their style played directly into the WC defenses hands. South Fayette would have given last years WC team problems.To the coaches credit they saw the weakness and coached this years team up.It is a year to year thing and I wish all the teams luck next season. These kids earned the right to live the rest of their live as CHAMPIONS regardless of what anyone thinks. GO HARD OR STAY HOME!!!!!
Stolz,
Did you start a similar crusade last year when two other catholic schools (Lancaster Cath/Greensburg Central Cath) played for the 2A championship? Probably not. This is probably a Philly thing for you.
For the record, but Coach Fluck no longer handles the FA allocation to students. WC uses a panel of four people to determine what potential students deserve.
If it’s so easy for Philadelphia Metro area 2A private schools to succeed, then why were the other four PCL 2A schools that fall under this category a combined (14-26) this year? Also, why were the 2A charter schools in the Philadelphia area all mediocre or below this season? Don’t these schools have the same population advantages as WC has?
There have been private schools particpating in the PIAA since ’88 when the championships started, but never has there been such a backlash towards these types of schools until the Phila Catholic League started competing at the state level. It must be big city envy!
In 2008, I’m pretty sure the kids from Wilmington H.S. didn’t enter that championship game with the defeated mindset that you currently have.
You paint a picture that is hardly accurate. It’s not as easy as just showing up and putting a helmet on to win a state championship at WC. There are financial, academic, and competition (Many, many, many schools to choose from) hurdles that prevent WC and schools like it to get the large population of kids you referred to. Not every kid can afford private school! Not every kid can handle the academic rigors and discipline of a catholic school, and most certainly not every kid has WC at the top of their list as a school they want to go to. The Philadelphia metro area has a plethora of GREAT schools to choose from, public and private alike.
Just let it rest and give these 15-18 year old kids their just due. WC is not the all-star you seem to think it is. Yes, they have talent, but their qualites as a team run much deeper than that.
I loved how 75% of the state (Outside of SE PA) thought that Northern Lehigh, Lewisburg, and without question south Fayette were going to give WC their medicine on the field, but that didn’t pan out. So, now they have to piss and moan about all of the advantages that WC has over everyone else. Laughable!
Stoltz,
Would you like to speak on the first rendition of “The 12th Man Show” next year? I can certainly arrange it. You are so 1 sided in your comments that maybe if you are on the show next year it can generate discussion on both sides although, I am totally not in agreement with what you are saying.
It sounds like you do not give coaching an ounce of credit here and while your comments make for good discussion, you obviously think this is totally one sided.
You are entitled to your opionion, however you will get an argument out of me to the end on this
Shep, I have not discredited anyone, but for you to argue that WC is so far superior because they work is to discredit those who worked as hard and were simply overwhelmed by a team suspiciously overloaded with talent for a AA team. You are discrediting the work and hardships faced by ever AA team and coach to make your argument.
True, I cannot prove that admissions director Fluck is using financial aid to lure talent for coach Fluck, but the whole thing seems a bit Fluck’d up to me.
Bottom line: Philly schools can ‘recruit’ and the teams they play cannot, that’s a glaring doublestandard.
Stolz,
The problem that I have with your argument is that it appears that you have totally discredited the work the coaches and kids have done. You make it appear like there are stockpiles of talent at the school that have not been coached up, which is not true. In fact the school is at a disadvantage because of the tuition requirement. Let me give you a better picture, greater than 95% of the students at West Catholic receive some form of aid. That includes kids that do not play sports. The parents that decide to send there kids to the school are making a sacrifice that has proven to be worthwhile. 2 years ago the school had 2 Gates Scholars, yes 2 at the same school.
Btw…I don’t want to exclude open enrollment schools like WC from the PIAA, not at all. But I would like to correct their classifications to reflect their actual advantage as open enrollment schools. My solution would be to use their male enrollment as the base and then add one. For example, West Catholic would bump up to AAA and actually play teams of similar strength. It would be better for them and better for every other team in PIAA…because the current lopsidedness ruins the sport of sport.
