Ten WPIAL players named to PA Sportswriters Class 5A All-Sate Team

Tagged under: All-Stars, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Ethan Spozarski | December 29, 2023

Nolan DiLucia, Julian Dugger, Brad Birch, Luke Denny, Scoop Smith, Ryan Cory, Zach Tomosovich, Clancy Orie, Mickey Vaccarello, and Jackson Pons were all the WPIAL players named to the PA Sportswriters Class 5A All-State Team. 

Peters Township had two players make this year’s All-State Team. 

DiLucia, in his first season as the starting QB for Peters Township, completed 60-percent of his passes, threw for 3,000+ yards and 30 TDs. DiLucia also helped lead the Indians to their first 5A WPIAL Championship, and were runner ups in the 5A PIAA State Championship. 

Vaccarello, LB for Peters Township, had 111 tackles with 29 tackles for a loss and 13 sacks. Vaccarello also has numerous D1 offers from Boston College, Miami (OH), and Syracuse. 

Birch, starting QB for Gateway, had passed for 2,200+ yards and 20 TDs this season. Birch also moved into fourth place on the WPIAL all-time passing yards list with 8,496 yards. 

Dugger, QB for Penn Hills and Pitt commit had 1,640+ passing yards along with 770+ rushing yards and 30+ total TDs. Dugger finishes his high school career with nearly 5,000 yards passing. 

Norwin had two players crack into the All-State Team as well. 

Denny, a WR for the Knights, averaged over 23 yards a catch, had over 1,000 yards receiving this season, and 11 TDs. 

Pons, a DB for the Knights, had 84 tackles, 11 of those for a loss, two interceptions and seven passes deflected. 

Smith, a WR for Woodland Hills, averaged 19+ yards a reception, 850+ yards and 17 TDs. 

Cory, an O-Lineman for Pine-Richland, was a finalist for the Bill Fralic Memorial Award, he also helped the Rams surpass 3,000 total rushing yards on the year. The Rams went to their second straight 5A WPIAL Championship. 

Tomosovich, an O-Lineman for Penn-Trafford, is an Army commit. He helped the Warriors rush for 2,500+ yards on the year and on the defensive side of the ball he had 21 tackles and one sack. 

Orie, a D-Lineman for Bethel Park, had 58 tackles and five sacks on the season for the Blackhawks. 

Class 6A’s All-State Team will be announced later today, while Class 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A can be found HERE. 

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews