The winless Avella football team is down to 14 players, including a girl who joined the squad only a few weeks ago. The Eagles are beaten, battered and bruised.

But some other teams are telling the Eagles they are an inspiring group.

Before this past Friday's game, Bentworth coach Randy Walters and a few of his players came into the Avella locker room and presented Avella's players with T-shirts. Each school's logo was on the front and the word "determination" on the back.

"They just said it was incredible what our guys were doing and coach Walters said, 'We can't tell you how much we respect your team for what you're going through,'" Avella coach Frank Gray said.

On Friday, Canon-McMillan's four captains came to Avella and talked with Gray and his players. Canon-McMillan has invited Avella's players to a dinner the night before the Big Macs' first playoff game in a few weeks. Avella's players also will be on the sideline for the game.

"They just wanted to say how touched and inspired they were because we're still going out there and competing with only 14 players," Gray said. "It's really, really touching what Canon-McMillan and Bentworth did."

Avella, the third-smallest school with a football team in the WPIAL (only Mapletown and Geibel are smaller), started the season with only 19 players. But a few players have been injured and a few more quit, leaving the team with only 13 players. Anastasia Barr left the cheerleading squad a few weeks ago and joined the team. Gray used Barr for three plays at the end of Friday's 50-8 loss to Bentworth.

"I really can't play her because she'll get killed out there," Gray said of Barr, who is 5 feet 7. "We put her in at the end of the game. I give her credit. She insisted on coming out and trying to help because she didn't know if we were going to have 11 players for one game because we had some who were hurt."

Gray is in his first season as coach. Avella is 0-7 and has been outscored, 320-54. But Gray doesn't want to forfeit games.

"The bigger problem than the low numbers is nine of our 13 boys are ninth- or 10th-graders," Gray said. "A lot of the upperclassmen quit because they didn't want to work or do the things we were requiring of them.

"The ones who have stayed are really trying. I give them credit. ... We're going to be a little better next year. It's going to take a few years to get this program up and running, but we're not giving up."

Fort Cherry and Frazier came close to the WPIAL record for most combined points in a regular-season game. Fort Cherry defeated Frazier, 71-38, in a Class A Black Hills Conference game Friday. The 109 points were only four short of the regular-season record of 113, set in 1998 when Ford City defeated Northgate, 69-44.

The record for most points in any game, regular season or playoffs, was set last year in the WPIAL semifinals when Jeannette defeated Aliquippa, 70-48.

Is it too early to start talking about the WPIAL passing record for Sto-Rox's Paul Jones? He thinks so, but it seems he can't get away from the idea.

"I have a friend who has it already planned out," said Jones, a junior. "He figures what I'm going to have at the end of this regular season and then what I'll need every game next year. I'm trying not to think about that, though."

Jones has 3,355 yards passing the past two seasons and averages more than 200 yards passing a game. With two more regular-season games and then at least one playoff game, Jones should have well over 4,000 yards by the end of the season. Sto-Rox also should be a good team next year, so Jones might have an outside shot at the WPIAL record of 6,741 yards, set by 2004 Sto-Rox graduate Adam DiMichele.

Carmichaels quarterback Joby Lapkowicz didn't play until the fifth game of the season because he was still recovering from a broken ankle suffered in a PIAA baseball semifinal in June. The injury required surgery.

Lapkowicz has made quite an impact for the Mikes. In three games, he has completed 39 of 53 passes for 731 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also rushed for 101 yards Friday night against Geibel.

• Ray Reitz's record in four seasons as Jeannette's coach is 45-4.

• Thomas Jefferson's only loss this year was to Glenville (Ohio), 34-13, in the season opener. Thomas Jefferson was in the game for a while and the defeat doesn't look too bad when you consider Glenville is 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in Ohio in the state's largest classification. Minus the Thomas Jefferson game, Glenville has outscored its other six opponents, 233-29. Since the Thomas Jefferson game, Glenville has allowed only 12 points in six games.

• Matt Barkley, a quarterback at Santa Ana, Calif., rated by just about every scouting service as the No. 1 player in the country, threw 11 interceptions in his first five games. Barkley is a Southern California recruit.