Friday night thoughts

Thought you needed to know ...

Like many Class A teams at the high school level, teams from the WestPAC appeared to be moving more toward spread or pass-first offenses. At least that topic was one being thrown around regularly during the conferences media day at Portage in early August.

About the only coach to disagree was Conemaugh Township's Sam Zambanini, who predicted the conference champion would be the one who could line up and play power football.

Folks, meet the Berlin Brothersvalley Mountaineers.

Berlin has been impressively strong in wins over Conemaugh Township and, most recently, at Portage. Given how the conference is shaping up, Zambanini's prediction sure looks correct.

Right now, Berlin looks like the team to beat in the WestPAC, a conference where as many as four or five teams could still end up finishing in the top spot as Blacklick Valley, North Star, Windber and Portage are also contenders.

How's this for a power football statistic?

Berlin ran 56 offensive plays against Portage - 52 were runs as Drew Glotfelty finished with 221 yards on 33 carries.

* Mark your calendars.

The Game of the Year is shaping up to be Richland at Penn Cambria on Oct. 19.

That said, Bishop McCort and Forest Hills will have plenty to say in the shaping of the LHAC standings. Heck, Somerset may have a say too.

* If there was a local fantasy football league based on local high school players, the first selection should be Ligonier Valley's Ryan Torrance.

Torrance scored touchdowns on four consecutive possession for the Rams Friday night against United.

The second pick should be Blacklick Valley's Johnny Sheesley.

* Will any team in the Heritage Conference challenge Ligonier Valley this season?

As the only Class AA team in the Heritage, LV holds an obvious advantage over the competition and Penns Manor's season-opening loss to Northern Cambria, which lost at Homer-Center last night, makes one wonder if the Rams are by far and away the class of the conference.

The question remains, can Ligonier Valley be tested enough to have it pay off in the postseason? It takes quality competition to produce a quality postseason product - in any sport.

*It's easy to get caught up in style points.

Forest Hills scored a bunch of those during a season-opening win against Westmont Hilltop. The Rangers ran well and passed effectively. Bishop McCort, on the other hand, took a while to get going against an undermanned Bishop Carroll team undergoing a major program face lift.

So, naturally, the Bishop McCort defense made most of the plays during the Crushers' 10-6 victory. McCort improved to 2-0 and set up an interesting game with Somerset, which is off to its first 2-0 start since 2004.

Forest Hills rolled up 332 total yards, but Bishop McCort forced four turnovers.

The game served as a reminder that, as Steelers coach and noted cliche machine Mike Tomlin says, style points don't matter.