PITTSBURGH — Central Catholic learned what it had early in Troy Fisher.

The Cranberry Township resident and Viking quarterback came to the school as a freshman after growing up in the Seneca Valley School District. In the final game of his freshman season, he ripped his hand open.

“I hit it on the crown of another player's helmet and gashed it pretty bad,” Fisher recalled.

Central's freshman coach, Virg Palumbo, remembers checking him out on the sidelines.

“I told him it takes six hours for skin to die and this game will take two hours,” Palumbo said. “What do you want to do?”

Fisher grinned as he recalled his decision.

“I taped it up and played,” he said. “Then I went to the hospital and got 30-some stitches.”

He's been a leader at Central Catholic ever since.

Friday night at Heinz Field, Fisher completed five passses for 73 yards, rushed for 52 yards and a touchdown in leading the Vikings to a 42-7 WPIAL Class 6A football championship win over Seneca Valley and many of his former youth football teammates.

In his two years as Central's starting varsity quarterback, Fisher has compiled a 27-2 record, two WPIAL titles and a state crown. He's thrown for more than 2,800 yards and 31 touchdowns, rushed for more than 1,000 yards while scoring 22 touchdowns.

“He's a catalyst. He makes us go,” Central head coach Terry Totten said. “Troy is just a great kid. I can't say enough about him.”

And the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Fisher loves playing against the Raiders.

“I get jacked up when we play them, regular season or playoffs,” Fisher said. “The game means a little more to me than the rest of the team.

“I've sort of been exiled by those guys since I came to Central. It's a competitive thing, that's all.”

Still only a junior, Fisher has received collegiate offers from Boston College, Temple and Toledo with a few more likely on the way.

And he does still keep in steady touch with his eighth-grade football coach, (current SV baseball coach) Eric Semega.

“He's always kept tabs on me, keeps in contact to see how I'm doing,” Fisher said. “I appreciate that.”

The Vikings as a whole are doing just fine. Two Butler residents, senior center Donovan Slater and junior defensive back Cam Laconi, have a lot to do with that as well.

Slater is headed to Yale next year and said the Vikings' running game “just wears people down.”

Central rushed for 363 yards Friday night.

“It's an awesome feeling to win this thing again,” he said of the WPIAL title. “Confidence is the key to our success. We didn't play all that well in the first half, but we knew we'd come back out and play better.”

Laconi was a quarterback his freshman year at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic before transferring to Central Catholic last year. He is a starting defensive back for the Vikings and tied for the team lerad with 6.5 tackles Friday night, including five solo stops.

“It's such a brotherhood here. that's why I came,” Laconi said. “They moved me strictly to defensive back when I joined the program.

“I miss playing quarterback a little, but I feel like I've got a future at defensive back.”

He's not too bad as a punt returner, either, averaging 30 yards per return this season.

“That kid is coming along just fine. He's a big threat on special teams,” Totten said.

Laconi has heard from Princeton, Columbia, Bucknell and Michigan State as potential college suitors.

He's not worried about any of them right now.

“We're locked in on going after another state championship,” Laconi said.