Published: Sunday, October 15, 2006
Fitch's Parker has record day
WAYNESBURG, Pa. — T.J. Parker, a senior wide receiver for the Bethany College football team from Austintown Fitch High, enjoyed a record-breaking performance Saturday despite the Bison's 41-15 loss to Waynesburg on the Yellow Jackets' field.
Parker, a co-captain and a physical education major, caught eight passes for 76 yards and one touchdown in the Presidents' Athletic Conference game to break the school career records for receptions and reception yardage and tie the school career record for TD receptions.
Parker boosted his receptions total to 150 to surpass the 145 set by Zack Merz from 2001-04. And Parker increased his receiving yards to 1,969 to best the 1,959 set by Denny Williams from 1977-80.
Parker now has 17 TD receptions to equal the mark set by Brian Dickman from 1991-94.
Parker caught his record-breaking pass for receiving yards and his record-tying pass for TD receptions from senior quarterback Brent Owens, while sophomore quarterback Mat Blumer threw Parker his receptions-record pass. Graduated quarterback Brian Wineberg had thrown a lot to Parker last season.
Has single-game record, too
Parker, the son of Ray Parker and Cindy Fuentes, also previously had set the school single-season record for TD receptions with nine last year.
Also last year, he tied the school-single game record for TD receptions three times with two in each game.
Thus, he now owns three career records while also closing in on a fourth mark with the possibility of a fifth.
Bethany (3-3, 1-2 PAC) is coached by Tim Weaver in his first season.
Waynesburg (3-3, 3-0 PAC), is coached by Rick Shepas (Cardinal Mooney High and Youngstown State), and holds first place in the PAC. Shepas is in his third season at Waynesburg after shifting from Massillon Washington High.
Entering this season
Parker entered this season with 104 receptions for 1,483 yards and 13 TDs. Now he has added 46 catches for 486 yards and four TDs for the first six games.
He led the PAC in both receptions and receiving yards entering Saturday's game.
Breaking down Parker's first three years, he had 22 catches for 294 yards and two TDs as a freshman, 39 catches for 533 yards and two TDs as a sophomore, and 43 catches for 656 yards and nine TDs as a junior.
Last season, Parker made ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II second team and All-PAC second team.
In one of his top performances of 2005, he caught six passes for a season-high 118 yards and two TDs against Thomas More.
His first two years
As a sophomore in 2004, Parker's 533 receiving yards ranked second on the team.
In one of his highlights that season, he had five catches for 73 yards and one TD against Alma. He also had five catches for 115 yards and one TD at Chicago.
In Parker's freshman year in 2003, he had four catches for 60 yards and two TDs in his first collegiate game against Carnegie Mellon, and he followed that with nine catches and 134 yards at Kenyon
Two other area players are on the Bethany roster: John Falcoini, a sophomore wide receiver from Farrell High and Sharon, and Jon Baillie, a freshman defensive back from Newton Falls High and Warren.
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