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Cover 2: District 10 News and Notes

Wow, are we really four weeks into the high school football season already.

If you’re surprised like me, don’t feel alarmed. With games starting a full week before school even begins, it’s not a surprise to feel, well surprised, that we are four games in already.

District 10 has seen no shortage of big games, dominant team and individual performances and teams that have surprised.

Here’s a quick look at some of the teams and players making headlines in Week 4, as well as an interesting statistical tidbit.

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Stats and Stuff

Warren’s first offensive play of its 41-34 win over North East on Friday was a hook-and-ladder from Jake Kupchella to Ryan Arnold to Aidan Morrison.

Originally, I scored the play as a completed pass from Kupchella to Arnold, with each getting the credit for passing and receiving yardage up to the point of the pitch, with Morrison yardage officially credited as rushing.

Well, I did some research and found out that’s not how the play is actually scored. Actually, how the play is officially recorded in the stat sheet is somewhat bizarre.

The quarterback, in this case Kupchella, gets credit for passing yardage for the entire play. Arnold’s part in the play was scored correctly, a reception and receiving yardage up to the pitch point. The final person involved in the play, in this case Morrison, is where it gets tricky.

Morrison gets credit for receiving yardage from the point where he caught Arnold’s pitch up until his progress was stopped, but he does not get credit for a reception.

So Morrison gets credit for 33 yards receiving without the benefit of a reception.

Told you it was strange.

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Lancers score big win

In the WTO’s District 10 Game of the Week, General McLane handed Oil City its first loss of the season, 17-12, in a game where all the scoring was done in the first half.

Oil City’s Christian Cole, the state’s leading rusher going into the contest, did carry the ball 23 times for 193 yards and a score, but the Lancers were able to limit an Oiler offense that was averaging 53.3 points per game over its 3-game winning streak to start the season.

It’s rare that an opponent rushes for more yards in a game then Cole, but that’s exactly what General McLane’s Ben Howe-Jones did, carrying 25 times for 244 yards and both of the Lancers’ touchdowns.

The rushing effort courtesy of Howe-Jones and his offensive line ranks as one of if not the most impressive of the season to date in District 10, given the quality of the opponent and the importance of the game.

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Defensive titans

We live in an age of great offenses, but Harbor Creek and Fairview played a true throwback game on Friday evening.

In the first quarter, Harbor Creek’s JT Bratt connected on a 24-yard field goal to put the Huskies up 3-0.

It was the only score of the game, as HC went on to win 3-0.

The total yardage belied the final score, with Fairview accounting for 135 yards of total offense and Harbor Creek 129.

So if you think defensive slugfests have gone by the wayside, these two teams proved, if just for one night, that they haven’t, at least completely died out.

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But about that offense

Taking out the Harbor Creek-Fairview game, there were 21 other games involving District 10 teams.

In those games, the average point total for the winning team was 40.5 points per game. Five teams scored at least 60 points, led by Mercyhurst Prep’s 68-19 win over Titusville.

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Great competition

Of District 10’s 40 football programs, just two – Farrell and Mercyhurst Prep, are unblemished at 4-0. That’s a remarkably low number given that the regular season isn’t even half way over.

So, for all the chatter about the number of blowout games (and there have been quite a few), there is a tremendous amount of parity in this district.

There is a lot of quality football, and teams can’t afford not to bring their best effort every week.

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