There is a lot to talk about in WPIAL Football as we approach the week 7 action set for this Friday night. Among all the storylines is a little bit of air traffic around Monroeville, as third-year starting quarterback Brady Walker aims to be the 12th passer in WPIAL history to throw for 6,000 yards in his career. Walker threw for 292 yards and six touchdowns in a 48-14 win over Plum and only needs 37 yards against Kiski Area this week to join the elite club of quarterbacks that features another storied Gators’ signal caller. This elite group of passers also welcomed two

new members last Friday night.

 

Drew Saxton and Phil Jurkovec each threw for over 200 yards in week 6 in route to becoming the 10th and 11th members, respectively, of the 6,000-yard passing club. Saxton completed 14 of 19 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-33 win over New Castle to move his career total to 6,218 yards. This his senior season, and third as the starter, Saxton has thrown for 1,520 yards and 16 scores to lead the Lions to a 7-0 record. Pine-Richland’s Jurkovec, a Notre Dame recruit, completed all 14 of his passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns in a 56-7 win over Peters Township to move his squad to 7-0. Jurkovec is also a third-year starter for the Rams and has 6,108 passing yards in his career.

At this point in his senior season, he has completed 77 percent of his passes for 1,875 yards and 16 scoring tosses. He also has become the second quarterback in WPIAL history to throw for 6,000 yards and run for 2,000 yards in his career, joining Sto-Rox’s Lenny Williams who finished his storied career with 8,509 passing yards, which was the best in WPIAL history and 5th in the PIAA at that time. Williams career line: 479 completions, 823 attempts, 8,509 yards, 102 touchdowns. But he graduated in 2013 and since has seen two other passers, in addition to this season’s trio, reach and surpass the 6,000-yard milestone.

 

Back in 2014, Brett Brumbaugh finished his stellar South Fayette career with a PIAA-record 11,084 passing yards and a WPIAL-best 127 career touchdown passes. During that same season in Quad-A, Ben DiNucci led Pine-Richland to the WPIAL title by setting WPIAL single-season records of 4,269 passing yards and 46 touchdowns, which was the first time in Pennsylvania history that a quarterback had passed for more than 4,000 yards in a season. DiNucci was the prolific season to cap a career that saw him throw for 7,619 yards and 72 scores. Just like his senior counterparts, Brady Walker looks to join this prolific group of passers but will also not be the first from his school to do so. Rob Kalkstein quarterbacked Gateway from 2006-2009 and threw for 6,501 yards. Phil Jurkovec was the second Pine-Richland passer to join, following DiNucci who finished his three-year career in 2014 and is now at Pitt.

 

Drew Saxton became the fourth South Fayette signal-caller to achieve 6,000 yards, following Brett Brumbaugh who capped his career in 2014 with over 11,000 yards and did so after his older brother, Christian, wrapped up a four-year career with over 7,100 yards. Andrew DiDonato was the first Lions’ quarterback to throw for over 6,000 career yards in 2005, which at that time had him as the second all-time leading passer in WPIAL history. Just like this current crop of third-year starting senior quarterbacks, Lenny Williams was not the first Sto-Rox player to amass 6,000 yards through the air. In 2003 Adam DiMichele capped his Vikings career with over 6,700 passing yards. Rounding out the, soon-to-be, group of 12 elite passers is Montour’s Dillon Buechel who threw for just under 6,900 yards from 2011-2013; and Luke Getsy of Steel Valley who passed for 6,010 yards from 1998-2001 to become the first player to ever throw for 6,000 yards in WPIAL history. So look out for this Friday, as Brady Walker should become the 12th man in WPIAL history, and the third senior QB this year, to throw for over 6,000 yards in his career.