West Allegheny upends Upper St. Clair for Allegheny 8 Conference victory

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 22, 2018 | 12:15 AM

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West Allegheny scored 17 points in the first quarter, and that fast start helped the Indians overcome previously unbeaten Upper St. Clair and a lightning delay for a 29-12 victory.

Kam Kruze found Dante Flati on a misdirection screen pass for a 39-yard score and, after John McArdle kicked a 24-yard field goal, Kruze hit tight end Mateo Vandamia on a 60-yard scoring strike on which Vandamia made a great one-handed catch and run for the Indians.

A botched shotgun snap on the first offensive play for USC was recovered by Nico Flati and led to McArdle’s field goal.

“The start was big,” West Allegheny coach Bob Palko said. “We were able to control the ball, and that turnover was huge, too.”

Kruze, the junior quarterback, paced the Indians attack, completing 6 of 7 passes for 144 yards and two scores, while adding a pair of 1-yard TD runs.

“He’s a competitor and one of our leaders,” Palko said of Kruze. “He’s a throwback who competes and plays hard, and that’s all you can ask of him.”

Defensively, the Indians held Upper St. Clair in check until Jason Sweeney threw touchdown passes to Brandon Shearer (10 yards) and Chris Pantelis (13 yards) in the fourth quarter.

Palko thought the success on the defensive side of the ball, which included four sacks, was simple.

“Basics, we tackled better and we practiced better. I thought Mateo (Vandamia) played well and our nose guard (Logan Rossi) was solid,” Palko said.

The victory was career win No. 210 for Palko, who is in his final season on the sidelines for West Allegheny.

The game was stopped with 47 seconds in the third quarter because of the storms and was delayed for 1 hour, 37 minutes before the teams resumed play.

“Those aren’t easy conditions to play in, especially because we’re really young,” Palko said. “We cherish every win. We’ll enjoy this for 24 hours and get back to work and get ready to roll again.”

Bob Orkwis is a freelance writer.

Tags: Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny