“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.” The Tennessee Titans rubbed their eyes, glanced at the calendar and clearly thought that it was X-mas. From the first play of the game, the Titans displayed a very benevolent spirit by giving and continuing to hand the Steelers football after football adorned with satiny red bows. However, when the Titans unwrapped all of the many presents carefully placed under their tree, every single gift box contained only signed, snarling photos of the Steeler defense.

It seemed that the biggest opponent the Steelers had to face while playing in the “volunteer” state was “father” nature. It also appeared that Pittsburgh’s most staunch ally was the Titans themselves.

The Steelers, who survived their first game without Ben Roethlisberger 15-9 over the Atlanta Falcons, now must face their toughest foe of the four game suspension in the Tennessee Titans who ran all over the Oakland Raiders, 38-13.

VICTORY CELEBRATION—James Harrison jumps on Rashard Mendenhall to celebrate Mendenhall’s 50 yard touchdown run in overtime that gave the Steelers a 15-9 win over the Atlanta Falcons in the season opener at Heinz Field.

Dennis Dixon started off slow but as the game progressed he was given more freedom which led to more confidence as he put the ball in the air more for a very solid first game. He was 18 of 26 for 236 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He quietly outplayed his much more noted opponent Matt Ryan, who many believe is going to be an NFL star. Ryan was 27 of 44 for 252 yards but was not able to get the ball in the end zone.

Allderdice 12, Brashear 0

Allderdice exceeded its win total for the past two seasons combined with a 12-0 win against Brashear last Thursday at Cupples Stadium.

“It seems like we’re starting to wake up here as of late,” said Allderdice’s coach, Jerry Haslett. “We have Peabody next week and I’m not worried too much about what’s behind us. I want to keep pressing forward and win games.”

RUNNING WILD—Rasheed McCamey of Carrick ran wild on the Cupples turf against Westinghouse, Sept. 17. McCamey rushed for three touchdowns in the 42-0 win against the Bulldogs.

Running back Patrick Ferguson provided most of the offense, carrying the ball 28 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Mike Pfleger completed 5 of 16 passes for 54 yards for the Dragons.

“I’ve been a part of teams before where we’d start off 3-0 and finish 3-6,” said Haslett. “I can’t predict the future but I don’t intend for it to happen that way.”

by D.W. Howze

Perry owned the largest margin of victory for the weekend with a 46-0 romp over Carrick.

Quarterback Greg McGhee completed 13 of 26 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. He threw one interception. Eight of those completions went to his favorite target, Devin Ghafoor, for 102 yards and two scores.

BOMBS AWAY—Perry’s Eric Frye hauls in a TD pass from QB Greg McGhee in the Commodores 46-0 win over Carrick Sept.11 at Cupples Stadium.

The first touchdown came on Perry’s first drive from 10 yards out. The other came as in the second quarter on a hitch route that landed Ghafoor in the end zone, giving the Commodores a 27-0 lead going into the half.

“We were forced to work on our fundamentals,” Perry coach Bill Gallagher said. “We ran cleaner routes today. We held on to some balls that we would normally drop. I liked, especially, how were able to get big yards after the catch on a couple of little screen plays that we were able to make into big plays.”