The Bethel Park Blackhawks football team, coming off of a HUGE win against the then-undefeated Upper St. Clair Panthers last week, is preparing for an equally difficult match up tonight at the home of the 6-1 Seneca Valley Raiders.
The Raiders, coming off of a 4 game winning streak, smacked North Hills last week in a 40-26 victory. Seneca Valley is tough. Their quarterback Jordan Brown completed 11 of his 18 passes last week, throwing for a total of 208 yards and 2 touchdowns. Their passing game has been tight this season, with Jon Dorogy (24 receptions), R.J. McCauley (17), and Forrest Barnes (14). Brown has a total of 1086 passing yards.
In addition to their high number of passing yards, Seneca Valley is even more impressive in their running game.
Bethel Park senior Mike Brucker believes that the game depends on “how our defense matches up against their explosive offense.”
Against North Hills, they ran a total of 52 carries for 252 yards, with 3 touchdowns by their running back, Forrest Barnes.
Many Bethel Park students mocked Forrest Barnes’ low number of votes in WPXI’s poll for Player of the Week this past week. Those laughs might have come prematurely, because with Barnes’ total of 973 yards and 16 touchdowns so far in the season, it will take a stiff BP defense to keep Forrest from running.
The Hawks got lucky last week, winning with only 3 first downs and 107 total yards. Our Blackhawks know that this week’s game is going to be down-right difficult.
Senior Bryan Rock stated, “We need to stay physical on defense and produce points on offense.”
Rock is right, for Bethel to win this week, it is extremely crucial for the offense to drive down the field more efficiently and more often. The Hawks cannot rely on Chiante Pryor to set them up on kick returns, like he did last week.
The Hawks, like Seneca Valley, are coming off of a 4 game winning streak. Even though the Hawks have been on a roll, Brucker says that “Seneca is faster for sure, and we are the underdogs.”
Hopefully the game this week, tonight at 7:30, will be action-packed and enjoyable for all.
