Pine-Richland rolls past Upper St. Clair to win 8th WPIAL football championship

By: George Guido
Saturday, November 19, 2022 | 3:02 PM

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC01-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland celebrates with the trophy after beating Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Class 5A championship Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC04-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Vasilios Balouris stiff-arms Upper St. Clair’s Ty Lagoni on the way to a second-quarter touchdown during WPIAL Class 5A championship action Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC03-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Andrew Mellis pulls in a pass past Upper St. Clair’s Ivory Travers in the first quarter during WPIAL Class 5A championship action Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC02-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Vasilios Balouris (left) celebrates with Ryan Palmieri after Palmieri’s first-quarter touchdown against Upper St. Clair during WPIAL Class 5A championship action Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC09-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Bryce O’Brien drops Upper St. Clair’s Julian Dahlem after a throw-back pass during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC10-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Ryan Palmieri breaks into open field against Upper St. Clair during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC07-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Upper St. Clair’s Bennett Henderson puts up the only points of the game against Pine-Richland during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC05-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Upper St. Clair’s Aidan Besselman pulls in a catch over Pine-Richland’s Tanner Cunningham during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC08-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Tanner Cunningham breaks up a pass intended for Upper St. Clair’s Aidan Besselman during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC12-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Ryan Palmieri throws against Upper St. Clair during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC06-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Ryan Palmieri takes down Upper St. Clair’s Aidan Besselman after a catch during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC13-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Bradford Gelly (17) celebrates with Luke Rudolph after Rudolph’s touchdown against Upper St. Clair during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC14-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Ryan Palmieri strips the ball from Upper St. Clair’s Aidan Besslman during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

5645926_web1_ptr-PRUSC11-112022 — Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Pine-Richland’s Tanner Cunningham sacks Upper St. Clair’s Julian Dahlem during the WPIAL Class 5A championship game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Norwin High School.

Pine-Richland was sitting at 1-3 at mid-season, and the thought of a postseason berth seemed distant.

But the Rams have reeled off nine straight victories, including a convincing, 34-3 win over Upper St. Clair on Saturday afternoon to capture the school’s eighth WPIAL football title at Norwin Stadium.

Part of the turnaround for the Class 5A climb was due to switching Ryan Palmieri from running back to quarterback. Palmieri had 63 rushing yards and 85 passing yards Saturday.

Pine-Richland (10-3) will move on to the PIAA playoffs next weekend against Erie’s Cathedral Prep.

“We had our ups and downs this season, that’s for sure,” Palmieri said. “We really came together as a team, and this feels great.”

While the Rams practiced ball control and took advantage of favorable field position with four of their five touchdown drives starting in Panthers’ territory, it was Pine-Richland’s defense that played a major factor.

The Rams held Upper St. Clair to minus-26 rushing yards on the day.

“We talked all week about rallying around to the football, flying around, tackling everything that moves,” Rams coach Jon LeDonne said. “Our defensive line doesn’t get enough credit for what they do. They showed up the last few weeks playing big.”

Leading the way for the Pine-Richland defense was Joe Perry with nine tackles and three sacks. The Rams defense had 11 tackles-for-losses.

“We play fast and we play physical from the left side — me and my boy John Rottinghaus — and we only give up three points, minus rushing yards,” Perry said. “We had a great game plan was the bottom line and the results followed.”

Rottinghaus also had three sacks.

USC’s Jamaal Brown, who entered the game with 1,468 rushing yards, was held to 16 net yards on 14 carries.

Upper St. Clair, also seeking the school’s eighth WPIAL title and the first since 2006, finished at 10-3.

“I thought we played good defense in the first half,” Panthers coach Mike Junko said. “But our defense got into some tough spots. We didn’t do a good job of playing field position. We were in our own end, and that made it tough.”

Palmieri got the scoring underway with a 4-yard run on a quarterback draw, culminating a nine-play, 49-yard drive.

USC reached the Rams’ 7 early in the second quarter. But a sack of Ethan Hellman by Perry lost 9 yards, and the Panthers were forced to kick a 33-yard field goal.

With 1 minute, 5 seconds left in the half, junior receiver Vasilios Balouris caught a 20-yard pass from Palmieri to put Pine-Richland ahead 14-3.

“We felt at halftime we needed to get a stop on their drive, we did and we started a drive and didn’t finish it,” Junko said.

The Panthers drove to the Pine-Richland 36, but a sack by Rottinghaus on fourth down gave the Rams possession at their 42, and an 11-play drive was finished by Ethan Pillar’s 3-yard run.

Pillar had 65 yards on the day.

“All year it’s been get 3 or 4 yards, 3-4 yards, and pretty soon the other guys’ll get tired,” LeDonne said. “We do a great job in the weight room and it takes a toll and when you’re trying to tackle Palmieri and Ethan Pillar.”

Hellman had 10 pass completions for 146 yards. Ty Lagoni caught four passes for 61 yards and Aidan Besselman four more for 74 yards for USC.

Pine-Richland is now 8-2 all-time in WPIAL title games, dating to 1969 and ‘70 when it was a mostly-rural school located on Bakerstown Road. It also won titles in 2003, ‘14, ‘17, ‘18 and ‘20.

LeDonne also won a title at Penn Hills in 2017.

Upper St. Clair is now 7-7 in 14 WPIAL title game appearances.

Watch an archived video stream of this broadcast on Trib HSSN.