Armand, you are certainly entitled to your opinion and understand you siding with your Philly teams. You don’t have to agree on all points or any at all, that’s your right. I don’t live in Philly, but I do follow high school sports and can see an obvious talent mismatch. West Catholic wasn’t even playing their best football as a team and dominated the AA field with their athleticism. Statistically being that far superior to the best AA teams in the state is like rolling dice 10x and getting all 6’s…not gonna happen.
So, while I would like to believe that it is just the boys on the block, I’m too cynical to look past their coach who also has influence over financial aid, the remark from a parent that WC provides a superior environment to the surrounding schools and the fact of WC’s ability to draw attention from college recruiters. All that, open enrollment in a place with thousands of boys to choose from and their far superior talent throws up red flags. All it takes is a handful of recruited all stars to take an average high school team and make it unbeatable, so whether the bulk of their players come from one community or not does not dismiss my suspicion of an unfair advantage.
Perhaps, if you are from Philly, you are unfamiliar with the existing private (open enrollment) school domination of AA basketball? It is a shame when a handful out of many teams dominate the field year after year. It is not fair to all the kids who work their butts off for an opportunity to play a like opponent to see their dreams dashed by a team that does not need to abide by the same restrictions placed on them and their school, a team unlike them. Again, this isn’t the NCAA or NFL, there’s a reason why the PIAA has created classifications based on male enrollment and it is the same reason why their are weight classes in wrestling. Size of school is a mismatch and open enrollment is a mismatch for the same reason.
Considering that public schools (at least those not in Philly) that draw from a school that doesn’t offer a football program must count the entire male enrollment of both schools, why not the private schools who draw from a huge urban settings with many boys who could attend their school as well? Why must a rural public school, class A by their own male enrollment compete in AAA for being a trade school run by several districts?
If West Catholic falls off or at least becomes closer to the rest of the AA field in the next couple years I will likely reconsider, but until then I believe their accomplishments (as a AA team, not individuals) are like that of a small college beating a high school because they are that much better and you know it.
Why do you think I should go on PaPreps?
I found this on that site:
“SINCE CATHOLIC LEAGUE JOINED THE PIAA
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
LASALLE 2-0 AGAINST DISTRICT 1
WOOD 3-0 AGAINST DISTRICT 1
DISTRICT 1 0-5 AGAINST CATHOLIC LEAGUE
LASALLE 2 STATE FINALS 1 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 EAST FINALS
WOOD 1 STATE FINAL 1 EAST CHAMPIONSHIP 3 EAST FINALS
WEST 2 STATE FINALS 1 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 3 EAST FINALS”
Armand, numbers don’t lie and if you don’t see a pattern that’s obviously bad for the 500 odd other schools involved in the PIAA competition, I can’t help you.
Stoltz,
Are you from anywhere near Philadelphia? I am going to repeat this………West Catholic loses a ton of atheletes that live within their district that go to other schools. Also……many of their players come from the My Airy section of Philly…..an area that has many many West Alumni.You can say whatever you want regarding this point but it will not fly in my book. I am not even a supporter of the West program. I am just disagreeing with what you say and how eloquently you try to say it.
Upon reading your initial reckless response you tried to be more elaborate in your other responses.
Finally, what school district are you from??? Maybe we should guess.
And by your initial statement, it certainly appears that you are trying to suggest that West gets kids from NJ.
If you want, I can get one of their Webmasters to clarify all this for you.
You should try to post on PaPreps.
Congrats to the boys at West on a well EARNED state championship. I think people outside of Philly need to understand how we do high school admissions. Every eighth grade student can apply to 5 public high schools. They can also apply to charter, private, and catholic schools. So every student in Philly has an option for high schools. I understand the frustration that comes from areas where there is only one school to go to, but I’m sure the PIAA is well aware of this. The boys of WC worked just as hard as boys all over the state and deserve to enjoy their win without people crying foul.
wcburr2010 Dad, I do not fault you for your decision and offer my sincere congratulations to your son for his accomplishments. I agree, the AA gold was not handed to them and the stats show they were far superior to their AA opponents.
