Canon-McMillan hosts Norwin in a matchup with playoff implications
There are still three weeks left in the WPIAL football regular season, but tonight’s matchup between Canon-McMillan and Norwin will go a long way in painting the Class 6A playoff picture.
That’s because the winner of the game, which is being played at 7 p.m. at AHN Field in Canonsburg, puts itself in prime position to finish in the top three of the Class 6A standings and could potentially host a playoff game. The loser, meanwhile, is in a fight for the fourth and final spot.
“Lets just say the winner of this game is in a good position,” Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans said.
Not only does Canon-McMillan have home field advantage, but it is catching the Knights at a time where they are banged up.
Norwin will come to Canonsburg without the services of two key players on offense.
Their top offensive weapon, running back Giovanni Rothrauff, fractured his left leg in last week’s loss to Hempfield. Rothrauff is out for the season. He was the featured player in the Knights’ offense with 196 carries for 998 yards and seven touchdowns. The 196 carries were the most attempted by any player in the WPIAL this season.
The Knights also could be without Potter Brozeski, a senior wide receiver, because of a calf injury. Brozeski, who has an offer to Mercyhurst, has 34 catches for 560 yards and five touchdowns.
Evans said he expects Norwin coach Mike Brown to have a good game plan despite likely not having two key weapons.
“They’re going to come up with something, because Mike is a good coach and it’s a big game for them too,” Evans said. “The problem is we really don’t know what that will be and that makes it tough.
“It’s unfortunate about (Rothrauff). When I was told he wasn’t going to playing my first reaction wasn’t “Yay”. It was I can’t believe how tough that news is for those guys.”
Quarterback Max Ritz will likely have a bigger workload for Norwin. He has 875 yards passing, eight touchdowns and three interceptions and is the team’s second leading rusher with 295 yards.
Canon-McMillan is coming off a 35-17 nonconference loss to Woodland Hills. The Big Macs jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but were outscored 35-3 the rest of the way.
Evans said they had to make difficult decisions to rest some players to keep them healthy for their final stretch of conference games.
That stretch starts Friday and Canon-McMillan will have its full complement of weapons, including quarterback Ty Jansma, wide receiver Roman Cimarolli and Bryce Collins, who has emerged as the lead running back.
Jansma ranks seventh in the WPIAL with 1,405 passing yards, while Cimarolli is 11th in the WPIAL with 555 receiving yards.
“I think our offensive line at times has been dominant and our run game has been better since we inserted Bryce Collins in at running back,” Evans said. “The line seems to be getting better every week. I think the toughest fronts we’ve played Upper St. Clair, Woodland Hills and Hempfield with their size, we’ve held our own and ran the ball pretty well.
“We can run the ball and throw the ball, so we feel pretty good about our weapons and what we can do offensively.”
Canon-McMillan has won three of the last five in the series, but Norwin won last year’s matchup 24-21.
Extra points
The WPIAL announced on Wednesday that the Class 4A and Class 6A football championships will be played at Pine-Richland on Saturday November 21. The Class 4A game is scheduled for noon, and the Class 6A game will kickoff at 6 p.m. It’s the second year in a row that the 4A and 6A finals will be at Pine-Richland. … Tonight’s matchups featuring two local teams are Mapletown at Avella, Jefferson-Morgan at California, Carmichaels at West Greene and Washington at Monessen. … Beth-Center will look to keep its undefeated season going when it hosts Frazier. The Commodores are 3-1 in the Tri-County South and 4-3 overall. … Burgettstown will try to halt a two-game losing streak at Brentwood. Both teams are 2-2 in the Class A Black Hills Conference, and the winner will be in sole possession of third place.