For the past four years, every Penn Hills game felt like the “Julian Dugger Show.”
Now, with Dugger having graduated and moved on to Pitt, the red-hot Indians are starting to finally find their identity after an 0-3 start — and starting to make some serious noise in the Class 5A playoff picture.
“Guys are kind of getting situated in their roles. We’ve been ironing out some kinks and seeing how everybody fits and getting some guys back from injury. All of those things are starting to fall in place,” said Penn Hills coach Charles Morris. “It’s always hard to replace a talent like Julian.”
A four-year starter at quarterback, Dugger finished his decorated high school career with 4,984 yards passing, 1,939 yards rushing and 80 total touchdowns, leaving a major hole for Morris and the Indians to fill. So rather than simply put it all on one player’s shoulders, Morris instead turned to two — senior Jay’mere Ellis and junior Devin Harris.
So far this season, Ellis has completed 19-of-23 passes for 279 yards with four touchdowns to two interceptions, and he also brings more of an added element as a scrambler with 100 yards rushing and two TDs on 22 carries. Harris, who transferred from Shady Side Academy before the season, has completed 47-of-87 attempts for 736 yards with three TDs and two interceptions.
Together, they make it difficult for defenses to game plan for the Penn Hills offense without knowing who they will face under center.
“I think Devin and Jay’mere have been doing a good job,” Morris said. “Jay’mere kind of has a firmer grasp with him having been here longer. … It’s kind of like a two-QB system, I would say, at this point. Whatever we feel is giving our team the best opportunity to win, that’s how we’re approaching the game.
“We’re going to roll with the system that’s working for us. Game by game, both quarterbacks will probably be playing.”
Making life easier for Harris and Ellis, the Indians have several dangerous playmakers to spread the ball around to — including senior Martel Palmer, who leads the team with 21 receptions for 434 yards and four TDs. Highly touted sophomore Carter Bonner, another transfer from Shady Side Academy, provides another elite receiving threat for Penn Hills with 15 catches for 230 yards and three TDs.
Elsewhere, senior running back-linebacker Naytel Mitchell has taken over for Dugger as the team’s unquestioned leader, and he proved worthy of his captain status by punctuating the team’s 21-13 win against Aliquippa on Sept. 20 with a 56-yard rushing TD. After spending most of his time on defense during the previous two seasons, Mitchell is excelling as a two-way standout this fall, rushing for 632 yards and seven TDs on 93 carries through six games.
“Naytel has kind of shown that since he’s been here. We know what he’s capable of doing,” Morris said. “We’ve been moving him around a little bit [on defense], but he’s mainly at inside linebacker. … He can do a lot of things. The kid is outstanding.”
After losing their season opener to Susquehanna Township, 36-30, followed by another turnover-filled loss against rival Woodland Hills in Week 1, many began to write the Indians off as a team in rebuild mode without their former star QB. Then, while hosting mighty North Allegheny in what looked like a potential blowout on paper, Penn Hills took the Tigers to the brink in a hard-fought 18-14 defeat.
Despite falling to 0-3 on the season, the Indians turned some heads with their gritty performance in Week 2, and they finally picked up their first win of the season with a 54-0 rout against Fox Chapel in Week 3. That set the stage for the long-awaited showdown with three-time defending WPIAL Class 4A champion Aliquippa — and Penn Hills didn’t disappoint its home crowd. In what is believed to be the first and only meeting between the two storied programs, the Indians kept the high-powered Quips off the scoreboard for more than three quarters before withstanding a late rally for a monumental 21-13 win.
It may have only been a non-conference game on the schedule, but it certainly felt like a lot more than that to most observers — and even Morris had to admit it was unlike most games he had experienced on Friday nights.
“It was definitely an interesting and fun environment,” Morris said. “The kids all know each other. Everyone has always thought about that matchup. It was just two historic programs going out there and competing.”
Having already taken on two juggernauts in the last four weeks, Penn Hills now has another titanic matchup on its hands on Friday night against Northeast Conference rival Pine-Richland. The unbeaten Rams are coached by Jon LeDonne, who led the Indians to WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2018 and repeated the feat in his first season at Pine-Richland in 2022. Meanwhile, Morris holds a head-to-head record of 2-1 against his predecessor since taking over at Penn Hills, winning both regular season matchups before a gut-wrenching 16-9 defeat in last year’s WPIAL semifinals.
The Indians were seconds away from making it three wins in a row against the Rams before giving up a last-second touchdown run by Pine-Richland quarterback Oobi Strader, and you can bet the sting of that loss is still fresh on the minds of many Penn Hills players. And although Morris insists each matchup is treated the same, there will surely be a heightened sense of urgency in Friday’s high-stakes showdown.
After all, with the winner taking the inside track in the race for the conference title and with all the momentum the Indians have built up in recent weeks, securing a road win against the No. 2 team in Class 5A would send a resounding message to the rest of the WPIAL — but it certainly won’t be easy.
“We don’t even talk about it too much,” Morris said about last year’s last-second playoff loss. “Pine-Richland is very, very good. They’re well-coached. They have a plethora of talent. You always prepare for any type of situation and those types of moments.
“Our kids will be prepared and ready to compete, for sure.”
Kershaw continues torrid pace for Monessen
After putting the rest of Class 1A on notice with a pair of five-touchdown outbursts in the first two weeks of the season, Monessen’s Ty Kershaw turned in another marquee performance when the Greyhounds needed it most against previously unbeaten South Side.
A WPIAL finalist a year ago, the Rams entered last Friday’s contest against Monessen as the No. 4-ranked team in Class 1A and took a 17-12 lead into the fourth quarter on their home field. With the Greyhounds in desperate need of a spark, it was Kershaw who erupted for a trio of fourth-quarter TDs to lead Monessen to a 32-17 comeback victory, with all four of his touchdowns in the game coming on plays of 50 yards or more. After scoring on a 96-yard kick return in the third quarter, Kershaw ran for a go-ahead 82-yard touchdown in the fourth, followed by a 50-yard TD run to extend the lead and a 77-yard score on a fumble return for good measure.
A 5-foot-9, 185-pound junior, Kershaw now ranks No. 4 in the WPIAL with 924 yards rushing on 77 carries — good for an average of 12 yards per carry — and he ranks No. 1 in the area with 23 total touchdowns.
Greater Allegheny logjam
We’re now more than halfway through the 2024 season, and one conference has the unfortunate distinction of being the only conference without a single winning team.
The rare statistical oddity lies in the Class 4A Greater Allegheny Conference, where all six teams currently find themselves under .500 after six weeks of play. Some expected the Greater Allegheny to be one of the strongest conferences in the WPIAL, but right now, it resembles a logjam in the standings with nobody able to separate themselves from the pack.
After falling to Aliquippa in last year’s WPIAL finals, Class 4A No. 4 McKeesport entered the season as a leading title contender, but an 0-3 start against top-notch competition took a lot of wind out of the Tigers’ sails. McKeesport then defeated Belle Vernon, 28-7, for its first win of the season, followed by a 31-14 loss against the top-ranked team in Class 5A, Upper St. Clair. That left the Tigers at 1-4 overall going into conference play, which they opened up with a 54-7 beatdown at Hampton last week.
McKeesport figures to be the team to beat the rest of the way in the Greater Allegheny pecking order, but several teams are still in the mix for the top spot. Knoch and Mars are both also 1-0 in conference play, with the Knights holding an overall record of 2-3 and the Planets joining the Tigers at 2-4 overall. Both Hampton and West Mifflin are also 2-4 overall while starting out 0-1 in conference play, and Indiana sits in last place at 1-5.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
