Archive
Subscribe Place Ad Buy Trib Photos Readers' Choice Contests
Jobs Homes Autos Classifieds
Trib Total Media Contact Us
ShareThis Page
LeViere leads host of returning players for North Hills | TribLIVE.com
News

LeViere leads host of returning players for North Hills

Tribune-Review
Tribune-Review | Sunday, August 21, 2005 12:00 a.m

North Hills returns seven starters on offense and seven more on defense, but nobody is more eager to get on the field than Jordan LeViere.

The all-Quad North linebacker missed the final seven games last season after sustaining a torn ACL in his left knee.

“He’s just as fast, and he’s much stronger than he was,” coach Jack McCurry said. “He’s critical for us.”

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound LeViere worked the leg back to full strength and leads an experienced North Hills team with legitimate WPIAL Class AAAA title hopes. The Indians are ranked No. 3 in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Preseason poll, behind No. 1 Woodland Hills and Gateway.

“This looks like the year,” LeViere said, “right here.”

LeViere’s junior season ended with a knee injury in a Week 4 game against Seneca Valley.

The four-year starter received some knowing advice right away. Indians assistant coach Eric Kasperowicz tore his ACL as a sophomore at North Hills and again at Pitt. “Once it happened, he told me everything would be all right,” LeViere said. “He had two of them. It’s no big deal. He said I’d be back in no time. He pretty much walked me through the whole thing.

“As soon as I started therapy and nothing was hurting, I knew I would be OK.”

LeViere arrived at camp even more imposing than the linebacker who led the team in tackles as a sophomore and was named second-team Quad North last year, despite playing in two conference games.

“He looks as good as ever,” McCurry said. “Physically, he’s probably better than he has been. It was a long, slow rehabilitation process. But he doesn’t take days off. He does what he’s supposed to do, and you can see the results.”

North Hills quarterback Ryan Lehmeier also returns after an injury-hampered junior season. Lehmeier passed for 990 yards and eight touchdowns, and rushed for another 626 and nine touchdowns despite missing two games with a high ankle sprain. Lehmeier, a second-team all-Quad North pick, benefitted from a strong off-season.

“He’s seen it all,” McCurry said. “He’s taken us to the playoffs two years in a row. He’s been in big games. He’s tasted victory and he’s tasted defeat. He understands the difference in what we have to do. That’s invaluable.”

North Hills also returns leading rusher Connor Corcoran (777 yards, eight TDs), second-leading receiver P.J. Castellano and second-team all-Quad North defensive linemen Curt Yunk. Senior Brad Hill, a speedy wide receiver/defensive back, has opened eyes during training camp.

“We’re real excited,” Yunk said. “This could be the year.”

Additional Information:

Fast facts

  • Coach Jack McCurry is 225-77-5 in his 28 seasons at North Hills

  • Quarterback Ryan Lehmeier works as a youth baseball umpire during the off-season.

  • The North Hills defense allowed an average of 7.0 points per game with linebacker Jordan LeViere, and 24.1 points per game without him.

  • North Hills opens the season against a pair of top-10 teams at Martorelli Stadium, McKeesport and Centra Catholic.

  • North Hills returns two players who rushed for more than 600 yards — Lehmeier and Connor Corcoran.

    Categories: News
    • TribLIVE commenting policy

    You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

    We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

    While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

    We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

    We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

    We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

    We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

    We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.