Last weekend Junior Quarterback Michael Pietropla threw for a school record 405-yards passing and five touchdowns against Athens.
Lou Prevost held the previous single-game passing record with 263-yards in 1964 against Towanda. “Michael broke that record earlier this year against Troy, passing for 292-yards,” said head football coach Matt Hildebrand. “He broke his own record last weekend with 405-yards passing.”
He also broke the single-game touchdown record with five. The previous record was held by three players. Michael passed for four touchdowns against Cowanesque and Canton this year. Ben Shaw and Todd Coolidge each passed for four touchdowns in a game.
With his performance over the weekend his team improved to 6-0.
“He has one of the strongest arms of any kid I have ever seen.” In six games Michael has completed 49 of 77 for 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. “He is doing some really good things this year. He has put a lot of time in at getting better.”
“He is very good at running the ball too.” Michael is averaging five yards per carry. “He is one of the fastest kids we have. But he hasn’t had to run the ball a lot this year for us.”
As a sophomore he passed for 1,127 yards. “He started every game for us last year and his freshman year he played mainly defense.”
He has done a good job of distributing the ball around to seven different players. Brandon Owlett leads all receivers with 21 catches. “He definitely does’t key on one guy. He is going to throw to who ever is open and his decision making is why we are so successful this year.”
“He is a great leader and is the heart beat of our team. He plays with a lot of emotion out there and the kids all feed off him.”
