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Under the Lights: Week Five

High school football is back around America and Pitt's recruits and commits have been active for all of their respective high schools. Check out results and clips from around the country. 

UNDER THE LIGHTS: Opening Weekend | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four

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League play opened on Saturday afternoon between North Jersey's private school powerhouses as the Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph's Regional Green Knights traveled to Oradell (N.J.) to play their rivals at Bergen Catholic. Pitt tight end commit Matt Alaimo recorded three receptions for 43 yards in what ultimately proved to be a 41-30 loss in conference play. Highlights are not available for Alaimo's performance against Bergen.

St. Joseph's remains one of the most talented teams in the state of New Jersey, but they've now fallen to 2-2 with the difficult national schedule they've played this fall. A game against Sparta (N.J.) Pope John XXIII will give St. Joseph's Regional the chance to move above .500.

The Scranton (Pa.) Lackawanna Community College Falcons remained undefeated with a dominant 49-14 victory over visiting Erie (Pa.) Community College, earning their fourth consecutive win of the season. Lackawanna racked up over 500 yards of offense on the day, including 320 rushing yards on the ground, behind the efforts of Pitt offensive tackle commit Chase Brown and the other Falcons' offensive linemen. Check out Brown's highlights from the game below:

If you find a worthy opponent who can score on the vaunted Thomas Jefferson defense, please alert the WPIAL authorities and arrange busing to Jefferson Hills (Pa.). For the fifth consecutive game, the Jaguars' varsity defense shut out a conference opponent in Big Nine action. This victory was a 56-7 thrashing of Ringgold (Pa.), where Ringgold's only score came on a pick six in the second quarter. Pitt defensive tackle commit Devin Danielson recorded a sack and a tackle for the Jaguars as part of another dominant defensive effort. Ringgold managed just two first downs throughout the course of the entire game.

The Cadets of Richmond (Va.)'s Benedictine School bounced back in a major way from their first loss of the season, coming out to dominate Arlington (Va.) Bishop O'Connell on Friday night on home turf. Benedictine manhandled their fellow private school, emerging with a 48-7 victory. Neither stats nor highlights were available on the night from Pitt linebacker commit Wendell Davis Jr.

It was a tough night for Pittsburgh (Pa.) Central Catholic on Friday, an outing that took the Vikings back to their huge loss of the opening week. Notre Dame quarterback commit Phil Jurkovec and the Pine-Richland (Pa.) Rams tore up Central Catholic's defense and racked up a 47-3 lead at halftime before calling off the dogs. Green and his teammates were ultimately ineffective on the defensive side of the football as the Rams' offensive line paved the way to 272 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground. Green accounted for three tackles and a sack in the effort. Highlights are not available for the game.

Wins have been hard to come by in the 2017 season for the Butler (Pa.) Golden Tornado, but you wouldn't believe it if you saw the way they handled Shaler Area (Pa.) on Friday night. Butler earned their second win of the season at home in a thoroughly dominant 47-0 beatdown of the Titans. Pitt offensive guard commit Jake Kradel recorded two tackles on the defensive side of the ball and helped to pave the way as an offensive lineman for 383 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns as the offense averaged 9.8 yards per carry.

You can check out Kradel's highlights from this past week, embedded below, and follow this link to check out his best plays through the first half of his senior season.

Pitt commits Judson Tallandier and John Morgan, teammates at national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic of Hyattsville (Md.), had the week off as the Stags enjoyed their bye. Their season resumes on Friday night with a rivalry game against Washington (D.C.) rival Gonzaga as DeMatha will look to improve to 5-1.

Pitt wide receiver commit Cameron O'Neil continued his dominant season on Friday night, recording eight receptions for Phenix City (Ala.) Glenwood. Unfortunately, the rest of the Glenwood offense couldn't get off the ground as the Gators struggled to put together and finish off drives. Glenwood fell to Troy (Ala.) Pike Liberal Arts in the contest, losing 12-6 and dropping their second conference game of the year as their overall record fell to 3-3. Check out O'Neil's highlights from the game below:

If you find a worthy opponent who can score on the vaunted Thomas Jefferson defense, please alert the WPIAL authorities and arrange busing to Jefferson Hills (Pa.). For the fifth consecutive game, the Jaguars' varsity defense shut out a conference opponent in Big Nine action. This victory was a 56-7 thrashing of Ringgold (Pa.), where Ringgold's only score came on a pick six in the second quarter. Pitt defensive end commit Noah Palmer recorded three tackles and a batted pass for the Jaguars as part of another dominant defensive effort. Ringgold managed just two first downs throughout the course of the entire game. Palmer didn't get a chance to get involved in the passing game as he did in the past - Thomas Jefferson attempted just nine passes on the night and ran the ball at will against Ringgold.

League play opened on Saturday afternoon between North Jersey's private school powerhouses as the Montvale (N.J.) St. Joseph's Regional Green Knights traveled to Oradell (N.J.) to play their rivals at Bergen Catholic. Pitt quarterback commit Nick Patti completed 16 of his 22 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns in what ultimately proved to be a 41-30 loss in conference play. Patti also rushed for 47 yards on 10 attempts. Highlights are not available for Patti's performance against Bergen.

St. Joseph's remains one of the most talented teams in the state of New Jersey, but they've now fallen to 2-2 with the difficult national schedule they've played this fall. A game against Sparta (N.J.) Pope John XXIII will give St. Joseph's Regional the chance to move above .500.

In their second game of the season, Cambridge (Mass.) Buckingham, Browne, & Nichols improved to 1-1 after earning a road victory over league opponent Belmont Hill (Mass.). The Knights blanked the Hillies, coming up 21-0 at the final whistle. Pitt tight end/H-back commit Jay Symonds Jr. played a big part in the effort, recording six receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. Highlights are not available from the game.

Pitt commits Judson Tallandier and John Morgan, teammates at national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic of Hyattsville (Md.), had the week off as the Stags enjoyed their bye. Their season resumes on Friday night with a rivalry game against Washington (D.C.) rival Gonzaga as DeMatha will look to improve to 5-1.

Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons improved to 4-0 on Friday night, maintaining their spotless record with yet another shutout victory. It was an important night in particular for Pitt cornerback commit Marquis Williams, who faced off against his old teammates at Coconut Creek (Fla.) in the 24-0 shutout. The Gibbons defense has been stellar throughout the season and have yet to allow a single score since the first quarter of the first game of the season. On Friday, Williams tallied two tackles and a tackle for a loss.

Belle Vernon's march through the Big Nine conference of WPIAL football continued this weekend with the return of Pitt commit and star lineman Blake Zubovic. The Leopards improved to 5-0 - all conference victories - with a 35-7 triumph over Laurel Highlands (Pa.) on the road. After being limited with a lower body injury last week, Zubovic was full-go during the game on Friday. You can view the offensive lineman's highlights from Belle Vernon's victory below.

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