Pine-Richland’s opponent in Friday’s PIAA Class 5A semifinals features a quarterback who is well beyond being just rock solid.
He’s Stone Saunders.
Saunders, a senior who will be playing in the SEC at Kentucky next season, would love to lead Bishop McDevitt to a berth in the PIAA championship, and if he’s able to break Pine-Richland’s hearts on Friday, he just might break the state’s career passing yardage record, too.
Pine-Richland (11-1) will have a big challenge on its hands when the WPIAL champion Rams take on District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt (12-2) at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium. The Rams are hoping to return to the final for the third time in five years. They won titles in 2020 and 2022.
Pine-Richland was excellent defensively in the WPIAL playoffs, giving up only 16 points in three games. But the stakes are even higher now and the Rams draw a team led by one of the most prolific quarterbacks in state history. Saunders (6 feet 2, 200 pounds) has thrown for 13,299 yards and 199 touchdowns in his career. He already owns the state touchdown record, having broken that earlier this season, and he’s now on the cusp of breaking the yardage mark of 13,562 set by Alex Erby, a 2024 Steelton-Highspire graduate who now plays at Navy.
“He plays very calm and collected and is in control of the offense,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne said. “Everything runs through him.”
Saunders has been a model of consistency throughout his four seasons as a starter, throwing for at least 3,000 yards and 43 touchdowns all four years. He has also done a lot of winning. Bishop McDevitt reached the PIAA Class 4A final in both 2021 and 2022, falling to Aliquippa the first year before beating the Quips the next year. The Crusaders then lost to Dallas in two overtimes in last year’s semifinals.
This season, Saunders is 203 of 309 for 3,157 yards and 43 touchdowns. He was 14 of 18 for 166 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s 48-14 win against Exeter Township in the District 3 championship.
“We’re going to try to get pressure on him from our front guys,” LeDonne said of Saunders, whose list of scholarship offers also included Georgia, Miami, Michigan and Colorado.
Bishop McDevitt has quite a bit of additional talent, as well. Maurice Barnes is a junior running back-linebacker with offers from Pitt, Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan. Jerome Larue is a sophomore running back who has been offered by Penn State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Sophomore safety Julius Fuentes-Bream holds an offer from Pitt, while senior wide receiver Dominic Diaz-Ellis has an offer from Kent State.
Saunders has two 1,000-yard receivers in Diaz-Ellis and sophomore Jontai Quick. Diaz-Ellis has 69 catches for 1,279 yards and 15 touchdowns, while Quick has 57 catches for 1,051 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“They’re just very fast and explosive, and they have a lot of dynamic playmakers on the outside,” LeDonne explained.
But Pine-Richland has some dynamic playmakers, as well. They include sophomore quarterback Oobi Strader, junior wide receiver-defensive back Jay Timmons and senior wide receiver-defensive back Tanner Cunningham. Strader threw for 147 yards and two touchdowns in a 20-9 win against Peters Township in the WPIAL championship. Those scoring tosses went to Timmons and Cunningham. A day later, Timmons received a scholarship offer from Pitt.
Class 6A
Central Catholic (11-2) will meet a team with a bevy of junior talent when the WPIAL champs take on District 3 champion Harrisburg (11-2) Saturday at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium.
Harrisburg boasts two of the top three juniors in the state and four of the top 18, according to the Rivals rankings. The top player is offensive tackle Kevin Brown (6-5, 270) and the No. 3 player is running back Messiah Mickens (5-10, 195). Both are four-star recruits and Penn State commits. Rivals tabs Brown as the No. 3 player at his position in the country and the No. 15 player overall. Running back D’Antae Sheffey (6-0, 190) is a Syracuse recruit ranked as the No. 13 player in the state, while uncommitted athlete Elias Coke (6-2, 200) is No. 18.
Mickens has been a big producer this season. He leads Harrisburg in rushing (1,091 yards) and touchdowns (19) while also registering 65 tackles and a team-high 13.5 sacks on defense from his linebacker position. Coke (42 catches, 723 yards, 8 touchdowns) is the team’s top receiver. He has offers from the likes of Pitt, Penn State, Michigan and Notre Dame.
Mickens ran for two touchdowns last week as Harrisburg defeated Wilson West Lawn, 42-14, for its fourth straight district championship. The Cougars have reached the PIAA final three times but have never won a title. A season ago, they fell to North Allegheny, 24-12, in the semifinals.
Central Catholic, which is seeking its first berth in the final since 2016, thumped District 6 champion State College, 41-19, in the quarterfinals. Elijah Faulkner came up big in the win, racking up 250 yards and four touchdowns on 38 carries. Faulkner has now rushed for 1,451 yards and 19 touchdowns on the season.
Class 4A
Thomas Jefferson followed up its last two WPIAL titles by winning matching PIAA titles in 2019 and 2020. After winning another WPIAL championship two weekends ago, the Jaguars are now two wins away from pulling off another “championship double.”
Thomas Jefferson (13-0) will face District 3 champion Lampeter-Strasburg (13-0) in a semifinal Friday at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium. Thomas Jefferson has won five PIAA titles, tied with Aliquippa for most all time among WPIAL schools, which means the Jaguars could make some big history next weekend.
First things first, though, and for the Jaguars that’s getting past a Lampeter-Strasburg team that knocked off five-time defending champion Wyomissing, 30-27, in overtime in the District 3 championship game. The Pioneers are seeking their first-ever PIAA win. They are 0-3 in the playoffs, having lost in the semifinals in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Thomas Jefferson blitzed the Pioneers, 44-2, in 2019.
