Week 3 Rivalry Preview: North Allegheny VS. Central Catholic

We have a great 6A conference matchup between North Allegheny and Pittsburgh Central Catholic Friday, September 25^th. Both of these teams are very talented. The biggest news before the season started was from Central Catholic’s 4-Star defensive tackle and Pitt commit, [player_tooltip player_id="27190" first="Elliot" last="Donald"], who decided not to play his senior season. Even without Elliot, Central Catholic has a pretty good d-lineman in senior DT <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27479" first="Bralen" last="Henderson"]</strong>. Bralen has good get off who uses hands well with good speed. Bralen will go up against North Allegheny’s junior offensive lineman transfer from North Carolina in <strong>Bo Crutcher</strong>. Bo shows to be athletic and physical. That should be a good matchup. Central Catholic’s secondary is loaded with senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27488" first="Chase" last="Horne"]</strong> and juniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27577" first="JD" last="Younger"]</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27582" first="Devin" last="Barren"],</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27644" first="Gannon" last="Carothers"]</strong>. Chase shows good speed to stay with receivers and has good ball skills. JD is a physical kid who is always around the ball.  Devin has quickness with good speed and shows to be a good tackler. Gannon shows quickness and good speed. He has really good break and acceleration to the ball. North Allegheny shouldn’t be afraid because they have some offensive weapons such as the number one tight end recruit out of the WPIAL with [player_tooltip player_id="27196" first="Khalil" last="Dinkins"]. They also have a six-foot 4 junior wide receiver transfer from California in <strong>Dwayne Taylor</strong>. He has decent speed and shows to be a willing blocker in the run game. They also have a few players to give the ball to in the backfield with senior FB in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27396" first="JP" last="Cantu"]</strong> and junior running backs in <strong>JR Burton</strong> and <strong>Kolin Dinkins</strong>. &nbsp; North Allegheny’s defense has a tough task to handle with the likes of Central Catholic’s seniors<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="27348" first="Eddy" last="Tillman"]</strong> (RB), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27390" first="Eric" last="Benson Jr"] </strong>(WR), and junior wide receiver <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="42751" first="Brandon" last="Jackson"]</strong>. North Allegheny’s senior middle linebacker and BYU commit, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="27254" first="Nate" last="Hoke"]</strong>, must be the leader of this defense. If they want a chance to win, they must stop Eddy, who had 15 carries for 199 yards and a touchdown in last week’s win against Norwin. In the past five seasons, Central Catholic and North Allegheny have met 6 times including playoffs. They both stand at 3-3 with those last 6 meetings. Does Central Catholic have the more talented group to come out with a victory for the first time since 2017 or does North Allegheny have it in them to make it 3 straight wins?