PG West: Rich Emert's notebook

New Brighton's Trey Hall is on the run

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Six players joined the elite 4,000-yard rushing club last season in the WPIAL.

To reach that milestone, players must either have a couple monster seasons -- rush for 2,000 yards in one season -- or break into their school's starting lineup as a freshman.

It's way to early to say that ninth-grader Trey Hall, a running back at New Brighton High School, will reach the 4,000-yard mark by the time he's a senior. But he sure has a good jump on getting to that mark.

Through six games, Hall has rushed for 651 yards on 95 carries. He is averaging 6.9 yards per attempt and has scored eight touchdowns. With at least three more games to play and probably a fourth, Hall appears to be a lock to finish with more than 1,000 yards this season.

His success hasn't come as a surprise to New Brighton coach Mitch Carver.

"We saw him in the junior high games last year and knew how good he was," Carver said. "I talked it over with his parents, about moving him up, and decided it was time for him to move up."

At 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, Hall has nice size for a freshman. He also has good speed.

"I had him up at Pitt for a prospects camp and he was timed at 4.54 [seconds] in the 40 ... by Pitt," Carver said. "So, he has a little bit of everything. He can run away from people, but he isn't afraid to dip his shoulder and hit somebody if he has to."

In a 41-34 loss to Riverside, Hall rushed for 248 yards on 20 carries. Last weekend against Freedom, he rushed for 112 yards on 22 carries. He also plays one of the inside linebacker spots in New Brighton's 3-5 defensive alignment.

New Brighton won its first game of the season last weekend, edging Freedom, 21-20. The Lions entertain Aliquippa tomorrow night at Oak Hill Field.

More New Brighton

The Lions have struggled this season, but Carver sees light at the end of the tunnel. He is quick to point out there are only eight seniors on the 44-player roster.

"We had 23 seniors graduate off last year's team and most of them were starters," he said. "So, even the seniors we had back this season were like sophomores because they didn't have much varsity experience. We knew we were going to struggle.

"That should change next year with 36 players coming back."

Because he has such a young team, Carver is hoping New Brighton, which won't make the playoffs this season, can find a non-conference game for the 10th week of the season.

"Joe Ursida [the school's athletic director] is working on that," Carver said. "We want to play a 10th game to get the younger guys more game experience and to get another week of practice."

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Sto-Rox is 6-0 and tied with Keystone Oaks for first place in the Class AA Century Conference. A lot of the credit for the undefeated record has gone to junior quarterback Paul Jones, who is considered the best underclassman signal caller in the WPIAL.

There is another junior on the Sto-Rox roster who is also talented, but has been overlooked.

Drew Carswell is a 6-foot-5, 210-pound wide receiver who has caught the eye of Division I college scouts.

"N.C. State, Pitt and Duke are all very interested," Sto-Rox coach Jason Ruscitto said. "He's fast and physical, just a very good player."

Carswell has caught 22 passes for 357 yards and has scored four touchdowns this season. In Friday's 20-7 victory against Steel Valley, he pulled in six passes for 80 yards.

Carswell also starts at outside linebacker for the Vikings and he is the team's backup quarterback.

"As a defensive player he has just great awareness," Ruscitto said. "He's been overlooked some this year because of Paul, but Drew's a talented player. He's also our punter."

Carswell started for Sto-Rox at middle linebacker when he was a freshman.

Best bets

It is not that games are more important at this point of the season, it's just that they seem more important because the next victory might secure a spot in the playoffs.

With that in mind, here are some contests this week that have playoff implications.

In the Class AAA Big Seven Conference, Chartiers Valley (5-1 overall, 4-0 in the conference) is at Thomas Jefferson (5-1, 3-0) and will try to slow down the Jaguars.

In the Class AAA Parkway Conference, every game is important since West Allegheny upset Blackhawk. Tomorrow, Blackhawk (5-1, 2-1) is at Montour (4-2, 2-1) and Hopewell (4-2, 1-2) is at West Allegheny (5-1, 3-1).

In the Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference, Mohawk (4-2, 4-2) is at Beaver Falls (6-0, 5-0) and Aliquippa (4-2, 3-2) is at New Brighton (1-5, 1-4).

In the Class A Big Seven, Laurel (2-4, 2-2) is at Monaca (5-1, 3-1).

In the City League, Langley (2-4, 2-3) plays Allderdice (0-6, 0-5) at Cupples Stadium.

First published on October 9, 2008 at 12:00 am