PUP high school football Game of the Week: Hopewell vs. Avonworth (Week 4)

Each Wednesday, the PUP high school sports staff will preview the game of the week.

Between the hash marks

Who: Hopewell (3-1) at Avonworth (4-0)

Where: Avonworth’s Lenzner Field

When: 7 p.m. Friday

The coaches: Matt Mottes (Hopewell); Duke Johncour (Avonworth)

When they last met: In Week 4 of last season, when Avonworth opened up Class 3A Western Hills Conference play with a resounding 50-19 win at Hopewell.

On deck: Hopewell will travel to Quaker Valley next week, while Avonworth visits Central Valley in another matchup with major playoff implications.

This and that: Few players, if any, have been more impressive so far this season than Hopewell quarterback James “Booboo” Armstrong. Few teams, if any, have been more impressive than Avonworth. The unstoppable force will meet the immovable object at Lenzner Field on Friday night. … A 6-foot-3, 220-pound southpaw who excels in football, basketball and baseball, Armstrong is coming off the most memorable performance of his young career and one of the most prolific outings in WPIAL history. The sophomore tallied 609 total yards (346 passing, 263 rushing) and six total touchdowns against Beaver, but it came in a losing effort as the Class 3A No. 5 Vikings dropped a 51-50 thriller. … As a freshman, Armstrong passed for 1,344 yards and 10 TDs while rushing for 787 yards and 15 scores. Through four games this season, he is already up to 845 yards passing and 499 yards rushing with 13 total TDs. Armstrong recently picked up scholarship offers from Penn State and North Carolina. … The defending WPIAL champions and PIAA runners-up in Class 3A, the Antelopes have trampled the competition so far this year, including back-to-back victories against the top two teams in Class 4A and two of the WPIAL’s premier programs. First, Avonworth knocked off Aliquippa on the road, 23-7, before running away from Thomas Jefferson for a 41-14 home win last week. … With senior Luca Neal and sophomore Jaden Jones providing a potent 1-2 punch as his top receiving targets, Lopes quarterback Carson Bellinger has passed for 793 yards and seven touchdowns through four games. That being said, the offense is at its best when bruising tailback Dimitri Velisaris is pounding the rock behind towering left tackle Peter Bonnet (6-6, 300). A hard-nosed junior, Velisaris wore down the Quips’ and Jaguars’ defenses in the second half, raising his season totals to 620 yards rushing and nine TDs. … For Hopewell to have any chance of taking home a win, Armstrong will likely need to duplicate his historic performance from last Friday — certainly a tall task to ask of any sophomore quarterback, especially against a team like Avonworth. If he does manage to lead the Vikings to victory, though, Armstrong’s hype will officially soar through the roof.

Expert picks (records in parentheses)

Steve Rotstein (3-1): Avonworth 42, Hopewell 13

John Santa (3-1): Avonworth 35, Hopewell 28

Brad Everett (2-2): Avonworth 34, Hopewell 17

On the radar

Mars at Montour, 7 p.m. Friday

A pair of evenly matched teams looking to break into the top tier of the Class 4A hierarchy, the No. 4 Planets and No. 5 Spartans will square off Friday in one of the week’s juiciest matchups. Both teams have revered coaches pulling the strings, with Eric Kasperowicz at the helm for Mars and Lou Cerro calling the shots at Montour. Senior wideout Gabe Hein has shined as the Planets’ top playmaker this season, while the Spartans’ offense largely runs through senior tailback Caden Halajcio. Montour has won the previous two meetings in the series, including a 31-14 victory last September.

McKeesport at Upper St. Clair, 7 p.m. Friday

Two tradition-rich programs each seeking to end lengthy championship droughts will clash in their final non-conference tuneup of the season, with the Tigers ranked No. 3 in Class 4A and the Panthers ranked No. 3 in Class 5A. McKeesport star running back Kemon Spell is still nursing an ankle injury that he aggravated early in a 16-7 loss to Thomas Jefferson Sept. 5, and he is considered a longshot at best to suit up in this one. Still, don’t expect the Tigers to go down without a fight, even with Upper St. Clair quarterback Ethan Hellmann carving up defenses at a prolific pace.

Central Valley at Beaver, 7 p.m. Friday

Last fall, Central Valley stumbled to an uncharacteristic 0-3 start before turning things around with a lopsided win over McGuffey on its way to reaching the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. Once again, the Warriors dominated the Highlanders for their first win of the season last week, just in time for Western Hills Conference play to begin against Beaver. Riding high off an action-packed 51-50 win over Class 3A No. 5 Hopewell, the Bobcats’ explosive offense will look to carry its momentum into Friday’s showdown, which Central Valley won last season in a 51-37 shootout.

PUP ‘underdog’ to watch

Norwin (hosts North Allegheny at 7 p.m. Friday)

Yes, you read that right. Long considered a football doormat among the bigger schools in the WPIAL, Norwin has posted three consecutive mercy-rule victories following a season-opening defeat against Penn-Trafford on a controversial late-game fumble. Led by dual-threat quarterback Tristyn Tavares, it’s the upstart Knights — not Central Catholic and not North Allegheny — who own the highest-scoring offense in Class 6A at 41 ppg. If Norwin can upset the Tigers on Friday, it might just go down as the biggest win in school history.