Film Review WPIAL 2025 Tri-County Conference Top Prospects

After writing about the 2024 class I am moving on to the 2025 class. For this 1st article, I am going to focus on WPIAL and specifically the Tri-County Conference. The Tri-County Conference features all the 6A football teams in the WPIAL which is only 5 teams. The 5 teams are Pittsburgh Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Cannon-McMillan, Central Valley, and Mt. Lebanon. This conference regularly produces top-flight College Football players and the 2025 class is no different.    Xavier Thomas Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Thomas is an elite prospect for Pittsburgh Central Catholic. He played cornerback and was a kickoff and punt returner for them. Thomas has very good ball skills and flashes them by making interceptions. Once he then gets the ball into his hands he is very good and can return it for a touchdown. Thomas is very good in press-man coverage. Several times on film you see him turn and run with wide receiver and is in their hip pocket. Then when the quarterback throws the ball he uses his ball skills to break on the receiver and to make a play. Thomas is also a very dynamic returner and flashed this with both kickoff returns and punt returns. Thomas projects as a high Division 1 player. He recently got an offer from Akron.    [player_tooltip player_id='386096' first='Sam' last='Brackney'] Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Brackney started at left guard for Pittsburgh Central Catholic and he did not disappoint. 1st he is very strong. He can use that strength to move defensive tackles. Next, he has good feet. He is quick with his feet and he uses them to help create leverage against defenders. Along with the feet, he is a good athlete who can pull and kick out against defensive players. Brackney has all the skills to be a very good offensive lineman in College. He projects as someone who should have an opportunity to play College Football in the future.    [player_tooltip player_id='598914' first='David' last='Shields'] Mt. Lebanon. Shields is the starting quarterback for Mt. Lebanon. He is also committed to the University of Miami to play baseball, so football is probably not an option for him. Shields is a left-handed quarterback, who throws a beautiful deep ball. He throws with lots of touches on the deep ball. He also throws intermediate throws very well. He is a good athlete and you can use him in the run game with quarterback powers and when he scrambles. He is very good at sprint outs and throwing on the run. He can even sprint out to the right and throw on the run, which is difficult being a left-handed thrower. Shields has a future in College Football if he wants it, he is a talented quarterback.    [player_tooltip player_id='147879' first='Jack' last='Yatchenko'] North Allegheny. Yatchenko is a very good prospect at the offensive line. He played center for North Allegheny and he was dominant at the position. 1st he has a very good size and he is not afraid to use it. When he goes against defensive linemen he punishes them with devastating blocks. He is also a very good athlete for his size. Several times on film I saw him chase down linebackers and block them, which is not easy for someone as big as him. He has exceptional feet and he moves very well. His pass blocking in particular is really good as he moves his feet and stays in front of defenders well. I would expect him to get multiple College Football offers, in the future.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/JackYatchenko/status/1627124201030033408?s=20 </div></figure>    [player_tooltip player_id='598629' first='Bradley' last='Gompers'] Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Gompers is the swiss army knife of Central Catholic. He played wide receiver, linebacker, and safety and I saw a few clips at tight end. Gompers is a long athlete who can do a lot on the football field. Standing 6'5" he is a very good athlete who uses his size very well. On offense, he catches the ball very well. Several times I saw him go down and make difficult catches. You can move him all over the field and play him at slot, outside wide receiver, and a off-ball tight end. His versatility on offense is impressive. On defense, he played outside linebacker and safety. He excelled at both and is very good at reading and reacting to the play and then making a big play. Several times I saw him break up the ball or intercept passes. He is also a very sound tackler. Gompers has a lot of elite traits and I expect him to get plenty of Division 1 offers.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/GompersBradley/status/1628594536174813186?s=20 </div></figure>    [player_tooltip player_id='598897' first='Roman' last='Kane'] Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Good luck playing Pittsburgh Central Catholic (PCC) next year, this is the 4th player I have profiled from their program. Kane played right guard for PCC last year and he was a dominant player. He has a natural strength to him and he uses it to bully defensive linemen. He is very good at getting off the ball and mauling defensive linemen. He has good feet and can move off the ball well and block downfield. Kane with a strong finish to his high school career should have a good opportunity to play College Football in the future.    [player_tooltip player_id='386211' first='Connor' last='Frank'] North Allegheny. Frank is a solid player who played safety for North Allegheny. Frank makes the right play at safety. He comes up from his safety position and is a sure tackler, which is so important since safety is usually the last line of defense. He is good in coverage and plays the ball very well. For instance, he knows when to break on the ball and he uses this skill very well. He is a good prospect who should only get better in the future.    [player_tooltip player_id='147875' first='Amari' last='Shields'] Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Shields is a very impressive running back. He is very shifty and makes people miss. He is also very good at running through contact. When Shields gets into the open field he is gone. Shields has this shiftiness about him. He just has this ability to constantly make people miss. Then when the defenders try to tackle him he runs through the contact. Shields is a prospect to keep an eye on and I expect him to have a good chance at playing College Football.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/amaridshields/status/1597251805217714177?s=20 </div></figure>

After writing about the 2024 class I am moving on to the 2025 class. For this 1st article, I am going to focus on WPIAL and specifically the Tri-County Conference. The Tri-County Conference features all the 6A football teams in the WPIAL which is only 5 teams. The 5 teams are Pittsburgh Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Cannon-McMillan, Central Valley, and Mt. Lebanon. This conference regularly produces top-flight College Football players and the 2025 class is no different.