With goals achieved, Wright looks forward to Pitt

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For Kyi Wright and his teammates, the goal has been in place for a dozen years:

Take Farrell to the PIAA Class A finals and win it.

As freshmen, Wright and his fellow players in the class of 2019 nearly accomplished the goal. They made it to the state finals but lost to Bishop Guilfoyle in a 35-0 blowout. The Steelers lost in each of the next two state semifinals, including 2017 when Wright missed the entire season due to a torn meniscus.

But this year, with a wealth of playmakers returning and Wright back from his injury, Farrell went on a run. From a season-opening win over USO through last Thursday’s defeat of Lackawanna Trail in the state title game, nobody could touch the Steelers.

In fact, few teams even got close. Farrell allowed 7.8 points per game in building its 15-0 record, pitching four shutouts and only allowing five teams to reach double-digit scoring while the Steelers averaging 51.9 points per game themselves.

Farrell was arguably the most dominant team in Pennsylvania this season, and Wright, who committed to Pitt in June, led the charge.

“I was a little surprised by how dominant we were this season,” Wright told Panther-Lair.com. “From our first game, I didn’t think it would be like that, but as the season progressed, we got a lot better.

“It was great to go out this way as a senior. Our class was dreaming of this since we were six or seven years old and we started playing together.”

That kind of dominance isn’t achieved by just one player, and Farrell had a few who made significant contributions. Senior running back Christian Lewis topped 2,000 yards on the ground and scored 38 total touchdowns. Senior receiver Jourdan Townsend was a multi-threat weapon, spreading his 30 touchdowns over 24 receiving scores, five rushing and one on a punt return.

But Wright led the charge. He was the team’s quarterback, the one handing off to Lewis, throwing to Townsend and doing damage himself. Wright scored 16 rushing touchdowns while averaging 7.8 yards per carry at 6’3” and 240 pounds, and he threw 29 touchdown passes - one score on every 4.4 attempts - with just two interceptions.

He excelled on defense, too, playing inside linebacker Farrell’s 4-4 scheme (or middle linebacker when the Steelers used a 4-3) and he led the team with 94 tackles and 7.0 tackles for loss. He also had two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

“I like doing whatever the team needs me to do,” Wright said. “If they said they needed me to play tackle or center or anything like that, I would have done it.”

When he gets to Pitt next June, Wright will likely spend most of his time with the defensive staff. The Panthers recruited him to play linebacker, but the coaches haven’t exactly written that in pen just yet.

“Pitt likes me at linebacker for now, but they said they’re still considering different things,” Wright said. “Possibly linebacker, maybe defensive end, maybe somewhere on the offensive side of the ball at tight end or H-back. Maybe playing both offense and defense. They said there were a lot of possibilities.”

Wright was in Oakland over the weekend for his official visit, a recruiting event that served as a formality due to his six-months-old commitment but also gave him an opportunity to spend time with linebackers coach Rob Harley.

“I have a good relationship with him and I can’t wait to get started playing with him and learning more about the system that they run,” Wright said. “We watched film together and he said I would be playing the middle or the boundary linebacker. I think I would fit into their system pretty well. They run a 4-3 and we did that a little bit.

“We watched some of the cut-ups from the Clemson game to really see how they competed, and the plays they gave up, it was just miscues, not being focused, making the wrong reads.”

While Wright was dominating with Farrell this season, he was also keeping an eye on his future team, who went 7-6 overall but won the ACC Coastal Division and played for the conference title.

“I think they had a very productive season and learned a lot they can grow on as a team,” Wright said. “Some of the games, they could have easily been in or even won. I was really excited when I saw them win the Coastal; I got to watch that game when they won it and I think they played great.”

Wright will sign his Letter of Intent next Wednesday.