Quaker Valley chasing 1st WPIAL title against perennial contender Aliquippa

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, November 13, 2017 | 9:39 PM

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Basketball, baseball and hockey? Yes to all three.

Tennis, track and soccer? Enough times to fill both hands.

Championships — both WPIAL and state — are a frequent occurrence at Quaker Valley, but the school’s football team has never quite reached the heights of many other Quakers programs.

That could all change at Heinz Field at 11 a.m. Saturday, when Quaker Valley makes its first WPIAL final appearance in 62 years of football. But to do so, the second-seeded Quakers will have to knock off the most storied of Western Pennsylvania football programs, unbeaten No. 1 Aliquippa, in the Class 3A championship game.

Though separated by only the Ohio River and roughly five miles of road, the two programs couldn’t be more different. Aliquippa (12-0) is trying for its 17th WPIAL title and appearing in its 10th consecutive final against the Quakers (11-1), who have to go all the way back to Sewickley High School’s 1938 co-WPIAL title — Sewickley played a 0-0 tie with Glassport in the final — to find their community’s last football crown.

“It’s always a new challenge and a new team you’re playing against. It’s a different game every year,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. “But does it ever get old? Heck no.”

The teams met Oct. 13 in Leetsdale, and Aliquippa came away with a 22-7 win that gave them the Beaver Valley Conference title. That game was a scrappy, defensive affair in which both teams missed on scoring opportunities, leaving both seeing areas for improvement.

“There are mistakes in every game, but especially in our loss,” Quakers senior quarterback Ricky Guss said. “The biggest thing is composure. You can’t beat a team like Aliquippa without doing the little things right. Toughness is a big one, too. You have to have that winning mentality, and they do. With their reputation of being so successful, some teams could be hesitant or overeager when they play them. But we’ve seen them, and they’ve seen us. Now it’s who can do their job the best.”

Aliquippa’s calling card this season has been its stifling defense. The Quips have given up just 42 points all season, and the Quakers in Week 7 were the first all year to score an offensive touchdown against them.

“We’re pretty solid up front, and that usually makes for a good defensive team. We’re fairly veteran in that area, as well,” Zmijanac said. “But to be honest — not just saying this to be politically correct — Quaker Valley’s defense is no cream puffs. They’re a good group, too.”

Knowing their defense has held its own all season, perhaps the biggest challenge for the Quakers will be to slow the Quips up front and score enough points to have a shot to win.

“They’re well-coached and well-trained, and their size is unmatched by anyone else we’ve faced,” Quaker Valley senior center Jake Pesicka said. “We can move our feet, and that’s the strength of our line, but they have size and can move, and it plays perfectly for their system.”

Simply reaching the final — which Quaker Valley did with a dominating 40-7 win over Seton LaSalle in the semifinals Friday — is a milestone moment for the QV program. It is only the Quakers’ sixth playoff appearance overall and the first time the team has won 11 games in a year, something remarkable for a program that little more than a decade ago rolled through a streak of zero- and one-win seasons.

Making the feat more unlikely was the sudden coaching change that rocked the program, as John Tortorea resigned the week before camp, turning the reins over to longtime track coach Jerry Veshio, a multiple-time WPIAL-winner in that sport but who had been off the football sidelines for close to 30 years.

“It’s almost surreal, and I’m certainly happy for everyone involved. I’ve probably gotten a dozen or so texts, just (Saturday) morning, from alumni and guys who played in the ’70s and ’80s,” Veshio said. “This is a senior-laden group, and this was their goal from the beginning. I think our kids understand the magnitude of the game and who we’re playing. They’re champions, and to be a champ, you have to beat the champ.”

But simply making it to Heinz Field wasn’t the only goal for the upstart Quakers, who hope to shock the powerhouse Quips and make their historic season extend beyond Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, the players already are cognizant of what a special run they have put together at QV.

“We still have a game to play, and the dream wasn’t just to get to Heinz Field, it was to make it all the way to a state final,” Guss said. “We’ve always had good love from the community, but this season has felt so much different. We still have soccer playing in the playoffs, too, and it’s really exciting to finally have football be part of that mix.”

“A lot of our players have been playing together a long time, since we’ve been in elementary school, and we’re ready this week to just go and work,” Pesicka said. “I think a lot of people are more proud to say they’re a Quaker this year, even out in the community. … It’s pretty exciting we’ve come this far, but it would be amazing to keep going.”

Matt Grubba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mgrubba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Grubba_Trib.