PUP high school football game of the week: Upper St. Clair at South Fayette (Week 6)

Each Wednesday, the PUP high school sports staff will preview the game of the week.

Between the hash marks

Who: Upper St. Clair at South Fayette

Where: South Fayette High School

When: 7 p.m. Friday

The coaches: Mike Junko (Upper St. Clair); Marty Spieler (South Fayette)

When they last met: Julian Dahlem ran for 86 yards, scoring on a 25-yard touchdown run, and also returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown to lead Upper St. Clair to a 34-21 win at South Fayette in last year’s regular-season finale.

On deck: Upper St. Clair travels to Bethel Park, while South Fayette plays at Peters Township.

This and that: Another week, another big showdown in the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference, as No. 1 Upper St. Clair (6-0, 1-0) puts its perfect record on the line against fellow unbeaten and No. 4 South Fayette (6-0, 1-0). … Upper St. Clair soared into the top spot in the rankings following last week’s 21-7 win against previous No. 1 Peters Township. Dahlem was the star, as the senior ran for 185 yards and accounted for all three Upper St. Clair touchdowns, scoring on a pair of runs as well as a pick-6 to put the game on ice in the final quarter. … Drew Welhorsky accounted for all five of his team’s touchdowns while helping South Fayette to its sixth straight win, 38-0, against Baldwin last week. Welhorsky passed for 156 yards and three touchdowns and added 121 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. … Upper St. Clair averages 40.3 points per game, which ranks second in Class 5A. Dahlem and Dante Coury have given the Panthers a strong rushing tandem with Dahlem leading the team with 692 yards and nine touchdowns and Coury adding 554 yards and eight touchdowns. Dahlem is averaging 11.9 yards per carry. The Panthers don’t throw the ball a whole lot, but when they do, it’s usually Ethan Hellmann who is tossing it around. Hellmann has thrown for 433 yards and seven touchdowns. Defensively, the Panthers have been led by defensive end Nate Stohl, who leads the team with 30 tackles and three sacks. The Panthers have collected 11 interceptions. … At South Fayette, Spieler is off to a perfect start in his first season after taking over for the highly successful Joe Rossi. A big reason for South Fayette’s success has been the emergence of Welhorsky, a first-year starter and lacrosse star whose dual-threat abilities have given opposing defenses fits. Welhorsky has completed 71% of his passes for 1,203 yards and 11 touchdowns and on the ground has added 632 yards and nine touchdowns. Welhorsky’s favorite targets have been Alex Deanes (22 catches, 291 yards) and Ben Cavenaugh (15 catches, 332 yards). The South Fayette defense gives up just 8.1 points per game, the top mark in Class 5A. Travis Watkins has registered a team-best 34 tackles and has three of the team’s 18 sacks.

Expert picks (records in parentheses)

Brad Everett (4-2): Upper St. Clair 31, South Fayette 10

John Santa (4-2): South Fayette 24, Upper St. Clair 21

Steve Rotstein (2-4): Upper St. Clair 42, South Fayette 27

On the radar

Peters Township at Moon, 7 p.m. Friday

Both of these teams are coming off tough losses, and both need to avoid another this week as they try to remain among the top teams in the talent-loaded Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference. Defending WPIAL champion Peters Township (5-1, 0-1) had been rolling along prior to the loss to Upper St. Clair, while Moon (3-2, 0-1) had its two-game win streak snapped in a wild 45-36 loss to No. 3 Bethel Park. Moon will need to do a much better job of defending Peters Township quarterback Nolan DiLucia, who torched the Tigers for 220 yards passing, 87 yards rushing and four total touchdowns in a 40-7 win last season. That was actually a 13-7 game after three quarters before Peters Township outscored Moon, 27-0, in the fourth.

Beaver at Deer Lakes, 7 p.m. Friday

This may only be a non-conference game, but it’s still a big one between ranked Class 3A teams with No. 2 Deer Lakes (6-0) playing host to No. 5 Beaver (4-2). This continues what is a challenging three-game stretch for Deer Lakes, which is 6-0 for the first time in school history. The Lancers slipped past Highlands, 27-26, last week and after playing Beaver this week must turn around and travel to No. 1 Imani Christian next week. Both of Beaver’s losses have come to ranked teams on the road. The Bobcats fell to Imani Christian, 42-28, and to Central Valley, 51-37. There should be plenty of offense again in this one. These teams have scored at least 27 points in all of their games and Beaver (41.1 ppg) owns the No. 1 scoring offense in the class.

Cornell at Fort Cherry, 7 p.m. Friday

Matt Sieg and Class 1A Fort Cherry (6-0, 3-0) have won all of their games by at least 21 points. The Rangers, though, were tested by Monessen two weeks ago before pulling away late. Can Cornell (5-1, 2-1) not only put a scare into the defending WPIAL champs, but also take them down? The lone blemish on Cornell’s record was a 29-22 loss to Bishop Canevin, which came on the same night that Fort Cherry rallied from an early fourth-quarter deficit to beat Monessen, 35-14. Sieg has rushed for 747 yards and 13 touchdowns while adding another 301 yards and six scores through the air. Cornell is averaging more than 200 yards rushing per game and is led by Walter Clarit, who has rushed for 627 yards and 10 touchdowns.

PUP ‘underdog’ to watch

Western Beaver (hosts Ellwood City at 12:30 p.m. Saturday)

It had been 38 years since Ellwood City (5-0, 3-0) last started 5-0. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. And for the Class 2A third-ranked Wolverines, that could come this week against Western Beaver (4-1, 3-0) in what is a key Midwestern Conference game. Western Beaver owns the No. 2 scoring defense in the class (10.4 ppg) and upped its winning streak to four last week courtesy of a 21-10 victory at Riverside. This will be a big step up in competition for the Golden Beavers, as none of the teams they have played currently have a winning record. Western Beaver’s Jaivin Peel has thrown for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns. He threw for 339 yards and four scores in a 41-18 win at Ellwood City last season.