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Alle-Kiski Valley high school notebook: Trio joins Clarion football team

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 10, 2018 | 7:30 PM

The Clarion football recruiting class has a significant Alle-Kiski Valley presence.

Three local players signed with or committed to the Golden Eagles over the past week. Kiski Area’s Ross Greece committed Saturday, joining Freeport’s Matt Charlton and Austin Kemp, who joined Clarion on Wednesday’s national signing day.

“Seeing the commitment class of this year was huge,” Greece said. “A lot of great players committed here, and I wanted to be a part of this class. I can’t wait to form a bond and brotherhood with them.”

Charlton and Kemp lined up next to each other on offense and within feet of each other on defense, and they’ll keep their football partnership and friendship going at Clarion.

“Me and Austin are best friends. We’ve always dreamed about this,” said Charlton, an offensive tackle recruit. “Going into junior year, we talked about how cool it would be to play together another four years, so just making it official means the world to me and means the world to him.”

Kemp visited Clarion first in late January and received an offer, and he and Charlton visited again the next week, with Charlton picking up an offer.

“I just fell in love with it all,” Kemp said. “It was a pretty easy decision for me.”

Charlton, a three-year starter, anchored Freeport’s line as an all-conference left tackle. In addition to Clarion, the 6-foot-4, 275-pounder had seven other offers.

Kemp shared Allegheny Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors with Shady Side Academy’s Skyy Moore after recording 100 tackles and three sacks. The Valley News Dispatch Defensive Player of the Year also considered Saint Vincent and Westminster.

Greece, a running back/linebacker who scored 10 touchdowns last season, originally committed to Robert Morris before reopening his recruitment after the Colonials underwent a coaching change. He committed to Clarion over Washington & Jefferson and Westminster.

Signed, sealed, delivered

More college signings from last week:

• The Plum pipeline to Slippery Rock continued, with kicker/punter Jackson Gildea and long-snapper Jake George signing with The Rock. Gildea converted 4 of 6 field goals this season, with a long of 32 yards, and hit all 11 extra-point attempts. He also averaged 35.4 yards on punts. In addition to long-snapper, George played defensive end at Plum, recording one tackle for loss.

• Knoch graduate Mac Christy, a tight end, transferred to Slippery Rock from West Virginia. The son of Freeport great Jeff Christy, a former NFL All-Pro center, Mac Christy caught 30 passes in two seasons at Knoch. He also played quarterback, running back, linebacker and punter.

• Armstrong senior lineman Nate Baillie signed with Mercyhurst. A two-way lineman, Baillie was first-team all-conference in the Class 5A Big East at guard and had 48 tackles and five sacks.

• A pair of Burrell girls soccer players signed with college programs. Forward Leesha Wagner signed with Waynesburg, and defender Maggie Schwartz signed with Carlow. Both had significant roles for a Burrell team that qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs each of the past two seasons and advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals last season. Wagner led the Bucs with 15 goals as a senior, and Schwartz helped anchor a defense that yielded just 25 goals in 17 games and posted four shutouts.

• Fox Chapel senior Jakob Dunn signed to play soccer at Case Western Reserve. A goalkeeper, Dunn posted eight shutouts this season to help the Foxes reach the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. He was named third-team all-section.

Fit to commit

A pair of local football players announced college commitments last week:

• Highlands senior Jermaine Jett announced he’ll play at Edinboro. A running back and linebacker, Jett rushed for 281 yards and three touchdowns and added another score on a hook-and-lateral during his injury-shortened senior season. He had 17 tackles and three sacks.

• Fox Chapel’s Luke Brown committed to John Carroll. A linebacker, Brown finished second on the team with 66 tackles, including six for a loss. He added three sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks.

Georgia on her mind

Kiski Area sophomore Naomee Miller will compete at USA Swimming’s TYR Pro Series meet March 1-4 at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.

The event draws top swimmers from around the country.

Miller, who won a pair of WPIAL medals as a freshman, won the 100-yard breaststroke at the Team Pittsburgh Aquatics’ Christmas Meet in December.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

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