Stevenson among all-state selections
Six area high school players and one coach were chosen to the Pennsylvania Writers All-State Football Team and, fittingly, four from that group were from PIAA Class 3A champion Belle Vernon.
Laurel Highlands, Mapletown and Elizabeth Forward each had one representative on the squad.
The Leopards, who also claimed their second WPIAL championship in 2022, feature the Class 3A Coach of the Year in Matt Humbert.
Joining their coach on the team were players Quinton Martin, Steve Macheska and Adam LaCarte.
Also on the 4A squad was EF蘑菇视频 Charlie Meehleib.
The Mustangs鈥� Rodney Gallagher was voted onto the Class 4A team and the Maples鈥� Landan Stevenson made the Class 1A team.
Gallagher, a 6-foot, 175-pound senior, was a dangerous quarterback and stellar defensive back for the Mustangs who was voted onto the all-state team in the 鈥渁thlete鈥� category. He helped Laurel Highlands win its first ever conference title and home playoff game this season while combining for over 2,000 yards of offense.
Gallagher is no stranger to all-state teams, having been chosen to five of them now. He also was all-state last year in football and is a three-time all-state player in basketball.
Humbert蘑菇视频 Leopards opened the season at 1-2 after consecutive losses to quality teams from bigger classifications (Class 4A McKeesport and Class 5A Penn-Trafford) but then reeled off 11 wins in a row, claiming the Big Seven Conference, WPIAL and state championships along the way.
It was the third time Humbert guided Belle Vernon to a district final but this time the Leopards came up golden, then kept going until they had the state championship trophy as well.
Leading the way for Belle Vernon was prized NCAA Division-1 recruit Martin, who was picked for the All-State team as a running back, having rushed for 1,274 yards. The 6-2, 205-pound junior also excelled on the other side of the ball as a defensive back.
Macheska, a 6-4, 240-pound senior, was chosen as a defensive lineman. He was a key cog in Belle Vernon蘑菇视频 stout stop unit that came up with a goal-line stand that produced a turnover to preserve the Leopards鈥� 9-8 victory over Neumann-Goretti in the PIAA final.
LaCarte, a 6-1, 185-pound junior who was another important piece of the Leopards鈥� defense, made the team as a defensive back. LaCarte made four interceptions and led Belle Vernon in tackles.
The Warriors鈥� Meehleib, a 6-4, 225-pound junior, joined Macheska on the team as a defensive lineman. He was part of an EF team that won its first nine games before falling to Belle Vernon in the regular-season finale and Shady Side Academy in the playoffs.
Stevenson, a 5-11, 180-pound senior, broke the WPIAL regular-season scoring record with 285 points and wound up with 318 points overall after a five-touchdown performance in a playoff win over Leechburg. It was the first postseason victory in program history following a program-best 10-0 regular season. Stevenson ended up with 102 career touchdowns which put him fifth on the WPIAL all-time list.
Mapletown wound up 11-1 after a loss to South Side Beaver in the WPIAL quarterfinals. Stevenson was injured in the defeat which caused him to miss the 6,000-yard rushing milestone for his career by just seven yards. Even so, his 5,993 yards was ninth-best in WPIAL history. He ran for 2,342 yards in 2022.