Zuzak claims TD Club crown; Stevenson No 1 in Greene County
Mapletown蘑菇视频 Landan Stevenson (1) looks for running room against Jefferson-Morgan during a Tri-County South game at Mapletown on Oct. 16. Stevenson led Greene County in scoring with 80 points. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Jonathan Wolfe (33) runs against Mapletown in a Tri-County South game on Oct. 16. Wolfe was Greene County蘑菇视频 fourth leading scorer with 62 points. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
California蘑菇视频 Jaeden Zuzak breaks a tackle while running the ball against Mapletown during a Tri-County South Conference game on Sept. 25. Zuzak ran for 28 touchdowns and a two-point conversion for 170 points to finish first in the 2020 蘑菇视频 Touchdown Club standings. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
West Greene蘑菇视频 Corey Wise (43) heads into the end zone on a 59-yard touchdown run as Brownsville蘑菇视频 Eric Allen (2) looks on during a Tri-County South game at Kennedy Field on Oct. 16. Wise was named to the TCS All-Conference team and finished fifth in Greene County in points with 48. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Jaeden Zuzak had a feeling his senior year would be special.
鈥淚 told my pap months before the season even started that I was going to be No. 1 in scoring,鈥� said the California running back.
Zuzak did just that when it came to area football players. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior rambled for 28 touchdowns and a two-point conversion for 170 points to easily out-distance second-place Devin Whitlock, of Belle Vernon, who had 20 TDs for 120 points.
Zuzak and Whitlock were two of only three players to top the century mark in scoring in the Touchdown Club standings.
The other was Bentworth蘑菇视频 Owen Petrisek with 17 touchdowns, a two-point conversion and a tackle for a safety to finish third with 106 points.
Mapletown蘑菇视频 Landan Stevenson placed fourth and was the highest scoring sophomore with a mix of 12 touchdowns, four extra-point kicks and a pair of two-point conversions for 80 points. Connellsville蘑菇视频 Ky鈥檙on Craggette was fifth with 72 points.
The highest scoring freshman was West Greene蘑菇视频 Colin Brady, who had 70 points to place sixth. Carmichaels鈥� Bailey Jones and Yough蘑菇视频 C.J. Waldier tied for seventh with 68 points apiece. Rounding out the top 10 were Frazier蘑菇视频 Kenny Fine (66) and Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Jonathan Wolfe (62).
Elizabeth Forward蘑菇视频 DaVontay Brownfield (60) and Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin (54) checked in at 11th and 12th, respectively, while Albert Gallatin蘑菇视频 Bruno Fabrycki, Yough蘑菇视频 Gamal Marballie and West Greene蘑菇视频 Corey Wise tied for 13th with 48 points.
Mount Pleasant蘑菇视频 Robbie Labuda combined four touchdowns, one field goal and 18 extra-point kicks to finish 16th with 45 points.
Tied for 17th were Laurel Highlands鈥� Rodney Gallagher and Ringgold蘑菇视频 John Polefko with 42 points. Connellsville蘑菇视频 Gage Gillott, Albert Gallatin蘑菇视频 Shawn Loring and Elizabeth Forward蘑菇视频 Andrew Smith tied for 19th with 40 points apiece.
Steven was No. 1 in Greene County, followed by Brady, Jones, Wolfe, Wise.
Rounding out the top 10 for Greene County were Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Owen Maddich (38), Carmichaels鈥� Trenton Carter (34), West Greene蘑菇视频 Nathan Orndoff (30), the Rockets鈥� Colt Fowler (26) and the Mikes鈥� Michael Stewart and Waynesburg Central freshman Breydon Woods (both with 24).
Zuzak rushed for 1,571 yards, averaging 14.5 yards per carry to help lead the Trojans to a 6-1 overall record, including a perfect 6-0 regular season. California won the Tri-County South Conference title and qualified for the WPIAL playoffs where it lost a close game to Shenango, 28-21.
Zuzak蘑菇视频 totals were even more amazing they came in only seven games. In fact, Zuzak蘑菇视频 average of 24.28 points per game was just a shade below 2019 TD Club champion Benjamin Jackson, of West Greene (25.16), who set the contest record with 302 points.
鈥淚 knew our numbers were pretty identical,鈥� said Zuzak, who praised his offensive line for helping him turn in such a spectacular season.
鈥淎t the beginning of the season I heard a lot of people saying our downfall will be our offensive line,鈥� Zuzak pointed out. 鈥淚 think they were way underrated just because they were young. We had good coaches that put them in the right spot and they definitely surpassed expectations this year, making big holes for me to get through.鈥�
Zuzak commended California coach Ed Woods, who he admitted he was skeptical of when he took over last season for the departing Darrin Dillow.
鈥淎t first everyone here had their doubts,鈥� Zuzak said. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 looking forward to changing everything under a new coach.
鈥淏ut having him come in was the best thing that could鈥檝e happened to us. He蘑菇视频 a great coach. His record shows it. The guys he brought in were good coaches, too. They were great at putting us in the right positions at the right times to make the big plays we needed to be successful this season.鈥�
Zuzak蘑菇视频 only complaint about his senior year of football was that it was too short.
鈥淚 love playing football, and it蘑菇视频 a bummer we couldn鈥檛 play a full schedule of games because I think we still would鈥檝e went unbeaten,鈥� Zuzak said. 鈥淏ut the fact that we were even able to have a season, get through all the COVID and still go undefeated makes this definitely a very memorable year.鈥�
Zuzak plans to play football in college and major in criminal justice.
Gillott was the lone player to score via four different methods with three touchdowns, one field goal, 17 extra-point kicks and one two-point conversion.
Stevenson was the lone Greene County player to score via touchdown, extra point kick and two-point conversion.
When it came to just kicking, Smith was the TD Club leader as all of his points came off his foot with three field goals and 31 extra points.
The top five in overall scoring were also the top five in touchdowns: Zuzak (28), Whitlock (20), Petricek (17), Stevenson (12) and Craggette (12).
The leader in two-point conversions by a comfortable margin was Wolfe who had seven, three more than second-place Waldier, who had four. Fabrycki and Trojans鈥� quarterback Damani Stafford both had three two-pointers, while Loring, Brady, Mapletown蘑菇视频 Clay Menear and Stevenson, and Carmichaels鈥� Trenton Carter each had two.
Whitlock led the way in interception returns for touchdowns, with three, and overall returns for TDs with four, which included a punt return.
Gallagher followed with a pair of interception returns for scores, both over 70 yards in the same game (vs. Trinity).
Three other players had two returns for scores: Mount Pleasant蘑菇视频 Tyler Reese (kickoff and fumble), Waldier (kickoff and interception) and Stevenson (punt and interception).
Back to kicking, three players booted a trio of field goals: Smith, Southmoreland蘑菇视频 Andrew Rodriguez and Bentworth蘑菇视频 Trevor Richardson.
The longest field goal of the season was 40 yards, done twice, by Gillott and Richardson.
The leader in extra-point kicks was Belle Vernon蘑菇视频 Tyler Kovatch with 32. He was followed by Smith (31), California蘑菇视频 Connor Vig (23), Labuda (18) and Gillott and Richardson (17 each).