College football coaches say that relying on a freshman, no matter how talented he might be, is a risky proposition. That's because first-year players often make as many mistakes as they do great plays.

The same thing is true at the high school level. Rare is the ninth grader who earns a starting job at the varsity level and then expands his role as the season progresses.

Meet Springdale High School freshman Sean Dugan.

Dugan was a terror at the junior high level last year. His coaches raved about him to Springdale High coach Chuck Wagner. A lot of folks in the Allegheny River community were saying, "Wait until he gets to high school."

Wagner, the dean of WPIAL coaches, watched Dugan play in person and on game films and was impressed. He figured Dugan would help the Dynamos in some capacity, probably on special teams. He was wrong.

Dugan, who is 5 feet 10 and 170 pounds, has helped Springdale in a lot of ways.

"I didn't want to rush him because you just never know if a freshman is going to be able to handle things, especially the mental preparation," Wagner said. "We knew he was a good player and figured we'd spot him in here or there and on the special teams.

"I never thought he'd end up doing what he has done for us."

Dugan earned a starting spot at linebacker as well as a place on some of Springdale's special teams coming out of training camp. These days, he is also seeing time in the backfield.

In this past Friday's victory at Monessen in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs, he rushed for 111 yards on 21 carries.

"He's just really been special," Wagner said. "Every time he does something good for us, our junior high coaches give it to me a little because they said he'd be good for us."

Dugan gets his football ability honestly. Both of his older brothers were outstanding linemen for the Dynamos. Colin Dugan played the first part of this decade and went on to have a nice career at Liberty University. Bill Dugan graduated in 2008 and is playing at Waynesburg.

How good could Sean Dugan be?

"Well, I've already talked to a few college coaches about him," Wagner said.

Wagner, by the way, is old school when it comes to preparing for an opponent. He doesn't mind losing some sleep.

Springdale played at Monessen Friday, which is more than an hour bus ride. By the time Wagner got home, he knew his team would be taking on North Catholic in the quarterfinals.

A lot of guys would have had an adult beverage and gone to bed after coaching a playoff game, but Wagner's not like a lot of guys.

"I put in the tape of our [Monessen] game and watched it and then I put in the one of North Catholic and stayed up and watched it," he said. "I guess I was up until about 3 in the morning."

Anyone who says Western Pennsylvania is a hotbed for high school football is a liar.

The area has that reputation thanks to the effort of legendary coaches such as Butler's Art Bernardi, New Castle's Lindy Lauro, Gateway's Pete Antimarino, North Allegheny's Jim Rankin and Aliquippa/Baldwin's Don Yannessa. But it's not true any more.

If it were, schools which didn't qualify for the WPIAL or City League playoffs would play a 10th game instead of putting away the shoulder pads and helmets. The PIAA allows schools to play 10 contests, but few take advantage of the rule.

Highlands and Valley did get together for a 10th game last Wednesday and should be applauded. Only underclassmen participated in the contest, which is fine. In fact, that's probably the way for non-playoff teams to go ... get the players who will be back next season an extra week of practice and some game time.

But when Highlands' coach Sam Albert was called and congratulated for being one of the few non-playoff teams to play a 10th game, he made a confession.

"I'd like to take credit for it but I can't," he said. "Ambridge and Valley had called us about playing a 10th game and I said no. Then my AD said that any money we made from it would be put toward the weight room. That put a different spin on things.

"All the athletes in the school benefit from the weight room, so I said we'd play. Actually, it was a very positive experience for our kids."

Highlands was winless through its first nine games, but managed to defeat Valley, 32-0, last week. Albert said the win should produce a positive attitude in the offseason.

Now, we aren't so naïve as to think that will happen to every team that doesn't make the playoffs. Coaches don't want to play a 10th game because they are afraid their team will lose and make a bad season even worse. That's a lame excuse.

And having the players vote on whether they want to play a 10th game isn't the way to go either. That's like asking Algebra students if they want to have a test or not at the end of the semester.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.