Aliquippa beats Belle Vernon to earn 13th straight WPIAL finals appearance

By: Ashley Chase
Friday, November 6, 2020 | 11:09 PM

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A Friday night classic between two of the top teams in Class 4A sent top-seeded Aliquippa to its 13th straight WPIAL championship game with a 33-25 victory over No. 4 Belle Vernon.

This game had everything – touchdowns, interceptions, fumbles, a kick returned for a touchdown and more – in front of a fairly large crowd of fans at ”The Pit.”

“I’ll be honest with you. It’s a devastating loss,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said while being bombarded by players giving their tear-filled thank yous after the game.

“This is the year we thought we could not only get back but eventually win. Just a devastating loss and my heart goes out to the seniors who have put four years of solid effort and work into it. I’m sad for them and sad for our coaches.

The Leopards (6-2) started strong, grabbing the early momentum and mounting a 13-0 lead over the unbeaten Quips (9-0).

Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin took a handoff on the second play from scrimmage and ran it 53 yards for the touchdown to give his squad a 6-0 lead.

Aliquippa’s first offensive possession ended quickly as a Vaughn Morris pass went through two sets of hands and into those of Leopards junior Logan Cunningham. Belle Vernon couldn’t turn the turnover into points and handed the ball back to the Quips.

Belle Vernon’s defense stood tall and forced an Aliquippa punt. That’s when Leopards junior Devin Whitlock went to work. Whitlock used his speed to motor down the field 64 yards to return the punt for a touchdown and just like that, Belle Vernon took a 13-0 lead with 2:53 left in the first.

The Leopards defense got to the Quips once again, forcing a fumble recovered by junior Cole Weightman. But the ensuing offensive drive for Belle Vernon was all Aliquippa defense, sacking Whitlock for a 10-yard loss, then sacking him a second time and forcing a fumble recovered by the Quips.

Aliquippa carried its offensive drive into the second quarter and finally broke through on the scoreboard on a 12-yard rush by Morris to make it 13-7 Belle Vernon.

BVA quickly answered. Whitlock took a keeper 75 yards down the sideline, nearly all the way in for a touchdown, out of bounds at the 4, then scored on the next play for his second touchdown of the game, and the Leopards jumped up 19-7 less than two minutes into the second.

Aliquippa took to the air on the next offensive drive, and Morris hit Ty Crocker with a pair of big-yardage passes to set up a Karl McBride touchdown and close the gap to 19-14.

The Quips defense came up big again, stripping the ball from Whitlock on a third-and-short play, recovering the fumble inside the 35, where they scored six plays later on another McBride run to take over the lead 20-19. Aliquippa never trailed after that.

The Quips looked to go up another score but an end zone shot from Morris was picked off by Martin for the touchback. The Leopards got another chance to earn points off a turnover and couldn’t get the score, heading to halftime down by one.

Aliquippa and Belle Vernon traded punts to start the third before Morris put the Quips back on the board with another air assault, a 26-yard touchdown to Dorius Moreland to put Aliquippa up 27-19.

The Quips defense continued to hold Belle Vernon at bay in the third quarter and into the fourth.

That’s when Vernon Redd came to play. The Quips 1,000-yard rusher turned on the jets for five carries and 36 yards, scoring on a 17-yard run to put Aliquippa ahead 33-19 with 6:27 to play.

Whitlock broke free on the next drive and closed the gap for the Leopards within a score, 33-25 with 4:32 to play, his third touchdown of the game. But Aliquippa wouldn’t surrender the ball the rest of the way, picking up enough first downs to run out the clock and into the WPIAL championship game, ending a promising title quest for Belle Vernon.

For the Quips, it’s on to the final for another chance at WPIAL glory for the 13th consecutive season. Aliquippa will face Thomas Jefferson in the championship game, this time moving up a class to 4A, despite being a Class A school.

“We don’t have moral victories at Aliquippa, so if we’d have lost, it wouldn’t have mattered to us,” coach Mike Warfield said. “I’ve watched TJ a number of times. They’re a very good team. It’s going to be a challenge.

“I still don’t want to take away what’s being done, forcing us to play in 4A. It’s totally wrong,” Warfield continued. “We’ve got 117 kids. How can you justify that? I don’t want people to think that just because we’re winning that it’s justified, because it’s not. We’re a (Class A) school.”

Watch an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Tags: Aliquippa, Belle Vernon