Notebook: Montour to go against one of the nation's best
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In order to take another step toward becoming the No. 1 Class AAA team in the state, the Montour Spartans will have to beat a team that has a player ranked among the best in the country.
Montour will play in the PIAA Class AAA semifinals Friday night at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona against Bishop McDevitt. McDevitt features defensive end Noah Spence , a senior who is ranked among the top 10 players in the country.
Spence (6 feet 4, 245 pounds) is ranked the No. 6 player by scout.com, and No. 9 by rivals.com. Montour coach Lou Cerro has watched Spence on film and can understand why he is so highly touted.
"You definitely can't miss him," Cerro said. "He doesn't play either side of the line all the time. He could be on the right or the left. He really runs to the football. We're really going to have to pass protect and make sure we stay on him."
Spence has 11 1/2 sacks this year. He has not made a college decision yet, but Ohio State has risen on Spence's list now that Urban Meyer is coach. He had said a few months ago that Penn State, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Southern California and Notre Dame were his top choices.
Spence was named the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year last week.
Bishop McDevitt's defense also has Brock Dean , a 6-1, 217-pound linebacker who has made a verbal commitment to Maryland.
Allentown Central Catholic is the defending PIAA Class AAA champion, but the Vikings started the season 2-5, losing to mostly Class AAAA teams. Since then, the Vikings have won seven consecutive games and their offense has been close to unstoppable.
Allentown Central Catholic has scored 50 points or more in three of the past four games, including a 56-14 victory against Shamokin in a quarterfinal game Friday. Allentown Central is led by quarterback Brendan Nosovitch , a South Carolina recruit who has thrown for 300 yards or more in three consecutive games.
For the season, Nosovitch has completed 228 of 367 passes for 3,541 yards and 37 touchdowns. He has a chance to break the state single-season passing yardage record of 3,823 yards.
But Nosovitch injured an ankle in the Shamokin game on a controversial play. He said a Shamokin player kept twisting his ankle after a play.
Allentown Central Catholic coach Harold Fairclough was not happy about the injury.
"It was a cheap moment and that's all I will say about it," Fairclough said to the Allentown Morning Call.
Aliquippa meets Tyrone in a PIAA Class AA semifinal and Tyrone is led by the son of coach John Franco . Steve Franco is a senior quarterback who has completed 133 of 218 passes for 2,328 yards and 30 touchdowns. In the past three games, he is 33 of 45 for 567 yards.
When Clairton defeated North Star, 44-0, in a Class A quarterfinal Friday, it was the 45th consecutive victory for the Bears. During that streak, 27 of the wins have been by shutouts.
• The PIAA released semifinal sites Sunday and three games involving WPIAL teams will be played at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona. Those three games are North Allegheny vs. Central Dauphin (6 p.m. Saturday), Aliquippa vs. Tyrone (noon Saturday) and Montour vs. Bishop McDevitt (7 p.m. Friday).
The other semifinal game involving a WPIAL team is Clairton vs. Sharpsville, 7 p.m. Friday at Slippery Rock University.
• Montour's Julian Durden needs only 31 yards rushing to reach 2,000 for the second season in a row.
• Archbishop Wood has a 13-1 record and is in the Class AAA semifinals for the second consecutive year. The team's only loss was to Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the season opener.
First Published December 5, 2011 12:00 am
