When Brian Hanson arrived at South Allegheny just a few short years ago, talking about things like “playoff victories” and “conference championships” would get you laughed right out of Glassport.
Now, at the midway point of Hanson’s third season, anything less than the school’s first WPIAL title since 1977 might just be a disappointment.
“I’ll be honest with you — I don’t know if I would have taken the job if I didn’t think it was possible,” Hanson said. “I always thought there was talent here. … Seeing them in the past, I thought if we could teach these kids to be accountable, we could get them to be successful.”
Sure, that might be setting the bar just a little bit high, but that’s what happens when you race out to a 4-0 start for the second year in a row. And this time, after faltering at this stage last season, the top-ranked Gladiators put a 56-7 beatdown on defending WPIAL Class 2A champion South Park in the Eagles’ own home stadium last Friday night to improve to 5-0, serving notice that South Allegheny is here to stay.
“We’ve practiced really well these last two weeks,” Hanson said. “That’s just the maturity of the team. They understand how hard it is to win and how easy it is to lose.”
Last year, the Gladiators finished 9-3 overall and won their first playoff game since 1986 after posting back-to-back 1-9 finishes the previous two seasons. But that wasn’t good enough for Hanson, and it wasn’t good enough for standout senior Drew Cook, who knows a thing or two about ending long championship droughts.
One of the top multi-sport athletes in the WPIAL, Cook starred for South Allegheny’s basketball team that won the first WPIAL title in school history last spring with a heart-pounding victory against two-time defending Class 3A champion Aliquippa. He has spoken numerous times about the death of his brother, Tony, and how it motivates him and drives him constantly to be the best player and person he can be.
“It would help me go down as a legend forever,” Cook said about potentially doubling up as a WPIAL champion in both football and basketball. “Obviously, I play for my brother. Everything I do, I’m driven by him.”
A gifted wideout with exceptional leaping ability, Cook (6-1, 160) is known for making highlight-reel catches look easy. He caught 80 passes for 1,490 yards for 20 touchdowns as a junior, and while defenses have adjusted their game plans to take him away this season, he has tallied 20 receptions for 318 yards and seven TDs through five games in 2025.
“He’s got some highlights now of pancake blocks and things like that,” Hanson said. “And that’s what colleges are looking for. They want to see a complete football player.”
Of course, with most opponents playing a soft zone defense with a two-high shell to prevent Cook from burning them over the top, junior running back Joey Gamret is the beneficiary for the Gladiators — and he took full advantage of his opportunities last Friday, rushing for 144 yards and four TDs in the win against South Park. For the season, Gamret now has 450 yards rushing and seven scores.
When push comes to shove, Hanson has always preferred to run the ball since his days coaching at West Greene with record-setting running back Ben Jackson, and he knows that will be this team’s formula for success come playoff time, even with a superstar talent like Cook. Still, he fully intends to keep finding creative ways to get his best player the ball.
“Defensively, we’ve been pretty good all year,” Hanson said. “Offensively, we have some new faces. It’s taken some time to click, but I like where we’re headed right now.”
A wise man who has been around the game a long time, Hanson knows as well as anybody that trophies don’t get handed out in September, and having a No. 1 attached to your name at this time of year doesn’t mean anything. But he did acknowledge that any publicity is good publicity, and there is a noticeable buzz around the hallways at South Allegheny that hasn’t been there in nearly 50 years. And with the Gladiators outscoring opponents by an average of more than 35 points per game, the hype only continues to build.
The team appears to have a few easily winnable games left on its schedule going into the regular-season finale — a massive showdown at their home stadium against No. 4 Steel Valley that will surely decide the Allegheny Conference champion and potentially the No. 1 seed for the WPIAL Class 2A tournament.
Get your popcorn ready for that one.
“We went into the South Park game kind of knowing we were going to win that, but that’s the one we’ve really been working for,” Cook said. “The maroon and gold. We want them.”
Roman Thompson making case for top two-way talent in town
Like Drew Cook in South Allegheny, Roman Thompson is another one of the area’s most celebrated two-sport standouts, but Thompson doesn’t play basketball in the winter. Rather than throwing down dunks on the hardwood, Thompson spends his time throwing down his foes with double-leg takedowns on the mat.
A decorated wrestler with a career record of 71-8, Thompson took home third place at last year’s PIAA Class 3A tournament in the rugged 215-pound weight class. Thompson has also started at middle linebacker since his freshman year for Central Catholic, and he played a key role in helping the Vikings capture a WPIAL Class 6A title while reaching last year’s PIAA Class 6A championship game.
After playing sparingly at running back as a sophomore, Thompson has become the focal point on offense for Class 6A No. 1 Central Catholic this fall, rushing for at least three touchdowns in four consecutive games for the Vikings following a season-opening loss against LaSalle College. It’s certainly no coincidence that Central Catholic has won each of its past four games, including a 59-7 win last week over Hempfield in which Thompson rushed for 100 yards and four scores.
Armand Hill approaching rarified air for Titans
If you’ve been keeping up with the big names in WPIAL football over the past couple of years, you’re probably already familiar with West Mifflin running back Armand Hill.
A West Virginia recruit, Hill broke onto the scene as a freshman when he nearly broke the WPIAL single-game record with an unforgettable 495-yard outburst against Hopewell. Hill, who already has three 300-yard games in his career, has had a bit of a quiet start to his 2025 campaign, but it’s not exactly his fault. After all, the Titans have started out with a record of 1-4 while facing the likes of Class 3A No. 1 Avonworth, Class 3A No. 4 Elizabeth Forward and Bethel Park before taking on Class 4A No. 1 Thomas Jefferson last week.
Although West Mifflin came up short in a 35-14 defeat against the Jaguars, the Titans still put up an admirable effort against the reigning WPIAL champs — and they largely had Hill to thank for it. The talented junior tailback rushed for 232 yards and a pair of TDs against the punishing Thomas Jefferson defense, including a 78-yard score to tie the score in the second quarter before the Jaguars pulled away with a trio of TD runs by Tyler Eber.
A slender, speedy big-play threat who is now up to 570 yards rushing on the season, Hill could start entering some rarified air in the near future for West Mifflin. Now on the cusp of joining the 4,000-yard club for his career, he could potentially reach the mark by rushing for 211 yards or more in the Class 4A Greater Allegheny Conference opener at No. 4 Mars this Friday.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
