North Catholic football thriving through the air with Joey Felitsky, Ryker Kennedy
CRANBERRY TWP — No one could blame Joey Felitsky for getting ahead of himself.
The first-year North Catholic quarterback hasn’t taken a guns-blazing approach, yet is still among the WPIAL’s passing leaders — regardless of classification. Finally getting his chance this go-round, Felitsky isn’t in any hurry to make up for lost time.
He’s perfectly satisfied with denting a defense bit by bit.
“I just take what’s in front of me,” Felitsky said during a break from his team’s practice on Tuesday. “I’ll take any completion I can get. I don’t just huck it downfield. I just take what the defense gives me and that’s what racks up the most yards.”
After joining the Trojans as a transfer from nearby Seneca Valley prior to last season, Felitsky, now a junior, was barred from game action for year due to WPIAL and PIAA transfer eligibility rulings. He was still permitted to practice with North (3-4, 2-1 in Western Hills Conference play) during that time, however, which gave then-first-year coach Chris Rizzo a glimpse of his abilities.
“He would light us up in scout team,” Rizzo said. “Joey did a really good job going out there and showing what he’s going to be capable of from a scout perspective. We saw him sling it all over the yard for an entire year.”
“I knew he still had a love for the game,” said Ryker Kennedy, a classmate of Felitsky’s and the Trojans’ leading receiver. “We played 7-on-7 together. We’re always throwing with one another and that’s where I think our chemistry came from.”
Felitsky’s confidence grows each time he hits the mark, he said. The nickel-and-dime approach keeps his teammates engaged, as they know they’ll have their chance for a reception at some point and will be relied upon to work upfield after a grab.
Through seven games, Felitsky has a WPIAL Class 3A-high 1,569 passing yards — along with 13 scores through the air – and has completed 128 of his 192 attempts.
“I think it just shows growth in the development from 7-on-7,” Rizzo said. “A lot of that stuff is down the field, there’s no pressure. But I think that Joey realized early on that if he continues to push the ball into this short-to-intermediate range, it takes a lot of pressure off the run game and the offensive line. The offensive line doesn’t have to block as long.
“From an RPO (run-pass option) perspective, that’s not an easy thing to do. You’ve got a pre-snap read, a post-snap read, a run read. But he’s doing a really good job getting comfortable in that system.”
“He makes the smart decision,” Kennedy said. “We just like keeping it simple.”
Kennedy’s 62 receptions paces the WPIAL. His 796 receiving yards are second only to South Allegheny’s Drew Cook (951). Kennedy spearheads a corps that also includes Jack White (24 receptions,389 yards), Will Waskiewicz (30-323), and Tom Arth (20-266).
“I consider myself more as a possession receiver,” Kennedy said. “But don’t get me wrong. I like to get vertical after I catch it.”
Kennedy said he runs a lot of option slants and hitches. He and Felitsky have been in harmony, it seems.
“He’s making the most of the space that he has whenever he catches the football,” Rizzo said of Kennedy. “A lot of it might be catching a hitch then sticking his foot in the ground and getting an extra 2 or 3 (yards). … He puts himself all over the place to try and get the rock.
“He doesn’t run a bunch of cookie-cutter routes. The guy does it based on leverage. The guy does it based on what the defense is giving him. He’s maximizing those things.”
North will aim to continue its success against conference foe Beaver (5-2, 2-1) at North Park’s J.C. Stone Field on Friday night. The Bobcats have shut out McGuffey and Deer Lakes over the past two weeks.
