Sports

Highlanders Still Alive with 29-12 Win at Canon-McMillan

Baldwin will need help next week to make the playoffs.

FULL stats, including play-by-play, available toward the right side of this page (below photo gallery). Photo captions coming soon.

’s faded chances of securing a 2011 WPIAL football playoffs spot got a bit brighter on Friday night, as the Highlanders put themselves back into the postseason conversation with a 29-12 win at ’s Big Macs Stadium.

The Highlanders outgained Canon-McMillan, 217-135, and looked very much like the better team on their way to improving their record to 4-4 overall this season, including 1-3 in the WPIAL’s AAAA Great Southern Conference with one game to play. The Big Macs fell to 0-8 overall and 0-4 in the Great Southern.

Find out what's happening in Baldwin-Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Baldwin has a shot at its first winning season since 2003, when it went 6-4 overall and lost to Bethel Park High School in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. 

More importantly, the Highlanders are still very much in contention for one of the Great Southern’s four playoffs spots this year after (also 1-3 in the Great Southern) lost to Mt. Lebanon High School on Friday, 42-21.

Find out what's happening in Baldwin-Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Both and Mt. Lebanon (each 4-0 in conference play) have clinched postseason berths out of the Great Southern, but Bethel Park (2-2), Peters and Baldwin are battling for the conference’s final two playoffs spots.

Should Baldwin win at home against Bethel on Friday, Oct. 28, and Canon-McMillan win at Peters that same night, the Highlanders and Bethel will clinch.

But even if Peters wins, Baldwin could still earn a playoffs spot if it beats Bethel by 10 or more points. That way, Baldwin, which lost to Peters, , would be in a three-way tie for third and fourth place with Bethel and Peters. Since Baldwin, Peters and Bethel would have all defeated each other in some way this year by at least 10 points every time, two of those teams will advance to the playoffs as determined by a coin toss, or a series of coin tosses.

Technically, Baldwin could still get into the playoffs with a loss next week (even by 10 or more points) if Canon-McMillan beats Peters by at least 10. That would put Baldwin, Peters and Canon-Mac in a three-way tie for fourth place with the coin-toss gods taking over from there. Should Baldwin lose to Bethel by less than 10 and Canon-Mac beat Peters by 10 or more, that would put Baldwin in the postseason, as well.

All sound unlikely? Don’t tell the Highlanders that.

“Hey, we’re trying to go to the playoffs,” said Doug Altavilla, Baldwin’s starting quarterback as a freshman. “That was our goal at the beginning of the season: Make the playoffs. And I think we can do that this next week.

“We’re gonna blow them (Bethel) out and see what happens.”

Altavilla certainly did his part to help blow out Canon-Mac by completing a season-high nine passes (on 13 attempts) for 71 yards, including a four-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver/defensive back Jeremy Joyce to put the game away, 29-6, late in the fourth quarter.

Altavilla did throw one interception, but he also carried the ball four times for 17 yards and was not sacked.

“(People) can’t believe he’s a freshman,” Baldwin’s Head Coach Jim Wehner said of his young quarterback. “He does things that don’t hurt you, and now, he’s starting to come into his own.

“The reason that we didn’t play him for a couple of weeks was we were trying to light a fire under him. You can’t just hand somebody something, and say, ‘Go with it.’

“So I think our philosophy made him play better, because he knows he’s one play from getting yanked again. So he played better. He played awesome tonight. What else can you say about a 14-year-old freshman? … 

“It’s all about competition. If you don’t have competition, you’re not going to be successful, and we have competition.”

Baldwin never trailed in this game, using a four-play, 37-yard drive to score on its second possession of the first quarter and take a 7-0 lead. The Highlanders received great field position after the Big Macs suffered a bad snap out of a punt formation.

The kicking game was a headache for Canon-Mac all night. After senior punter Jonah Hladcyz twice mishandled snaps (or was victimized by them, depending on how one would look at it) in the first half, he was replaced by sophomore Jake Martin.

Martin struggled to get his kicks away cleanly and averaged only 24.2 yards per punt.

After the Highlanders opened the scoring, Canon-McMillan came right back with a 10-play, 69-yard drive, ended by a seven-yard TD run by senior running back/defensive back Kenyadda Brown, who finished the game with 54 yards on 19 carries and two receptions for nine yards.

A Baldwin offside penalty moved the ensuing extra-point try to the 1-yard line, but Brown’s two-point rush attempt was snuffed out behind the line of scrimmage.

Canon-Mac didn’t score again until late in the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Matt Maletta found senior wide receiver Cooper Schroeder in the end zone on a two-yard pass with 1 minute, 8 seconds left. That pass ended an 11-play, 52-yard drive and cut the score to 29-12, but Maletta’s ensuing two-point pass attempt was intercepted in the end zone.

In between Canon-Mac scores, the game was almost all Baldwin’s. The Highlanders completed passes to six different players in this game, compared to two for the Big Macs. Baldwin also enjoyed a 19-carry, 93-yard, two-TD effort from junior running back Dorian Brown.

“The details, for us, still aren’t there,” Canon-Mac’s Head Coach Tim Sohyda said. “The little things, they add up. We don’t move the ball, and the field gets short on us all the time.

“It’s just not good. If there was a solution, and I knew what it was, I’d fix it.”

Sohyda acknowledged that the Big Macs have a chance to play a spoiler role next week against Peters (as well as have a very slim chance at the postseason) but was quick to point out that his team is playing for more than that.

“Pride,” Sohyda said. “We represent this community, and I would be disappointed, more than anything, if we quit (with one more game still to play).”

Baldwin eventually responded to Canon-Mac’s early TD with a four-play, 28-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, capped off by senior fullback/linebacker Dominick Barca Jr.’s three-yard run. Barca had 32 yards for the night on seven carries.

In the third quarter, Dorian Brown finished off a seven-play, 43-yard drive with a 10-yard TD run. Contrary to a public address at the game, Dorian Brown is still 27 yards away from 1,000 rushing yards this season.

Altavilla’s later TD pass was part of a 12-play, 39-yard drive.

In addition to his TD catch, Joyce also led all players with seven tackles (all solo), and he broke up a pass.

Kenyadda Brown was also impressive on both sides of the ball. He led the Big Macs with six tackles (all solo), broke up a pass and recovered a fumble. Senior defensive end Zach Vargo forced that fumble as part of a five-tackle night (all solo). C-M’s sophomore defensive back Colin Chupinka had the game’s lone interception.

Wehner was excited about his team’s postseason chances but also stressed that a winning record would be something for Baldwin to hang its hat on.

“5-4 is a good record in our third year,” Wehner said in reference to his coaching staff’s third season together in Baldwin-Whitehall.

“Let’s keep building, keep getting better and hold our heads high. We lost to two really, really good teams (this season), and then, we blew the third one.”

“We played with some enthusiasm for the first time in four weeks (against C-M). The kids came out and did what we asked them to do all week. The stuff that we practiced worked, and we played well.

“When we play with enthusiasm, we’re a good football team.”

In addition to converting all three of his extra-point kicks, Baldwin's sophomore Jared Tuite also scored on a two-point rush on a fake extra-point play in the third quarter.

Baldwin and Canon-Mac’s games next week both start at 7:30 p.m.

Baldwin will be celebrating Senior Night.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here