Also realize that they are facing kids who have worked their butts off and overcome adversity to be where they are. I’m glad for your team, but also feel that the excellent teams in AA who do not have the open enrollment advantage deserve a chance to play a like opponent for the state gold.
If this were professional sports I would say that it is just part of the game, but since it is kids I get upset when one team can not just beat, but bully and humiliate the best. It is improbable for one team to dominate in that manner in against teams that have proven their ability to win and not good for the sport.
It is hard for me to ignore the fact that Brian Fluck is athletic director, football coach and admissions director (also in financial aid?) at WC. Its also hard for me to overlook the existance of several schools (some massive) nearby to draw from.
Congratulations to WC…I hope they play AAA ball in the future…because their roster size and talent level seem to match the best in that field…agree?
Shep, excellent point. I think those problems should also be addressed, but not by the PIAA. School boards, parents and communities need to step it up or we will decline as a nation.
Rick, I’ve read about the facilities deficiencies at WC and think it is absolutely wonderful they have been successful despite that factor. However, not every team outside Philly has ideal circumstances. Grass is more abundant outside city limits, but kids every where in the state face their own unique obsticles and challenges. Having spent time in an urban environment I certainly respect the,kids at WC, but most of PA is not the Philly ‘burbs. I maintain my stance that WC’s enrollment numbers are decieving and open enrollment is an unfair advantage.
Mike Tyson’s childhood was also far from ideal, that doesn’t mean he should be put in the ring with lightweights to keep things fair and if anything the hunger created by his difficulties in life worked to his advantage against boxers in his weight class.
There’s a reason why PIAA doesn’t crown just one football champion and that’s because bigger enrollment is an obvious advantage. Open enrollment is also an obvious advantage and should be accounted for.
I say open enrollment schools should bump a class, WC could handle AAA ball and their kids appreciate the competition…they got AA gold like the Patriots winning the BCS Rose Bowl.
It bothers me that people are so focused on leveling the playing field for sports related reasons but no one has discussed leveling the academic playing field. The schools in West Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia are some of the worst schools in the entire state of Pennsylvania. In those 2 areas alone you have 4 schools on the persistently dangerous list, as defined by number of violent or drug related arrest in the school per 100 students (BTW, Philadelphia has the only schools in the state that have been designated as such). Screw football, its about providing a safe educational environment for kids that deserve it.
let me ask you stoltz say you lived in philadelphia and you had a child who was a great student hardworker and had dreams of going to college to better himself it just so happen that he is good at football would you send your child to your neighborhood philadelphia public school where the classroom are over crowded there always fights and drugs in the school.Or would you work triple time if you had to to put your child in a school where you know he has a chance to succeed you have to understand that most west c parents are hardworking people who just want whats best for there kid my son is a three year started and a senior on this team who worked extremely hard to win that championship so please let the kids at west enjoy there moment they earned that trophy it wasnt hand it to them and remember they’re just KIDS
You must have missed the 98% fact that was quoted. It’s is not all about football either it’s a great diverse learning institution… LET’S NOT LEAVE THAT OUT!
Point well taken however you may not know or be aware of the disadvantages that this team faces. WC does not and has not owned a blocking sled,there practice field is outside of the city limits and the baron field that they practice was so hard and slippery during this playoff run that they had to use Bonner and O’Hara’s practice fields to prepare for their games and both of those schools are outside the city limits, the weight room is the size of a small motel room.The point is we all have advantages and disadvantages in life instead of complaining about them we need to teach our young to overcome. And what is really ironic is when WC lost in ’08 it didn’t seem to be a problem. Now that they won we have a big lopsided problem.
In case you still don’t get what I’m saying, I’ll add this: Say Rick Jr lived in your average PIAA community and the football team at his school was down. The street in front of your house is the border between districts and the school on the other side is a state football powerhouse. Guess what? Unless you sell your house and move, Rick Jr will play for the school district and community he lives in with no exceptions because that is the PIAA rules.
