Pennsylvania high school football roundup: 5 games of note from around the state (9/15/2023)
It was a Friday night full of big games around the Keystone State, highlighted by several games between teams in the SBLive Pennsylvania Power 25 as No. 2 Imhotep Charter defeated No. 5 Malvern Prep, No. 6 Parkland outlasted No. 16 Nazareth and No. 7 Pittsburgh Central Catholic shut out No. 25 Mt. Lebanon.
Also, No. 1 St. Joseph's Prep defeated Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey).
Full Pennsylvania high school football Friday night scoreboard
Here are recaps of five games of note around Pennsylvania from Friday night:
No. 1 St. Joseph's Prep 28, Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) 7
The Hawks scored 21 unanswered points after Don Bosco Prep had tied the game 7-7 in the first quarter.
St. Joseph's Prep quarterback Samaj Jones, a Cincinnati commit, tossed two first quarter touchdown passes - one to Brandon Rehmann and another to Elijah Jones.
Elijah Jones added a rushing touchdown in the second quarter and Sean McNulty finished off the scoring 1:32 into the fourth with an interception return for a touchdown.
No. 2 Imhotep Charter 24 No. 5 Malvern Prep 14
Georgia commit Jabree Coleman ran all over Malvern Prep Friday night, totaling 293 yards on 40 carries while scoring twice.
Malvern took a 7-0 lead when Andrew Pellicciotta scored on a 39-yard run but Coleman answered with his first score on the ensuing possession.
After Malvern Prep took a 14-10 lead as Skyler Smith found Zeke Bate for an 8-yarrd touchdown.
But Imhotep responded with touchdown runs by quarterback Mikal Davis and Coleman to finish out the win.
No. 6 Parkland 31, No. 16 Nazareth 24
With the game tied at 24-24 in the final minutes, Parkland quarterback Luke Spang tossed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Trey Tremba with 1:22 remaining to give the Trojans the lead and eventually the win.
It was the fourth touchdown of the game for Tremba, who had 267 yards rushing on 28 carries and scored three times on the ground.
No. 7 Pittsburgh Central Catholic 49, No. 25 Mt. Lebanon 0
The Vikings dominated the game on the ground and through the air, remaining unbeaten on the season and handing Mt. Lebanon its first loss.
Quarterback Payton Wehner, completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns - a 33-yarder to Pete Gonzalez and a 30-yarder to Jacob Sassic. Those passes came on the first two Central Catholic possessions and the Vikings led 14-0 less than three minutes in.
Then running back Elijah Faulkner scored three rushing touchdowns in the second quarter on runs of three yards, six yards and 15 yards to make it 35-0 at the half.
No. 8 Belle Vernon 21, Penn-Trafford 0
The defending PIAA Class 3A state champions remained unbeaten with a shutout of 2021 PIAA Class 5A state champion Penn-Trafford.
Penn State commit Quinton Martin did it on both sides of the ball again for the Leopards, as he ran for 104 yards and a touchdown and also intercepted a pass on defense.
Quarterback Braden Laux started the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter and Jake Gedekoh returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 13-0.
The Belle Vernon defense forced four turnovers in total.
(Photo of Pittsburgh Central Catholic quarterback Payton Wehner by Jeff Harwell)
