Trib HSSN football player of the week – Maclane Miller
School: Pine-Richland
Class: Junior
Height/Weight: 5-foot-9, 185 pounds
Position: Running back, linebacker
#Earned: The young man known as Mac was as sharp as a knife in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals victory Friday over Bethel Park. Miller was determined not to play second fiddle to the Black Hawks JaVaughn Moore, who entered the game as the WPIAL’s third-leading rusher with over 2,000 yards rushing, slightly more than 1,000 more than the 1,013 yards in 10 games for Miller. Miller carried the ball a workmanlike 36 times for Pine-Richland for 206 yards, his most productive game since Week Zero. The junior running back also scored twice on touchdown runs of 27 yards in the second quarter and 11 yards in the fourth quarter to ice a 21-point victory, lifting the Rams to their third straight trip to the WPIAL 5A finals.
What coach says: “Mac always is prepared and ready to tote the ball,” Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne said about Miller’s 36 carries. “His offensive line opened up great holes for him, and his vision and balance led to great success. He has gotten healthier as the year has gone on, and it is showing now with his burst and speed.”
“His downhill style running fits our team well. We play very fast and physical on both sides of the ball, both on the front and back end. It has to be hell trying to tackle him.”
“Wrestlers are known as tough, gritty individuals and Mac is no different. He brings that chip-on-his-shoulder mentality. He is very aggressive and looking for contact when he runs the ball. His wrestling background brings great balance with contact, always falling forward.”
“He was very frustrated early on with the injury, missed a game, and we sort of held him back some. As a wrestler, he was prepared to fight through it, but we had bigger things in mind for the team, and a healthy Mac was important to that vision. With him and Strader both healthy now, it gives us offensive options that are difficult to prepare for.”
Background: His full name is Maclane, but everybody calls him Mac. Miller began his junior season with 234 yards rushing in a victory in Ohio over Hilliard Davidson. Over the next four weeks, injuries slowed him down and he only gained 200 yards more; however, he has been a steady force since then for the Pine-Richland offense. In two postseason wins for the Rams, Miller has rushed for 310 yards and five touchdowns. While Miller began his football career in third grade, he has been wrestling since he was 5 years old. He loves participating in both sports and feels that wrestling helps in many aspects of his football success and vice versa. He would like to compete in one or the other at the next level. He also does very well in the classroom with a 3.85 grade-point average.
Week 12 honorable mention
Jy’Aire Walls, Central Catholic
Central Catholic senior quarterback Jy’Aire Walls has had big games stats-wise this season, but he did not lead his team to a bigger win this fall. Walls and the Vikings started the WPIAL Class 6A championship game Saturday against North Allegheny with a bang, as he hit senior wide receiver Bradley Gompers on a 45-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage. That early strike was one of many as the Vikings dominated the Tigers on their way to a 28-0 lead after one quarter. For the game, Walls completed 10 of 17 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns, plus he ran for 19 yards and two scores as Central Catholic knocked off two-time defending champion North Allegheny, 45-14.
Brayden White, Thomas Jefferson
The senior wide receiver had had a big season as the favorite target to senior quarterback Luke Kosko. Coming into the WPIAL Class 4A championship game, White had 56 receptions for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns, but none were as big as the two he scored against McKeesport on Saturday at Norwin. In the final 90 seconds of the first half, White first caught a slant pass and turned it into a 53-yard touchdown, and then on the final play of the second quarter, he returned an interception 85 yards for a score as the Jaguars beat the Tigers, 28-7 to win the program’s 11th WPIAL crown.
Troy Cunningham, South Park
Every week, Trib HSSN salutes a player of the week with three honorable mentions, and nearly all of them are quarterbacks or running backs. So this tip of the helmet goes to all the linemen who do the dirty work but don’t nearly get the love from the media as the skill players. While senior running back Eric Doerue and sophomore Colsen Heynes combined for 285 yards and four touchdowns, the standout for South Park was senior linemen Troy Cunningham, who set the South Park single-game sack record with six sacks of Ellwood City quarterback Chris Smiley as the Eagles downed the Wolverines in a Class 2A semifinal, 28-7.
2024 Trib HSSN players of the week
Week 11 – Kemon Spell, McKeesport
Week 10 – Eric Kasperowicz, Mars
Week 9 – DevonTe Dean, Carlynton
Week 8 – Brady Brinkley, North Allegheny
Week 7 – Kymon’e Brown, Jeannette
Week 6 – Tasso Whipple, Penn-Trafford
Week 5 – Julian Dahlem, Upper St. Clair
Week 4 – Matt Sieg, Fort Cherry
Week 3 – Trey Hopper, Montour
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Week 2 – Tyler Eber, Thomas Jefferson
Week 1 – Donald Barksdale, Steel Valley
Week Zero – Drew Welhorsky, South Fayette