Long considered perennial bottom feeders when it comes to WPIAL football, teams like Deer Lakes, Leechburg and South Allegheny are putting together unforgettable seasons while rewriting the lackluster narratives surrounding their programs.
Still, with all due respect to the Lancers, Blue Devils, Gladiators and every other upstart team in the area, nobody is turning back the clock and rewriting history like Ellwood City this season.
After losing 25 consecutive games from 2019-21, the Wolverines were in need of a savior. That’s when Dan Bradley shockingly left his post at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart to take over at Ellwood City, just four years after steering OLSH to a WPIAL crown. One of the WPIAL’s most respected coaches, Bradley also went to a pair of WPIAL championship games at Sto-Rox, where he began his coaching career in 2012. Still, who could have envisioned such a rapid turnaround for the Wolverines under Bradley’s watch?
“We were competitive last year in a lot of games but still playing with probably too many sophomores,” Bradley said. “This year, we have predominantly juniors and seniors, and it’s going well for us. I thought we would be more competitive, but to be 7-0 is a pleasant surprise.
“I don’t want to say I didn’t expect it. We thought we could be competitive and give ourselves a chance to win those games, and we did.”
In year one, Ellwood City lost its first two games before finally snapping its 27-game losing streak, finishing with an overall record of 2-8. The Wolverines then won five games in 2023 while reaching the postseason for the first time in 12 years, but few would have tabbed them as a leading title contender going into this season.
Now, after a 13-9 comeback win Friday at Riverside, Class 2A No. 3 Ellwood City is 7-0 for the first time in 80 years — and the Wolverines have their sights set on ending a 99-year WPIAL championship drought.
“It’s tough to compare today to 80 years ago and all the years in between,” Bradley said. “We’ve got a good senior class that leads us the right way. We have a very strong junior class, and we’ve got numbers throughout the program. This is the first time we’ve had that, so things are definitely on the upswing.”
Although Bradley might not have predicted a 7-0 start, he certainly knew all signs were pointing toward 2024 being a breakthrough year when he first took the job at Ellwood City. After all, the Wolverines had only one senior on each side of the ball in his debut season in 2022, back when quarterback Chris Smiley and running back Elijah Palmer-McCane were running the offense as wide-eyed sophomores.
Now, Smiley and Palmer-McCane are two of the team’s senior leaders and two of the most productive players in school history. Smiley ranks No. 1 in school history with 3,477 yards passing, and Palmer-McCane is tops with 3,724 yards rushing. Together, they hope to leave a lasting imprint on a program and community that has waited nearly a century to crown a WPIAL football champion.
“Our game day environment is tremendous,” Bradley said. “We’ve got great fan support. It’s really fun and enjoyable. I know the players look forward to getting out there and playing for their town.”
After his 148-yard effort last week, Palmer-McCane now sits at an even 1,000 yards rushing with 13 touchdowns on the year — giving him three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns as he approaches the prestigious 4,000-yard plateau for his career. As a sophomore, he rushed for 1,156 yards and 12 TDs, then he ran for 1,485 yards with 18 TDs as a junior.
As for Smiley, he went through some growing pains in his first year under center, passing for 940 yards with five touchdowns to 15 interceptions as a sophomore. Last year, he took a major step forward as one of the most improved passers in the WPIAL, completing 112-of-218 attempts for 1,689 yards with 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Through the first seven games in 2024, Smiley has passed for 848 yards and eight TDs with five interceptions — but his biggest score came on a 1-yard TD rush in the fourth quarter to lift Ellwood City to the comeback win against Riverside last Friday.
As great as Smiley and Palmer-McCane have been, though, the staple of this team remains its sturdy offensive line. With five three-year starters in the trenches, the Wolverines have controlled the line of scrimmage in every game they have played so far — and don’t expect that trend to stop anytime soon.
“None of this is possible without strong play from our offensive line,” Bradley said. “Elijah will tell you that. Chris will tell you that. Our receivers will tell you that. We congratulate our linemen every chance we can get.”
With hard-fought wins against quality foes like Laurel, Neshannock, Mohawk and Western Beaver, Ellwood City has already endured its fair share of nail-biters to prepare for the postseason. Still, with a chance to lock up only the third conference title in school history over the next two weeks, the Wolverines aren’t looking too far ahead.
Instead, Bradley and his players are taking it all in and soaking in all the milestones as they come, one after the other.
“I expect big crowds for both games [to finish the regular season],” Bradley said. “Union is still fighting for a playoff berth, and their coach does a great job with what he has there. Beaver Falls, two weeks away — it could be a great night for our seniors.”
Seton LaSalle’s Taylor tallies five first-quarter TDs
It may have gone a bit unnoticed because it took place on a Thursday, but Seton LaSalle’s sophomore standout Khalil Taylor had a game for the ages in a 65-12 win against Shady Side Academy last week — or should we say, a quarter for the ages?
A consensus four-star recruit who holds a handful of Power Four scholarship offers, Taylor scored not one, not two, not three, not four, but five touchdowns against the Bulldogs on Thursday — and all five came in the first quarter. First, Taylor hauled in a 15-yard touchdown reception from Michael Pastirik, followed by a 77-yard kick return TD. Then came an 11-yard TD pass from Pastirik before Taylor returned an interception 70 yards for a score. Finally, he punctuated one of the most prolific quarters of play in WPIAL history with an 88-yard TD reception for good measure, finishing the game with four catches for 132 yards.
For the season, Taylor has 28 receptions for 590 yard and 16 touchdowns. He is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 51 prospect in the 2027 class.
Guesman, Dehoet doing it all for Jefferson-Morgan
Much like Ellwood City, the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets are soaring to their best start since the 20th century, with a 44-12 win against Bentworth last Friday improving their record to 8-0 for the first time in 35 years. Few teams in Class 1A have a quarterback-wide receiver tandem that can match Jefferson-Morgan’s duo of senior signal caller Houston Guesman and junior wideout Deakyn Dehoet, and their chemistry was on full display against the Bearcats.
A dual-threat QB who keeps defenses guessing with his arm and his legs, Guesman completed 8-of-11 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns against Bentworth while rushing for 97 yards and two more scores. Dehoet was the recipient of all three TD passes from Guesman — one 50-yard TD, one 54-yard TD and one 78-yard TD — racking up seven receptions for 238 yards in the lopsided win. Dehoet now has 42 receptions for 788 yard and 16 scores on the year.
Now well on his way to a 1,000/1,000 season for the Rockets, Guesman has 1,278 yards passing and 19 TDs with only one interception to go along with 762 yards rushing and 13 TDs on the ground. The only question is whether he can rush for 238 yards over the next two weeks, which would make him only the 16th QB in WPIAL history to pass and rush for 1,000 yards in the regular season.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
