Bethel Park and its potent offense has been one of the biggest stories in the WPIAL this season.
The Black Hawks entered Week 7 averaging a WPIAL-best 51 points per game and had not been held below 45 points the entire season.
A new chapter was added to that story Friday, only this one was a tale of an opponent slowing down that offense in a big way while handing the Black Hawks their first loss.
Upper St. Clair, the top-ranked team in WPIAL Class 5A, held No. 3-ranked Bethel Park scoreless in the first half and limited the Black Hawks to season lows in points and yardage on its way to a thrilling 14-10 win in front of a packed stadium at Bethel Park High School.
Bethel Park (7-1 overall, 2-1 Allegheny Six Conference) was held without a point for the first 32 minutes of the game and was limited to just 254 yards of offense. It was another dynamite performance from an Upper St. Clair defense which has surrendered only 10 points a game this season. The Panthers (8-0, 3-0) held Peters Township and South Fayette to 7 points apiece the previous two games. Those opponents, as well as Bethel Park, came into those matchups with unbeaten records.
“What can you say? This is a team that averages over 50 points a game. To hold those guys to 10 points is amazing. I sat there in awe,” Upper St. Clair coach Mike Junko said.
It was almost an unhappy Friday for Upper St. Clair, this after Bethel Park’s Jackson Friday converted a 36-yard field goal to give the Black Hawks a 10-7 lead with 4:09 left. But Upper St. Clair marched down the field on its next possession and registered the go-ahead score when Ethan Hellmann connected with Charlie Bywalski for a 24-yard touchdown with 48 seconds left.
Bethel Park had one final chance, though. But after moving the ball to just inside Upper St. Clair territory, Tanner Pfeuffer’s desperation heave into the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.
“It starts with the coaches,” Upper St. Clair’s Van Hellmann said. “They had an amazing game plan. They’re the best coaches in the entire WPIAL. Players came to play. We did our job. We executed our game plan.”
Did they ever. One of the things that makes Bethel Park’s offense so powerful is that the Black Hawks are just as good running the ball as they are passing it. Pfeuffer entered the week leading the WPIAL in passing, while JaVaughn Moore ranked third in rushing. The Black Hawks even added a key player to their lineup Friday when slot receiver Ryan Petras made his season debut after recovering from shoulder surgery. Petras finished with 5 catches for 85 yards, but almost nothing came easy for the Black Hawks. Pfeuffer finished 11 of 28 for 141 yards, while Moore ran for 98 yards on 27 carries, averaging only 3.6 yards per carry. Receiver Mitchell Paschl has been terrific this season, but he was held without a catch.
“They have stud wide receivers, but then they also have a great running back. We just had to execute on all cylinders, and that’s what we did,” Upper St. Clair’s Nate Stohl said.
Afterwards, Junko applauded Van Hellmann and Stohl for their excellent play. The seniors are two of the leaders of the defense. Hellmann plays linebacker and Stohl defensive end. Stohl is a Princeton recruit. Junko also praised a secondary headlined by junior Nico D’Orazio.
“Nate Stohl is the tip of the spear,” Junko said. “Vann Hellmann is a guy out there, just a physical player. Nico D’Orazio in the back half. That was a kid who can throw the ball. Our secondary, they’ve got a lot of speed. I thought our secondary did a good job of limiting the big plays back there. Because that’s where you feel like you’re sitting on a keg of dynamite and never knowing when it might go off. But I thought our guys did a good job of limiting their big-play ability.”
Upper St. Clair held a 7-0 lead at halftime courtesy of Julian Dahlem’s 1-yard scoring run with 2:10 left in the first quarter. Bethel Park’s best scoring opportunity of the first half came when it drove to the Upper St. Clair 7 a few minutes into the second quarter. But on 4th-and-5, Pfeuffer’s pass was swatted away by Upper St. Clair linebacker John Banbury.
Bethel Park finally got on the board when Moore found the end zone on a tough 7-yard run with 3:10 left in the third. But that would be the only time the Black Hawks would get into the end zone.
“We play for each other. We’re motivated. We use it as fuel to keep competing and push ourselves,” Hellmann said.
It has fueled Upper St. Clair to an 8-0 record, putting the Panthers two wins away from their first undefeated regular season since 2013. Oddly, the Panthers won’t play an unbeaten team for a fourth week in a row. Instead, they will play host to Moon (4-3, 1-2) next week before playing host to Baldwin (0-8, 0-3) in the regular-season finale.
“It’s driving us a ton,” Stohl said of matching the feat of the 2013 team. “But we’re going to take it week by week. You’ve got to go 9-0 to get to 10-0.”
And if Stohl and his buddies continue with their defensive mastery, the Panthers could very well win their first WPIAL title in 18 years next month.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.