Sep 26, 2024 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

If you think the high school football season doesn’t begin too early, then I offer the following:

The calendar shows that it is still September and tonight we move into the second half of the season, the sixth week of play, which could be make-or-break time for several teams in the area.

Keep in mind, it’s still September.

There are only four more weekends left in the regular season after this one, so the road to the postseason starts tonight.

Here are five things to watch as the regular season crosses into its second half:

1. Game of the Week

Allegheny Six Conference play begins tonight, which means the first in a series of heavyweight matchups in Class 5A as undefeated Peters Township (5-0) plays at undefeated Upper St. Clair (5-0).

Upper St. Clair is averaging 44.2 points per game and has scored at least 41 four times. Quarterback Ethan Hellmann has passed for seven scores and Dante Coury has rushed for 548 yards behind a very stout offensive line.

PT has the WPIAL’s leading passer in junior Nolan DiLucia, who has completed 72 of 110 for 1,264 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Peters Township’s defense is one of only five in the WPIAL allowing less than 10 points per game. The Indians are allowing only six points per game and have yielded only 13 points over the last four weeks.

As somebody reminded me this week, defense still wins championships.

USC has won eight consecutive home games. The last team to beat the Panthers at home was Canon-McMillan, 28-24, on Oct. 14, 2022.

2. The greater Allegheny

The Allegheny Six is small in terms of members but the conference put up big numbers in non-league play. Four of the six teams are undefeated. Joining Peters Township and USC at 5-0 are Bethel Park and South Fayette. Allegheny Six teams were 23-6 in nonconference play – many of those against Class 6A opponents — with Baldwin (0-5) accounting for all but one of the losses. The Highlanders play at South Fayette tonight.

3. Game of the Century?

Who is the best team in the Class 2A Century Conference? It could be Seton LaSalle, the only unbeaten team in the league at 4-0 overall. Keystone Oaks is 2-0 in conference play but also only 2-2 overall and averaging a mere 12 points per game on offense.

Waynesburg is 1-0 in the conference and has a road win over Washington, something not many Century Conference teams have ever been able to claim.

That means that when Seton LaSalle travels to Greene County tonight to play Waynesburg, the winner will have the inside track on the conference title. The Raiders are more battle-tested, at least over the last three weeks.

4. Backyard brawl

Fort Cherry and the Matt Sieg Show continues to roll. The Rangers sit atop the Class A Black Hills Conference (2-0, 5-0) heading into a game tonight at Hill Memorial Stadium against rival Burgettstown (0-2, 1-3).

Fort Cherry has won 13 consecutive Black Hills Conference games and 19 straight regular-season contests. Sieg recently became the first player in WPIAL history to rush for 5,000 career yards and pass for 3,000.

Burgettstown would like nothing more than to knock off the neighboring Rangers. The Blue Devils seemed to find some much-needed offense in the second half last week at Chartiers-Houston, but Burgettstown must tackle better than it did against the Bucs in order to stay within striking distance of Fort Cherry.

5. Opportunity for Big Macs

For years, the Class 6A Quad-County Conference has been North Allegheny, Central Catholic (in any order you prefer) and then the rest of the teams. Canon-McMillan has been at the top of the latter category in recent years and the Big Macs could be playing into a position where October games against NA and Central Catholic will be important in terms of standings and playoff positioning.

Canon-McMillan (1-0, 2-3) pulled out a come-from-behind overtime victory at Mt. Lebanon last week and hosts Hempfield (0-2, 1-4) tonight. A win here would be a third straight for the Big Macs and keep them unbeaten in conference play.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com