A-K Valley football notes: Colecchi nears Kiski Area receiving record

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 2, 2018 | 3:27 PM

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Jack Colecchi knows he’ll face a difficult challenge Friday, but if he rises to it, he can put his name into Kiski Area’s record books.

The Kiski Area senior wide receiver comes into Friday’s WPIAL Class 5A first-round game at No. 1 Gateway needing 20 yards to become the school’s all-time leading receiver.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Colecchi has 36 catches for 660 yards and five touchdowns this season for No. 16 Kiski Area (3-7).

Joey Brungo, a 2014 graduate, holds the current record with 1,457 yards.

Colecchi will go up against a Gateway team that led Class 5A in scoring defense this fall, allowing 4.3 points per game. After facing off against Penn Hills star defensive back Daequan Hardy earlier this season, Colecchi could face coverage from Gateway’s Courtney Jackson, a Syracuse commit.

“It’s something that helps me out knowing that I probably already went up against the best corner that I’ll ever go up against in high school,” Colecchi said. “I’ll do what I had to do against that corner to beat this corner.”

The best the Rams can get

It turns out Highlands had record-breakers on offense and defense this season.

Seth Cohen last week became the first quarterback in Alle-Kiski Valley history to pass for 4,000 yards. Cohen, who threw for 2,001 yards as a junior, compiled 1,777 this season to give him 4,037 for his career.

Noah Gillette, meanwhile, finished with 120 tackles, breaking the single-season record of 115 set by Mitch DeZort in 2015. Gillette finished with more than double the tackles of any of his Highlands teammates, adding seven sacks and three fumble recoveries. The Golden Rams’ all-time leading tackler, Gillette became the first player in school history to surpass 300 in his career, finishing with 303.

Good one for Goodlin

Knoch has a record-breaker of his own, as Matt Goodlin became the top regular-season rusher in school history in last week’s victory over Freeport. Goodlin rushed for 1,443 yards during the regular season, surpassing Tim McNerney’s total of 1,431 during the 2007 regular season.

McNerney still holds the total-season record, as he finished with 1,785 in 2007.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Freeport, Highlands, Kiski School, Knoch