USC Takes on McDowell in WPIAL Quarterfinals Friday

Upper St. Clair football takes on Erie McDowell Friday night in the WPIAL quarterfinal game.

They will meet at at 7:30 p.m.

The Panthers played their first round WPIAL playoff game at home where they have shut out five of their six opponents. The playoffs are now being played at neutral sites from here on out in the playoff tournament. USC has not had the same kind of success on the road that they have enjoyed on their home turf.

At Panthers stadium, USC won by an average of more than 47 points this season. On the road they won by an average of 22 points, and if you take away their , they only won by slighly more than 11 points.

Last week the McDowell Trojans picked up their first ever WPIAL playoff victory since they joined the league as a football only school in 2010. They are an option football team who finished 8-2 in the Northern Conference behind .

The Trojans beat McKeesport last Friday 42-7 with a three headed attack. Quarterback Jarrett Koper ran for 104 yards and he is the second leading rusher on the team. Running back Khyre Drayer ran for 111 yards and he led them in rushing against McKeesport. Their leading rusher on the season is Greg Garmon who carried it for 77 yards last week, and leads the team with 920 yards on the season. He is being courted by a few Division I schools.

The Upper St. Clair defense has their hands full every week during practice trying to contain their own triple threat, Dakota Conwell. That alone should help prepare them for the option they will see Friday night against the Trojans.

USC head coach Jim Render likens the Trojans quarterback to Mack Leftwich who leads North Allegheny's offense. He is a big, strong quarterback who can run the ball.

USC lost to North Allegheny 28-21 back on Sept. 16. The following week the Trojans lost to North Allegheny 49-14. McDowell should have the same kind of trouble stopping the Panthers that they had late September against the Tigers.

"They're doing everything I'm asking of them lately," Render said.

He asked the offense to spread the ball out against Connellsville last week and Conwell completed nine of his 11 passes to five different receivers. They have multiple running backs that can pound the defensive line and keep the linebackers honest. There is no reason the Panthers shouldn't score more than 40 points for the 10th time in 11 games when they face off against McDowell.

The winner of this game will play the winner of the game between the second seeded Central Catholic and seventh seeded .

Assuming USC and Central Catholic advance—as they are heavily favored to do—it will setup one of the best WPIAL semifinal matchups in a long time.  

Are you traveling to Cranberry for Friday night's game? Tell us in the comments.