Lampeter-Strasburg has a pair of 1,000-yard runners in senior running back Dominic Brown (1,423 yards, 22 touchdowns) and senior quarterback Caileb Howse (1,259 yards, 19 touchdowns). Brown ran for 146 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries against Wyomissing. Howse has passed for 1,498 yards and 16 touchdowns, while senior Danny Weichler (29 catches, 497 yards, 7 touchdowns) has been the most productive receiver.
Thomas Jefferson will play at Mansion Park Stadium for the second week in a row. The Jaguars beat District 9 champ Clearfield, 35-0, there in a quarterfinal last week. Sophomore running back Tyler Eber ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Eber, who has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the team’s last 12 games, has run for 2,089 yards to go along with 32 touchdowns this season.
Class 3A
Whether it be with one of the Neal brothers, Luca and Nico, or Dimitri Velisaris, Avonworth has a number of good rushing options to wear teams down defensively.
Well, the team the Antelopes will face in the semifinals have even more.
Making its second appearance in the PIAA tournament, WPIAL champion Avonworth (11-3) will battle Penn Cambria (14-0) Friday at Norwin. Penn Cambria won its first District 6 title earlier this month and is in the PIAA playoffs for the first time.
Penn Cambria has used an excellent line and deep group of running threats to rack up 3,381 yards on the ground this season. That’s an average of 241.5 per game. Four players have rushed for more than 600 yards — senior Thomas Plunkett (1,108 yards, 10 touchdowns), senior Gavin Harrold (779 yards, 23 touchdowns), junior Brady Jones (648 yards, 8 touchdowns) and senior Mason Mento (644 yards, 8 touchdowns). Harrold ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-7 win against Hickory in the quarterfinals.
Jones is the team’s quarterback and has passed for 1,614 yards and 14 touchdowns. Harrold has been the top pass catcher, hauling in 70 receptions for 980 yards and another 10 touchdowns. This Panthers team has also made a lot of big plays defensively, as they have collected 20 interceptions to go along with 30 sacks.
Avonworth’s only other experience in the PIAA playoffs came in 2019 when the Antelopes beat Wilmington in the Class 2A semifinals before losing to Southern Columbia in the championship. This Avonworth team has been excellent defensively as of late, giving up only six points to Imani Christian in the WPIAL semifinals and then shutting out Central Valley, 17-0, in the championship. Senior Nico Neal ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns in the championship win.
Class 2A
Fresh off its first WPIAL title in 19 years, South Park (12-1) will take on District 9 champion Central Clarion (13-0) in a semifinal Friday at Farrell.
You could say that history is on South Park’s side as the Eagles have never lost a PIAA game, while its opponent has never won one. South Park is 5-0 all time in the playoffs, going 2-0 in 1997 and 3-0 in 2005 on its way to winning titles both years. Central Clarion has been around since only 2020. It’s a co-op between three schools — Clarion, Clarion-Limestone and North Clarion. Central Clarion qualified for the PIAA playoffs in both 2022 and 2023, but lost to City League power Westinghouse in the first round both seasons.
If Central Clarion is to claim its first-ever PIAA win, the Wildcats will need to slow down a South Park rushing attack that has fueled the Eagles’ success all season. Senior running back Eric Doerue ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 win against Seton LaSalle in the WPIAL championship. Doerue’s season total stands at 1,745 and his career total at 4,802.
Central Clarion has been dominant, outscoring opponents, 640-79. The Wildcats’ closest game was 17 points, and all of their other wins have come by at least 35 points. They beat Farrell, 41-6, in the first round before thumping Cambria Heights, 49-6, in the quarterfinals.
The Wildcats are led by senior quarterback Jase Ferguson, a four-year starter who has passed for 3,133 yards and 49 touchdowns, rushed for 1,267 yards and 17 touchdowns, and has also been a force defensively as he has a team-best seven interceptions. Ferguson has 146 career touchdown passes. His favorite target, sophomore wide receiver Ethan Rex, has 72 catches for 821 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Class 1A
Matt Sieg moved within 200 yards of reaching 2,000 yards rushing for the season while leading Fort Cherry to a second consecutive WPIAL championship.
Fort Cherry (14-0) begins the PIAA playoffs on Friday, and its semifinal opponent, Port Allegany, is led by a player who is closing in on 3,000 yards. The Rangers and Gators will square off at PennWest Clarion.
It has been a blissful season for Port Allegany junior running back Aiden Bliss (6-0, 205), who has led the Gators (13-0) into the semifinals for just the third time in school history. Bliss has rushed for 2,880 yards and has scored 52 touchdowns. According to MaxPreps, Bliss leads the state in both categories. Bliss has rushed for over 200 yards in all but three games and has collected 1,088 yards and 15 scores over his past four games. He also has four interceptions on defense. The Gators have 26 interceptions overall.
Bliss isn’t the only big rusher on this Port Allegany team, as fellow junior running back Tony Kiser has rushed for 1,226 yards to go along with 26 touchdowns.
Port Allegany, the District 9 champion, is averaging 52 points a game and has won all but one of its games by double digits. The Gators pummeled Redbank Valley, 62-28, in the district championship game. The Gators lost to WPIAL teams in their previous two semifinal trips, falling to Clairton in 2012 and Union in 2022.
Fort Cherry is appearing in the PIAA playoffs for only the second time. The Rangers beat Redbank Valley, 33-23, in last year’s semifinals before falling to Steelton-Highspire, 42-8.
Sieg, a junior quarterback, has rushed for 1,804 yards this season and 6,175 in his career. He has also thrown for 1,285 yards this season and 4,176 in his career.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.