Published: November 12, 2008 11:17 pm      

Cougars set to take on ’Burgh’s best

Last season, North Star had the experience of winning a District 5 Class A football title – its first – but lost in its PIAA quarterfinal-round contest against Serra Catholic.

Fast forward to this year, and the Cougars are taking a slightly different path into the state playoff race.

North Star captured the District 5 Class AA championship with a 37-19 win over Chestnut Ridge on Saturday. The Cougars (9-1) will host Langley, the first-place team out of District 8, in a PIAA District 5-8 subregional at 7 p.m. this Saturday in Boswell.

North Star coach Stacy Schmitt is well aware of where Langley is located in Pittsburgh.

“The school is two miles from where I grew up in the west end of Pittsburgh in Elliot,” Schmitt said.

But while the Cougars coach knows where the Mustangs come from, he doesn’t have a lot of information about them.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” Schmitt said when asked about Langley. “It’s hard to judge an opponent just looking at them on film. We have films of them playing Peabody and Brashear, but unless you know how good or bad their opponents are, it’s hard to get a read on them. When we look at a film of Windber playing Conemaugh Township, we can judge the other team because we know about both of them, but with Langley, it’s hard to tell.”

Langley (4-6) is one of three Class AA teams that compete in the Pittsburgh City League along with Westinghouse (3-5) and Peabody (2-6) against mostly Quad-A and Triple-A schools.

The Mustangs lost to eventual champion Brashear 16-8 in the City League semifinals on Oct. 31, but won three of their final four regular-season games to get into the playoffs.

Second-year Langley coach Ken Wright has been impressed with the way his team has dealt with the pressure of must-win games.

“They are handling it very well,” Wright said. “Most of them have never been in this position before. It’s really new for them, even the older kids. The last couple years have been really rough.”

Rough may have been an understatement. The Mustangs ended a 22-game losing streak with a victory in Week 3.

The Bell brothers, Jesse, a senior quarterback and Joey, a sophomore running back, have been standouts for Langley this season.

Prior to Langley’s loss to Brashear, Jesse had thrown for 428 yards and five touchdowns and was second on the team in rushing. Joey had 708 yards on the ground on 142 carries, with eight touchdowns and seven two-point conversions.

The Cougars, who average 38.1 points per game while allowing 15.9, present an interesting challenge for opponents because of their chameleon-like ability to adapt to whatever a defense is willing to give them.

North Star’s passing game accounts for 114.6 yards per game while the team rushes for 220.8 yards a contest.

“We thought we would be more of a balanced team this year,” Schmitt said. “Against Chestnut Ridge, they set up their defense to stop our passing game and we were successful on the ground. I think on the flip side, we would also be just as effective.”

Senior quarterback Cory Kaltenbaugh is 56 of 108 passing for 1,118 yards. Senior receiver Luke Zellem has 26 catches for 503 yards, senior receiver Alijah Petrilla has 18 for 370 and senior Austin Lyons adds seven for 134.

Seniors Mike Knisely and Richie Meehleib and junior Josh Kuncher have combined for 1,780 yards. Knisely has 103 carries for 703 yards, Kuncher has 69 for 579 and Meehleib provides 68 for 478.

Kuncher has scored 13 touchdowns. Knisely has 10, Zellem nine and Meehleib seven.

“It should be a good game,” Wright said. “They are a well-balanced team and are very disciplined. It will come down to whoever makes the least mistakes will win the game.”

The winner of the subregional will face the District 9 champion. Moniteau and Karns City are in that championship game, set to be played Friday.