LOWER BURRELL - Brendon Knuckles is starting to find his stride. The Valley senior quarterback may have liked to find his way earlier in the season, Vikings coach Mark Adams is happy to see him come along.

Knuckles passed for 94 yards and two touchdowns during a 41-21 loss to Burrell Friday night on the road. Knuckles threw two touchdown passes to Sean Wilkerson, including a 35-yard touchdown strike that tied the game at 14 in the second quarter.

It was a positive sign for Valley (0-7, 0-3).

​"He's grown tremendously, leaps and bounds," Adams said. "We knew that with time, we would need to mesh them together. It's snap after snap, it's conversation after conversation. I've seen the lights go on in his eyes and the game is slowing down for him."

Chartiers Valley, Trinity crash the party in the Big Six
Thomas Jefferson has earned its status as the boogeyman in the Big Six Conference. But the defending WPIAL Class 4A champion Jaguars will need help if they want to reach the top of the conference standings again. Trinity (3-4, 2-0) picked up its second win over Thomas Jefferson in the past three years Friday night, collecting a 33-22 victory.

The Hills having a losing record is misleading. Trinity's non-conference schedule is loaded up with 5A opponents, including Bethel Park, Peters Township and Moon. The Hillers were trailing Thomas Jefferson 22-7 at the halftime before rallying for a win.

The Colts (6-1, 2-0) went for two points in the waning seconds to knock off Belle Vernon 36-35. Chartiers Valley has two wins by one point this season. The Colts also beat West Allegheny in overtime in Week 1. The Colts will find out a lot about themselves in the next two weeks when they play Trinity and TJ.

Warriors grab hold of the bell
Penn-Trafford evened its all-time series with Gateway at 13 wins apiece. The Warriors won the battle from the bell after rallying from a 16-point deficit.

Ben Grabowski scored the go-ahead touchdown with 6 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Grabowski finished with 151 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Can Butler get to a sixth win?
The Golden Tornado went independent in football a few years back to build the program back into one that could possibly rejoin the WPIAL. Butler picked up a win over University (W.Va.) to improve to 5-2 on the season. The Golden Tornado are a win away from their first winning season since 1997.

Butler's next opponent, City League opponent Allderdice, the Golden Tornado beat 7-0 last season. Allderdice has a better team this year. The Golden Tornado close the season with Wheeling Park (W.Va.) and PIAA Class 2A runner up Central Clarion. If the Golden Tornado can't beat the Dragons, things may get dicey to reach that sixth win.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be sent to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

WEST DEER - Noah Stough insisted that Derry's performance in a back-and-forth road win over Deer Lakes Friday in a non-conference road contest was a better representation of what the team is.

The Trojans did a lot of good things during a 24-21 win. Derry recovered an onside kick to start the second half. The Trojans blocked a field goal and punt. 

The Trojans came behind twice during the fourth quarter in a win.

"This is really going to give us some good momentum going into next week," Stough said. "Last week was a fluke. Some players were out injured and we made mistakes. This game, I think, is going to keep pushing us."

Stough finished with 140 receiving yards and caught two touchdown passes. He also converted a fourth down on Derry's last drive that put them in position to score the winning touchdown with 7.9 seconds remaining.

There's a real argument to be made the game shouldn't have been as close as it was. Stough had a 58-yard reception on the first drive, but Derry fumbled the ball away at the Deer Lakes 3-yard line on the next play.

Deer Lakes stopped a drive in the second quarter with an interception in the endzone.

"I thought we created a lot now and there's a lot of stuff we have to clean up," Derry coach Mike Arone said. "I think we had three touchdowns called back because of penalties. We can't make those mistakes, especially on big plays where we're scoring touchdowns and continuously come back. But our kids never quit. They didn't put their heads down. They just kept fighting and fighting and fighting, and they were able to pull it out the end."

It was a tough loss for Deer Lakes, which found a lot of success in the passing game. Luca Mangieri caught three long touchdown passes from his brother, Dante. Luca caught scoring strikes of 25, 55 and 79 yards.

Lancers coach Tim Burk said his kids were resilient, but was disappointed with the end result.

"We just didn't make plays," Burk said. "We had the opportunity and you hope one of them would step up and make a play at a key moment. We couldn't do that tonight. The lack of game experience we have is tough. You can't simulate it in practice."

McKeesport falls on hard times
There was a lot of interest in the rematch from last year's WPIAL Class 4A title game this weekend. But the Tigers' offense could never get going. Penn State commit Kemon Spell left with an injury to his ankle in the first quarter of a 16-7 loss to Thomas Jefferson.

Spell told Brad Everett of the Pittsburgh Union Progress he hoped to be back after being out for a few weeks.

"Will be in much better form when I come back," Spell wrote on X.

Despite Spell being out for much of the game, McKeesport's defense held tough. The Jaguars scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard sneak by Harrison Kolling with 52 seconds remaining.

Penn-Trafford squeaks by Moon again
The Warriors have had the Tigers' number for the past five years. Penn-Trafford, which outlasted Moon in the 2021 WPIAL Class 5A title game, won by one score against the Tigers for the second straight season. 

Landyn Stikkel caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Nate Demond with 6.8 seconds remaining to allow the Warriors to steal a 25-24 win. Penn-Trafford, which leads the all-time series again Moon 6-2-1, beat the Tigers 14-7 last season.

Antelopes rumble by Quips
Aliquippa got a majored boost to its storied program when Mike Warfield returned as coach. The Quips got their first major test of his new tenure, falling 23-7 at home to the defending Class 3A champions, Avonworth. Dimitri Velisaris scored two touchdowns for the Antelopes.

Avonworth will get a stiff test next weekend when it welcomes undefeated defending 4A champions Thomas Jefferson to its stadium.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted via email at [email protected] or on X @J_oshrizzo

A team from the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association placed fifth at the 61st Williamson Cup, which the Quebec Golf Association at Le Club Laval Sur Le Lac hosted. Team WPGA's Carson Kittsley, a Fox Chapel student, finished in four-way tie for fifth place a 5-over par 147.

Kittsley shot 72 in the first round and 75 in the second round. Team WPGA shot a 22-over par 448, finishing two strokes behind Maryland State Golf Association. Golf Ontario won the tournament with a team of 435. Michael Qualich (Baldwin), Ty Hartman (Thomas Jefferson) and Jacob Crissman (Shaler) also competed for Team WPGA.

Josh Rizzo is editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshrizzo.

The Fairmont State women's basketball team earned the regular season crown in the Division II Mountain East Conference by finishing with a 24-4 record, including a 17-3 record in conference play. The Falcons have done so with two Pittsburgh-area players on their team.

Guard Alyssa DeAngelo, a Thomas Jefferson graduate, was named first-team All-MEC. She appeared in all 28 regular-season games for the Falcons this season. She averaged 14.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

Taylor Allderdice graduate Zaniya Murray is also a guard for the Falcons. Murray averages 3.5 points per game and has made 27 appearances this season. Fairmont State is ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Atlantic Regional rankings. The top eight make the NCAA Tournament.

The Falcons would like to win the MEC Conference Tournament to ensure a bid to the tournament.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas an be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshrizzo.