Five things to know about the PIAA football quarterfinals involving these District 10 teams
The PIAA football playoffs continue Friday with five District 10 teams left chasing a state title.
Here are five things to know about the PIAA quarterfinals:
Historic run
The PIAA quarterfinal round is pretty familiar for most of the five remaining District 10 teams, but it's a historic run for Cambridge Springs in Class 1A. The Blue Devils lost their only PIAA quarterfinal appearance to Moshannon Valley 10-6 in 1996. Cambridge Springs is the first D-10 program ever to play for a football state title, but they were put into the PIAA semifinals that year without winning a quarterfinal game.
Cathedral Prep (5A), Farrell (2A), Hickory (3A) and McDowell (6A) are more familiar with the PIAA quarterfinals. Prep is 12-10 all-time in the PIAA quarterfinals and 10-9 against the WPIAL champion. Farrell is 9-1 in the PIAA playoffs since rejoining D-10, while Hickory is 2-5 in the PIAA quarterfinals. McDowell is 4-5 in the PIAA quarterfinals and lost its only meeting with North Allegheny in the playoffs 56-6 in the PIAA quarterfinals in 2012.
College prospects to watch
There are several college prospects to keep an eye on Friday for the D-10 opponents. Sincere Shannon, a lineman for Westinghouse, has an offer from St. Francis, while sophomore lineman Josiah Collins has an offer from Temple and sophomore running back Kyshawn Robinson has all kinds of D-I offers including Nebraska, Penn State, USC, Florida and Pitt among others.
Peters Township sophomore wide receiver and outside linebacker Reston Lehman has offers from Central Michigan and Miami (Ohio), while North Allegheny has four prospects. Senior lineman Cameron Chmura has offers from most D-I FCS schools, senior tight end/defensive end Daniel Sellers has offers from most of the Ivy League, senior athlete Khiryn Boyd has an offer from Howard and senior running back/linebacker Tyree Alualu has all kinds of offers on the Division I level.
Familiar foe for Trojans
McDowell hosted North Allegheny earlier this season with the Tigers winning 43-24 at Gus Anderson Field. Alualu rushed for 154 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries in the win, while Logan Kushner threw two touchdown passes to Evan Lyon. Lyon also had a kickoff return for a touchdown for North Allegheny.
Blayze Myers threw for 325 yards and one touchdown in the loss, while Stephon Porter and Myers each ran for one touchdown. Dominic Berarducci ran for 54 yards on eight carries and five catches for 50 yards, while Jake Hower had eight catches for 78 yards and James Zigler had six catches for 92 yards.
Different sport, same tough school
Peters Township has tortured District 10 boys soccer programs for years. The Indians are 5-3 in the PIAA playoffs against D-10, including wins over McDowell 1-0 (2017), McDowell 3-0 (2010), Cathedral Prep 2-1 (1998), Fairview 2-0 (1989), Mercyhurst Prep 5-0 (1988) and Fairview 1-0 (1987). Prep beat the Indians in 2011 in a shootout and 2-0 in 1997.
What's next
The PIAA semifinals are the next step for any of the five District 10 teams to win this weekend. The three small schools will run into the WPIAL champion in the next round, while the two big schools take on District 3.
In Class 6A, the McDowell-North Allegheny winner takes on either Manheim Township or Harrisburg, while the Cathedral Prep-Peters Township winner gets either Ephrata or Cocalico in the PIAA semifinals in Class 5A.
D-10 will have to battle the WPIAL champion in the three smallest classes to earn a trip to Cumberland Valley. If Hickory gets by Martinsburg Central in Class 3A, the Hornets would get either Belle-Vernon or Avonworth. If Farrell beats Westinghouse in 2A, the Steelers would take on either Steel Valley or Beaver Falls, and in 1A, Cambridge Springs would get either South Side Beaver or Fort Cherry.
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @ETNreisenweber.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PIAA football quarterfinals: Five District 10 teams set to play Friday
