Seneca Valley has concerns with Lebo team scoring less than 12 points a game
Seneca Valley coach Bob Ceh watches game film of Mt. Lebanon and sees a mistake-free, well-coached football team.
Then he looks at the Quad North standings and sees the lowest-scoring team in the conference.
"I'm not quite sure about Lebo," Ceh said. "They've played good ball. They don't seem to make a lot of mistakes. They don't turn the ball over. They move the ball well. But they don't have a whole lot of points. They are close to becoming a good team. I'm nervous about them."
One week after its annual victory over North Allegheny, No. 9 Seneca Valley (3-2, 1-2) will play host to No. 8 Mt. Lebanon (3-2, 1-1) for homecoming at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night in a Quad North game at Raider Stadium.
Mt. Lebanon is averaging 11.4 points per game, the lowest in the conference and the sixth-fewest in all of Quad A. But the Blue Devils, who have either won or shared the Quad North title each of the past two years, showed some signs of improvement last week, scoring a season-high point total in a 22-10 victory over Baldwin.
Junior quarterback Andy Goff, the second baseman for the school's WPIAL Class AAA champion baseball team, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another in the victory.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Goff has completed 35 of 73 pass attempts for 478 yards and two touchdowns after missing most of last season with a broken collarbone.
Goff's No. 1 target is his cousin, senior wide receiver Nick Mageras.
Senior Zach Beebe (6-5, 260) leads a Mt. Lebanon offensive line that has put out a steady stream of 280-pounders in recent years.
The feature position of the Mt. Lebanon offense, as always, is the tailback. Junior Adam Giran is trying to follow up former stars Brian Young and Sam Mathews, who combined to rush for 4,300 yards in 2000-01.
Giran averaged only 52 yards in the first four weeks before gaining a career-high 112 yards on 23 carries against Baldwin. For the season, the 5-8, 175-pound Giran has gained 325 yards on 68 carries.
"It was tough for him in the beginning," Goff said. "The coaches were used to having Mathews or Young to rely on and they didn't put Adam in a spot to be successful. Now, we've both adjusted and we're starting to click."
Seneca Valley is starting to play better, snapping a two-game losing streak with a 47-21 victory at North Allegheny.
Running backs Bill Davis (44 carries, 460 yards, 6 TDs this season) and Jon Lee (32-275 3 TDs) spearheaded a ground game that rushed for 310 yards to beat beleaguered NA for the third year in a row.
Quarterback Jon Aldridge has completed only 29.8 percent of his passes (14 for 47, 196 yards), the lowest accuracy rate among full-time quarterbacks in the WPIAL Class AAAA. But Ceh said his second-year starter is making better decisions. Aldridge completed his only pass attempt against North Allegheny for 45 yards.
"I think we're getting there," Ceh said. "The biggest thing is we're getting more confidence, and that's a big difference."
Another factor for the Raider resurgence is consistency on the offense line. Injuries have plagued the front six in the past two seasons, but tight end Steve Leo, tackles Bryan Borghi and Michael Carlino, guards Aaron Gusse and Tony Mustovich and center Tim Kamnikar have stayed healthy this season.
"The last two years, it seemed like we were rotating guards and tackles every week," Ceh said.
Ceh has a couple of injuries. Leo, who also starts at linebacker, and Davis are nicked up and might not play.
Regardless, Ceh knows the importance of Friday's game. In a conference where a 3-3 record should be good enough to reach the playoffs, the winner of this game will take a big step toward the postseason.
Mt. Lebanon beat Seneca Valley, 14-7, in overtime last year, driving 99 yards on 18 plays for the game-tying touchdown after Seneca Valley fumbled at the Lebo 1.
Tackle Kellen Manning, and safeties Eric Gorniak and Hank Loutzenhiser anchor a physical Seneca Valley defense. They will face a Mt. Lebanon offense held to nine or fewer points in three games this season.
"We have an attitude right now that if we get some points, we can win," Goff said.