Well, Rick Jr decides to work his butt off, a new coach takes over and his senior year the team has made an amazing run. Unfortunately the dream season comes to an end against a school that had no district boundaries and a team of athletes with parents who could choose what school was best for their child’s football success. It didn’t matter that Rick Jr, his coaches and teamates put in twice the work, the other team had five kids as talented as the best on his team.
Anyhow, look at the stands in Hershey as proof of the difference. Only a handful of fans show up to cheer the private schools, while thousands come to support the schools they play. Why? Well one possible reason: Private school represent just the ambitions of the players, school and parents, not a community that has stuck together through good and bad…but a group that selected a school because it was “best”…
Rick, first off, I do not take anything away from the kids on WC or any other team. But you seem to insinuate that other teams aren’t working as hard as yours and you are diminishing their efforts. Every team, including those humiliated by this stacked WC team put their time, don’t insult them or diminish their hard work and preparation.
What you fail to understand is that most parents in the state do not have the same option to choose the best school for their children’s athletic future, their children must go to their neighborhood school or cannot compete in the PIAA. The only way to transfer to the “best” option is to change addresses. By acknowledging you could choose you are admitting the unfair advantage I am pointing out.
Nobody can take anything away from your son and his acomplishments as an individual, no doubt he works hard and I did not say otherwise. What I am saying is the team he plays for is not coincidental but constructed by parents (and others) like you…and that is not an option available to the teams you played.
Let me start by saying that WC is a very attractive option considering 98% of each graduating class continue there education. Couple that with a football program that gives an opportunity to be seen and possibly play at the next level(if you work hard enough). I say that to say WC gets recruited by parents like me who wants to put there child in the best possible situation to succeed. My son is a starter, and co-captain. I along with every other football parent pay tuition. My son sacrificed his down time and summers working on strength, conditioning,speed, and the X and O portion of the game.And it has paid off. Now he is being recruited and will go to school for free. It’s a shame that people like you Stoltz try to diminish what these young men have accomplished. If people like you would spend more time working to better these kids and less time on the computer crying, you’d probably begin to see better results. So as you continue to cry, we’ll continue to win. Now excuse me we have the next level to PREPARE for.
Armand, I’m from a place where schools represent a particular community, where only boys from within those geographic ‘district’ limits can play and adding players from another district means that other school’s enrollment also is used to determine classification. In other words, if WC has any players that might otherwise attend a school with AAAA male enrollment, then by the rules applied to public schools they would be forced to compete in AAAA. Regardless of where WC’s players came from (note: I only said they “can” come from NJ and any part of Philly), it is clear to a person of average intelligence that a school that draws from a large metro area has a significant advantage over school which are governed by a different set of rules and can only use players from within a ‘district’ with an actual AA population.
I assume the reason why the PIAA has school size classifications is for sake of a level playing field and fairness. If that is the case, then enrollment parity is not enough to accomplish that goal, private school dominance of football and basketball proves that. WC has a huge advantage over an actual AA school, it is as obvious as their lopsided stats against the best of legitimate AA schools.
Everyone involved (including the very talented kids on the huge WC roster) deserves more. I
Stoltz,
I don’t know what planet you live on, but what transfers are you talking about? The three kids that came in from North Catholic after they closed their doors last year? Where were these kids going to go? Also, do you know how many atheltes that live within the West Catholic area go to a Public school. Any finally, what kids on the roster are from Jersey?? Are you referring to the QB on last years team that moved down here with his father from NY? That move was work related for the father. Give me a break.
Someone gotta say it, so I will… Is it right that the best AA teams in the state are getting destroyed by a team comprised of transfers and recruits, a team that can draw not only the best of Philly but NJ as well? If WC had not just dominated the best of the legitimate AA schools in the state there may be a defense to be made for allowing them an exception to the rules that would force them to compete AAAA, but the results are ridiculous and outrageous to anyone who values fair competition. How lopsided must the games be before the PIAA sees the obvious?